Unless your primary news source is on another planet, you're aware that the iconic travel company Thomas Cook folded, leaving some 600,000 travelers stranded at their vacation destinations and many more with worthless tickets for future tours. Tour operator and airline failures were once a big problem in the U.S., but recent years have been relatively trouble-free. But not in other parts of the world:
So far this year, 19 airlines have folded -- in Europe, Asia, and Latin America -- some of which, like Thomas Cook Airlines, were relatively big, and several, including XL Airways, served the U.S. Tour operators have also folded. And, in many cases, travelers were either stranded or left holding worthless tickets.
