Family who thought dream holiday lay in tatters told it can go ahead

Roisin Duffy, from Foylehill Estate, was due to travel to the ‘Big Apple’ in January to celebrate three very special birthdays with her family.

She booked the holiday through travel operator Thomas Cook as a present to celebrate her daughter Cara’s 21st birthday, which was on July 14 and her son Jordan’s 18th, which fell on September 12.

Cara’s boyfriend Dale’s 21st is also coming up on December 15 and the family were due to travel to New York on January 16 to celebrate.

They were left ‘heartbroken’, however, after Thomas Cook’s demise and thought their ‘dream holiday’ was no more. While they were ATOL protected and knew they would be refunded, they ‘didn’t know how to go about it’ and were faced with numerous forms.

They decided to rebook with Gallagher Travel, only to be told their holiday was still ‘live’ and could go ahead. Roisin now wants other families to know this could also be the case for them. She paid tribute to Gallagher Travel, who ‘instead of trying to make us book a holiday, actually found out if our holiday was still live.’ They found the holiday had been booked through a third party and after they confirmed their payment in full, it is now being honoured.

Roisin said they had been comparing prices of a new holiday and received quotes up to £3,200 from other agents as many people were rebooking. The whole family is ‘delighted’ and ‘relieved’ and Roisin encouraged others who booked with Thomas Cook to check if their holiday can still going ahead. While it was a good outcome for Roisin, she said she really feels for all those Thomas Cook employees who lost their jobs.

“The girl who we booked with was lovely and couldn’t do enough for us,” she said.