Following a complaint received from a Holidaymaker, we investigated and reported in the May 2007 edition of Get’Away, the issue of the potential for Carbon Monoxide or Neurotoxins within Aircraft Cabins.  This condition is now commonly known as Aerotoxic or Sick Aircraft Syndrome.  This has become one of the most important developing travel issue this decade!  We have reported extensively on this issue, our latest report having beiong submitted to EASA in January 2010! Read More

Problems associated with DIY or Dynamically Packaged Holidays accounts for the second most popular holiday complaints we receive!  Many Travel Consumers believe that they are booking a Package Holiday and this was accepted by all (except for some the British contingent) at the recent Stakeholder Conference in Brussels on 22 April 2010!  It is quite clear that the Package Travel Directive was intended to cover so-called DIY holidays, but unfortunately, the British Travel Consumer has been disadvantaged by a series of legal cases exercised before the Court of Appeal!  In the May 2007 edition of Get’Away, we examined the dilemma for one holidaymaker, faced with suing 2 online ‘agents’ and a hotelier in a foreign jurisdiction!  We explored whether this is a Package and offer a problematic solution to his dilemma!  It should be remembered the Package Travel Directive is currently being examined by the EU Commission with a view to importing a greater certainty into its provisions! 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

Time and time again we receive plaintiff calls from holidaymakers with genuine holiday complaints, who have decided to enter into an Arbitration or Court process.  Time and time again we discover that not enough preparation is made by holidaymakers to present their case correctly!  Is it the fault of the holidaymaker? Most definitely not!  The reason that holidaymakers get into trouble when they try to resolve their own holiday claims is that they are in some ways lured into a process which in some ways promises to be easy and non-legalistic.  The reality is that if you are trying to make a claim for holiday compensation, the travel company will usually employ a solicitor or barrister to protect their interests.  The holidaymaker is then often faced with a process that becomes very legalistic and at times incomprehensible!  Preparation is the key and unless you have a pressing limitation date less haste and more research is the order of the day!  In the May 2007 edition of Get’Away we asked, “Are You Ready for Court?” - It was the first of a series of articles which explores the evidential trail and experience of holidaymakers who decide to go it alone, and take their case into the Small Claims Court.  The moral of the tale is to learn from other holidaymakers experiences! Read More

Due Diligence is where a company must exercise care to ensure that problems with a product or that their duties under law are properly assessed, so as to not mislead or put at a disadvantage, the receivers of that servce.   The due diligence defence is also incorporated into The Consumer protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 at Regulation 17 (we have published an extensive article on those regulations by reference to the issue of holiday sales and complaints).  With the May 2007 edition of our Travel-Zine, Get’Away – our article – Package Travel Regulations Tip - highlighted the ’Due Diligence’ Defence that can be employed by a Tour Operator under Regulation 24 of The package Travel Regulations. Read More

The Transport Select Committee have requested stakeholders within the travel debate to submit their views on passenger’s experience of air travel. A wide remit was produced, and HolidayTravelWatch has concentrated its report on the issues of 261/2004 and aircraft safety.  HolidayTravelWatch has called for a review of the directive 261/2004, including giving air passengers improved rights to compensation when they suffer a delay, and a structured enforcement process, to ensure that rights are provided to the consumer.  We have also called for a ‘whistleblower’ campaign, akin to the one operated by the South African Civil Aviation Authority to highlight safety issues. Read More