Not sure if you have posted that as a wind up

but you seem to want to rub peoples noses in it. People don't try to book with
obscure travel agents on purpose, they try to save money by getting the best deal they can at the time.
We aren't fortune tellers and nobody knows which company can go bust next - who could predict XL or Goldtrail etc. When you book flights with any agent they can put you on any flight they choose so even if you had booked flights with Thomsons you could have still lost them if the carrier had went bust.
As for Thomsons being cheaper than competitors, I don't think you have looked hard enough. Our 1st Turkey holiday was with Thomsons and it was the same price as our last 2 years holidays
put together. Checked out what our holiday was this year and Thompsons was £3000
more than what we got it for with a so called obscure agent. It didn't quite work out that way, as we were caught up with the Goldstar saga, but how else would you get an August holiday in Turkey, self catering for 8 people, 3 rooms, for under £2500.00, certainly not with Thomsons.
John