Holiday operators Thompson and First Choice have cancelled their flights to Mexico after the swine flu outbreak claimed its 152nd victim.

The companies, which are both owned by TUI travel, said that they had cancelled the planned flights to Cancun from Manchester and Gatwick airports on advice of the Foreign Office, which had urged Britons to avoid travelling to the Mexico unless essential. Thompson and First Choice have already started putting their customers in Mexico on flights back to the UK.

“Whilst we do appreciate that this news may be a great disappointment to customers, we hope they will also understand that their health and safety is of paramount to Thomson and First Choice” the firms said in a statement.

Thompson and First Choice have given customers the option of making a free amendment to their booking and selecting a different destination up to the same value already booked. Alternatively customers can cancel their holiday altogether and receive a full refund without receiving any cancellations charges. The firms said they will decide later today whether to continue with flights to Mexico from 29th April.

Thomson has a Gatwick-Cancun and a Manchester-Cancun flight scheduled for tomorrow, while on Friday there is a Gatwick-Cancun service and also a flight from Manchester to the Mexican resort of Cozumel. Thomas Cook Airlines has a flight from Gatwick to Cancun scheduled for Thursday.

Thomson and First Choice holidaymakers who were due to travel today are being advised to call the dedicated helpline 0871 231 5704 between 8:00 - 22:00 hours to amend or cancel their holiday.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 9:28 am and is filed under Travel Insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.