Travel

#Travel Alerts and Updates

Nick Longman, Managing Director, Thomson and First Choice. speaking at a press conference today (Tuesday 30th June) on the terrorist incident in Tunisia, said:

It is with great sadness that I can confirm that the 22 British people positively identified so far by the FCO, UK Police and Tunisian Authorities as victims of the attack in Tunisia were our customers. We continue to assist the FCO as they complete the identification process for the people who they believe to be UK nationals.

I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to the friends and families of those involved in this tragic event and I know I speak for all of us at Thomson and First Choice, when I reiterate that supporting them at this extremely difficult time remains our highest priority.

Through the FCO and Police Family Liaison Officers, we have been offering all possible support to the families of those who have died or been injured. This includes, should they wish, flying them to and from Tunisia.

Over the coming days, our priority remains to care for the bereaved, the injured, and to bring all those who wish to return to the UK, home on our additional flights. We have returned 4,000 customers to date on 25 flights. We have a further 15 empty flights going out to Tunisia in the next two days bringing back a further 1,900 customers. Any remaining customers are those who have chosen to stay there. We would like to thank our customers for their patience as we manage the logistical challenges that this incident brings.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our staff on the ground in Tunisia, in the air and of course, here in the UK for their incredible efforts. All of them are dedicated to helping our customers and their families and are working around the clock to do so. They have had to undertake some truly distressing tasks in their bid to support our customers.

We would also like to thank the Tunisian emergency services and authorities who are working extraordinarily hard to help those customers who are injured, remain in resort, or are on their journeys home.

This was a tragic incident and we are doing all we can to ease the suffering of the customers and staff in our care. We are devastated by this event and the tragic loss of life and the terrible pain this has caused to all involved.

Anyone with concerns about friends and families should continue to call 0800 0885372.

The number for other TUI related queries for future departures to Tunisia: 0800 0093835 Landline number: (+44)2036361996

Following the tragic events in Tunisia, we are working around the clock to handle a continuously moving and challenging situation and would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the friends and family of those involved.

Whilst our priorities remain to provide every support to the families who lost loved ones in Friday s incident, caring for the injured and bringing home customers from Tunisia who wish to return, we are also constantly reviewing the situation and updating our response accordingly.

This includes updates to our customer policy and helping customers who no longer want to travel to Tunisia to find other holidays.

We can confirm that we will be extending the cancellation of all our holidays to Tunisia up to and including the 9th July. Customers travelling to Tunisia in this period will be given the opportunity to amend their holiday free of charge to any of our destinations or receive a full refund.

Furthermore, customers planning to travel to Tunisia at any time up until the end of the summer season (31st October) will be able to amend their holidays free of charge to any of our destinations.

We can now offer fifteen new flights from airports across the UK to destinations including the Balearic Islands, Mainland Spain and Cyprus. In addition to customers being able to amend free of charge, those choosing these new flights will be offered a 50 discount per person.

Customers wishing to amend their Tunisia holiday should contact the customer service centre on 0800 009 3835 or 020 3636 1996 or visit a Thomson or First Choice retail shop.

Owing to the unprecedented volume of calls experienced by our customer service centre we can currently only take calls from those who have holidays booked to Tunisia in July. For customers travelling between August and October please visit your local Thomson retail shop or call us from Monday 6th July.

The whole of Thomson and First Choice are deeply shocked and truly saddened by the events and we are grateful to our staff on the ground and in the air and the emergency services who are working hard in an incredibly challenging environment.