British Holidaymakers get Help from CAA after Goldtrail Collapse

Posted on: July 19th, 2010 by Dave Humphries

According to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), most of Goldtrail’s holidaymakers should be back in the UK by tonight. The tour operator collapsed on Friday, leaving 16,000 Britons stranded abroad, while another 2,000 were set to fly from the UK over the weekend. It’s estimated that 50,000 travelers had plans with the tour operator with the school holiday starting.

Goldtrail specializes in holidays to Greece and Turkey, which is one of the most popular destinations for British travelers. It’s rather unusual for a travel company to collapse at the beginning of the summer instead of the end, during September and October when bookings decline.

Holidaymakers arriving at airports throughout Britain were disappointed on Saturday morning when they were told their flights had been canceled. Many of the planes took off for the sole purpose to bring back stranded Goldtrail passengers in Dalaman, Turkey.

Goldtrail isn’t a name that most British travelers book with, as it offers seriously unbeatable prices but at questionable quality sometimes. Those who choose to travel them are usually tight with money anyway and probably won’t be able to afford another holiday to replace the one that they just lost.

Any travelers who are in the middle of their holiday during all this are the lucky ones. They will suffer the least amount of inconvenience, with only minor changes to their flights back. The CAA has done all that it can to ensure that holidaymakers are inconvenienced as little as possible.

The industry regulator says that those who do have problems – such as being asked to pay for their hotel a second time before they leave – should call their helpline on 0044 203 441 0846, as they are protected under the Atol scheme. A spokesman said that Turkey doesn’t have programs like this, so they may not know about it.

  • I struggle to understand sometimes how all of these companies run themseves into the ground while other parts of the travel industry continue to strive. Whilst the recession has hit some people hard, my favourite type of holiday (cruising) has continued to grow. And this news that there is one less plyer in the Turkey holidays field comes just a week after Celebrity Cruises announces that they will be offering a handful of Istanbul itineraries for the first time on their stunning Constellation ship, focusing on Turkey and the Greek Isles. My sympathy goes out to all these stranded people, but I know for certain I will be booking with somebody I know I can trust in the future!