Many holidaymakers find that when they are abroad and have holiday complaints to make, they have difficulty in accessing information that is timely, free and of some assistance!  To counter this problem, HolidayTravelWatch has created its own ‘Calling Card’ – www.holidaytravelwatch.tel !  The ‘card’ is electronic based and contains all the necessary contact numbers that you will need, to obtain our assistance!  It also provides links and access to up-to-date holiday complaints and of course our useful ‘Holidaymakers Backpack™’, which links you to all the holiday complaints guidance and material that you will need, to kick-start any complaints or problems you may have!  All you have to do is to copy the link for the ‘Calling Card’ into your favourites on your PC or Mobile Phone, that way you are never far from help wherever you may be! Read More

The greatest advance in British Consumer Travel Law is undoubtedly The Package Travel Regulations 1992, implemented for consumer protection. Read More

Many people cannot afford the services of a lawyer.  Sometimes the facts dictate that their case benefits would be outweighed by the cost of legal representation. In those cases it may be appropriate to use the small claims process – before doing so, you should always obtain independent legal advices. The process of the small claims court is fully described on the Court Service website. Read More

In the final series of ‘Watch Out For Further Announcements’, we examine passengers rights under 261/2004 & the Montreal Convention following a flight cancellation. We look at the issue from the perspective of the British Experience of Fog and Industrial Disputes during the winter of 2006/7! Read More

Are You Ready For Court? considers the impact of the argument that we have become a ‘compensation culture’ and examines the Arbitration process and the experience of one holidaymaker and their holiday complaints.  It should be recognised that the main reason why holidaymakers fail, is that they do not prepare their case and documentation properly!  We have written an article on this very issue and should be read in conjunction with this article!  The various links in that article will help you consider what you need to do, along with the guidance and commentary in the article below! Read More

Since 2005, the issue of Significant Change before departure, accounts for the second most popular of all holiday complaints received by HolidayTravelWatch (it is joint second with DIY/Dynamically Package Holiday Complaints – the top complaints we receive are holiday illness claims)!  Significant Changes occur usually when some aspect to the holiday is radically changed, for example, a change of hotel, overbooking of a hotel, a change of resort, closure of facilities, a change in a ship’s or tour’s itinerary, natural or man made disaster’s affecting a destination, outbreak’s of illness at a hotel, resort or on board a ship etc!  We have seen through Regulation 12 how a travel provider, when they become aware of a pre-departure ’Significant Change’ to your contract, must advise you of those changes, to give you the opportunity to cancel without penalty or to accept the changes with a rider to the contract!  However, Regulation 13 takes Consumer Rights further!  It obligates a travel provider to provide important options for you the travel Consumer!  In the May 2007 edition of ‘Get’Away’, we set out the consumer ‘benefit’ of Regulation 13 of the Package Travel Regulations and detail the rights that should be given to you before departure! Read More

The recent article (4/6/2010) in The Independent, highlighted a ‘league table’ of offending airlines, who it is claimed, are more prone to losing, damaging or delaying the baggage of airline passengers (note the vehement rejection by one airline of the survey’s findings).  Lost, Delayed or Damaged baggage are some of the common complaints we receive; the principle difficulty is that airline passengers do not appear to know what to do if they should suffer with any of these problems!  We attended a recent meeting at The Department for Transport, where this very issue was discussed and it was agreed amongst Consumer Groups, that the airline passenger suffers with a lack of access to timely information, in what is obviously a stressful time for them!  The Air Transport Users Council (AUC), which is part of the CAA has a useful guide to this thorny problem!  In the May 2007 edition of Get’Away, we summarised the rights of passengers under the Montreal Convention for Destroyed, Lost or Delayed Baggage due to the fault of an airline. It should be noted however, the limits for compensation have been increased since that article!  The new limits of compensation are now – Lost, Delayed or Damaged baggage 1,131 Special Drawing Rights Per Passenger – or – the limit for claims for delay is 4,694 Special Drawing Rights Per Passenger! Read More