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  • ABTA & Holiday Complaints

    The Association of British Travel Agents, which merged with the Federation of Tour Operators, is one of the main Travel Industry Trade Bodies, representing the interests of travel agents and tour operators. It is often a port of call for holidaymakers, to try and address the holiday complaints that they have with their travel provider. This can be achieved sometimes by a simple intervention to obtain a response to letter of complaint, or to address matters before the Disciplinary Committee or progress a complaint toward the ABTA Arbitration process. Whatever route you take, you should always seek advice first and make sure that any process you agree to is fully understood, particularly where there are any limitations on further rights you may wish to invoke.

    The ABTA Code of Conduct | ABTA & Holiday Complaints | HolidayTravelWatch

    Saturday, June 12th, 2010

    The ABTA Code of Conduct was updated in January 2009. The Code is designed to import a standard level of professional behaviour that you can expect from your travel agent or tour operator, if they are members of ABTA. Read More

    ABTA Arbitration | ABTA & Holiday Complaints | HolidayTravelWatch

    Saturday, June 12th, 2010

    If you discover that you are unable to resolve the complaint directly with the tour operator, you have the option to present your case under the ABTA Arbitration scheme. Read More

    The HolidayTravelWatch Online Survey – Understanding Package Holidays!

    Sunday, November 29th, 2009

    This is a critical moment for the future of EU holidaymakers and in particular, British holidaymakers! In 1990, the EU created the Package Travel Directive which was then adopted into various National Laws; the UK adopted this Directive as The Package Travel Regulations in 1992. Many millions of EU holidaymakers have enjoyed the benefit of Protection under this Directive – those Protections are now seriously threatened. Since 2003, there has been an attempt by the Travel Industry to reinterpret these Regulations, by reinventing themselves as ‘travel agents’, through internet sales. Whilst we are to be rightly concerned with the Financial Protection of holidaymakers, we must also be aware of the many other detriments or problems suffered by holidaymakers, which, according to online terms and conditions, are not the responsibility of these new ‘travel agents’! It is now imperative that the Consumer position is presented to the EU Commission following the announcement of their latest Consultation on Holiday Rights. It is simple; if the Commission is persuaded to keep the ‘internet’ players outside the remit of any new Directive, Consumers will be returned to the so-called pre-1992 ‘Golden Age’ of Travel when there was little or no Consumer Protection. The answers to this survey will be used to back up previous HolidayTravelWatch surveys and its findings will be presented to the EU Commission in February 2010. Your contribution is both valuable and timely – we would like to thank you for your kind assistance on this survey! Read More