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Alpha LSG’s OMG! Awards an inspiration to Thomas Cook Airlines cabin crew

Gloucestershire – April 24, 2015: Alpha LSG’s inaugural OMG! Awards for Thomas Cook Airlines brought to a close an innovative two-day training event designed to offer the airline’s customers excellent service and help deliver commercial results for the carrier.

The awards recognised the achievements of Thomas Cook Airlines cabin crew and, combined with a pioneering training programme, formed part of a strategic initiative to help increase inflight sales. Events included team building activities and supplier showcases all themed around Alice in Wonderland: Eat Me, Drink Me, Wear Me, Smell Me. These included a fashion show sponsored by Nicolas Feuillatte and brand experiences including a Drink Up session sponsored by Britvic, an Eat Me session sponsored by Haribo, The Fragrance Academy by Heinemann and Starbucks.

Alex Forbes, Alpha LSG’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “A key part of our role is to help Thomas Cook Airlines develop an inflight retail offering that really appeals to their customers and is profitable. Acting as our front-line sales team, cabin crew have a crucial part to play in this strategy and we are committed to supporting their endeavours through our new training programme, and recognising and rewarding their successes through our awards scheme.”

Maggie Kennedy, Head of Cabin Services for Thomas Cook Airlines, said: “This fantastic event has been a real inspiration to the team, ahead of the forthcoming summer season which sees the launch of our new routes to New York and Miami and more new aircraft in our fleet. Recognising the success of our great team and combining a real focus on serving our customers can only help us give an ever better service in 2015.”

The first OMG! event for Thomas Cook Airlines was brought to a glamorous close with the awards ceremony and masquerade ball. The prize giving marked the culmination of the fun-packed event, held on Wednesday and Thursday this week (April 22/23) at the beautiful Tortworth Court Hotel in Gloucestershire.

Training and interactive sessions explored how to forge fast relationships with customers and develop a better understanding of their needs. Crew members were also able to meet Alpha LSG’s inflight retail team and key suppliers and find out how brands and products are sourced and selected.

Cabin crew, inflight retail suppliers and senior management from Thomas Cook Airlines and Alpha LSG enjoyed a gala dinner and the presentation of the OMG! Awards.

The award for Highest Average Spend per Head was won by Belfast-based Dean Alexander and the runner-up was Andrea Kent of Manchester.

Top Incentive Winner 2014 was Tamara Henderson of Stansted and Gatwick who took home a trophy, medal and champagne. Cardiff took the trophy for best base with the Highest Incentive Participation. A medal was awarded to Aron Wallis of Birmingham for his Commitment to Incentives.

Special Recognition Awards went to Cara Tunstall of Manchester for her Creative Cart Top Displays and Spencer Ritson of Gatwick for his Commitment to Sales Feedback. Both were presented with medals and champagne.

Ben Tindall, who is based in Birmingham, won Best Golden Ticket Entry for designing a magazine cover on why he deserved to attend the two day event. He received a, trophy, medal, champagne.

Special Mention Award – Commitment & Dedication went to Matthew Taylor-Fray & Jo Whinder from Manchester Airport who both received medals and champagne.

About Alpha LSG Ltd
Alpha LSG Ltd was created on October 1, 2012 as a UK-only joint venture by Alpha Flight Group and LSG Sky Chefs. The business has combined revenues of more than £300 million and employs around 3,600 people who provide catering services from facilities located at 16 airports through the United Kingdom – London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, East Midlands, London-Stansted, Newcastle, Bristol, Cardiff, Doncaster, Luton, Leeds-Bradford, Aberdeen and Belfast. www.alphalsg.co.uk

Thomas Cook Airlines UK
Thomas Cook Airlines UK (TCX) is part of the Thomas Cook Group and operates from up to 20 airports across the UK, carrying 6.7m passengers to over 50 short-, medium- and long haul airports with over 200 holiday destinations including North America, the Caribbean Sea and India, as well as resorts across Europe.

With over 2,500 employees across its 10 UK bases and at its head office and maintenance operations at Manchester Airport, the airline has a fleet of 32 (S15) Airbus and Boeing narrow and wide body aircraft. In summer 15, Thomas Cook Airlines UK will operate a fleet of nine brand new Airbus A321 aircraft, and all Airbus A330 long haul aircraft will be refurbished with brand new cabins.

As well as carrying Thomas Cook package holiday customers, the airline retails seat only sales on all of its flights – for more information visit www.thomascookairlines.com.

Thomas Cook Group Airlines includes Thomas Cook Airlines UK , Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium, Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia and Condor Flugdienst. The airlines carry 16.5m passengers per year, generating revenues of £2.8bn. The combined fleet consists of 91 (S15) aircraft and is currently undergoing a fleet renewal programme by integrating 25 brand new A321 and by modernising the cabin interiors of the remaining aircraft of the fleet by mid-2016. www.thomascookairlines.com

Media Contacts
Paul Smith Associates (PSA) Tel: + 44 (0)1420 22532;
Email: newsdesk@paulsmithassociates.co.uk

Nick Sandham
Head of UK Airline Communications, Thomas Cook Airlines Ltd
Tel: Manchester +44 (0)161 498 2718 / Peterborough +44 (0)1733 416748
Mob: +44 (0)7803 693447; Email: nick.sandham@thomascook.com

PAUL SMITH ASSOCIATES
24th April 2015