Complaints surge about flight bookings made through online travel agencies | The Crusader | Finance
An 83 per cent year-on-year rise in the first three months of 2022 brought the shocking regulations’ failures in the travel industry to light. Most complaints were related to flight bookings made through online booking third parties rather than directly with airlines.
Laura Johnston, consumer advisor at the UKICC, said: “COVID-19 has highlighted a problem that already existed for UK consumers, but the pandemic has made it worse because the numbers of consumers affected has grown considerably.
“People are now coming to us in droves as some consumers still appear to be waiting for their money back from flights that were cancelled towards the start of the pandemic.”
Outlining the core legal basis, she explained: “The law (Air Passenger Rights Regulation 261/2004) states that airlines have to give passengers their money back within seven days if their flight is cancelled, but the problem is that airlines usually won’t deal with passengers direct. Booking intermediaries aren’t governed by the same laws so aren’t motivated to help.
“The difficulty is that passengers have to rely on the booking intermediary they booked their flight with to make a claim to recover the flight cost on their behalf, but booking intermediaries don’t really want to do that.
“Effectively what they are saying to consumers is that all they do is book the flights on the consumers’ behalf and then wipe their hands of any problem. Some booking intermediaries are even charging consumers to make a claim for the flight costs from the airline.
“It’s a huge contractual mess which deprives UK consumers of their rights.”
From the evidence Crusader has seen in some cases even where airlines have refunded passengers through agents this has not been passed on, a dreadful loophole that needs to be addressed.
The UK ICC offers advice and support and can be contacted via www.ukecc.net – or by phone on 01268 886690 Monday-Friday between 10am and 4pm.
