The system went offline during the early hours of last Monday morning (23 September) following the collapse of Thomas Cook, which owned Freedom.

However, Tarsc operator Vertical Systems said view-only access to Freedom booking data was restored at around 10am on Tuesday (1 October), allowing members to manage affected bookings and start engaging with the claims process.

Vertical Systems said the development came following “lengthy discussions” with Cook’s liquidator KPMG and with the assistance of Abta.

Data will be available for an initial six-month period, and thereafter subject to “normal commercial negotiations” said Vertical.

“We are pleased to confirm that following lengthy discussions with KPMG, we have now been given authorisation to allow Freedom Travel and Future PTA agents ‘view-only’ access to the Tarsc system bookings,” said the company in a statement.

“We would like to thank Abta for their involvement, support and investment in supporting costs, which has made this access possible. Abta has enabled this facility in order to assist users in supporting Abta and CAA claims processes, supporting fulfilment where relevant, and providing support to third party (non-Thomas Cook Group) tour operators, all for the benefit of consumers.”

Freedom members woke on 23 September to find their back-office systems offline, making it difficult to address clients’ concerns in the wake of Cook’s failure.

Kevin Connell, director of Ember Travel in Surrey, told TTG his team had been forced to “go back to paper”.