Holiday disaster - Irish travel agent denies responsibiity as they were only "the booking agent".

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Georgio

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We booked a holiday online with a reputable Irish company and when the holiday became a disaster (missed flight connections, accomodation unsuitable etc) they are claiming they were only acting as a "Booking Agent" and have no liability for any of the travel arrangements. These they say are the responsibility of another third party who they were acting as agents for!
Does anyone know if this is correct, or like most things in consumer law, my gripe is with the company I paid and it is up to them to seek recompense from their suppliers?
 
What does your contract with the "booking agent" say? I'm not familiar with the term "booking agent" in the travel business which I think recognises only "tour operators" or "travel agents", both of which types of businesses must be registered, bonded and insured.
 
Thanks, Sahd and Mathepacfor your replies. There seems to be a difference between booking online and booking in a bricks and mortar shop! The citizensinfo site states "Where you are booking a package holiday over the internet, you should check whether Irish consumer legislation covering package holidays applies to it" and the "Travel Agent's Website" states "As we are acting only as a booking agent we have no liability for any of the travel arrangements and in particular any liability for any illness, personal injury, death or loss of any kind". They are also suggesting that even though the accommodation was booked on their website along with the flights that they never recommended it and as such was our responsibility!! As far as we understood we were booking a "Package Holiday" (flights and accommodation) online!

My gut feeling is to take it to Joe Duffy and let the public know about this company and their online terms and conditions or else let a Judge in the small claims court decide what their responsibility is.
 
Georgio said:
the "Travel Agent's Website" states "As we are acting only as a booking agent we have no liability for any of the travel arrangements and in particular any liability for any illness, personal injury, death or loss of any kind".
Click to expand...

Hi Georgio

That seems very clear to me. If it was fairly prominent when you booked, I don't see how you could have any claim against them.

If you book an Aer Lingus flight through a travel agent, I would have guessed that your complaint would be against Aer Lingus.

If a tour operator organises a tour, arranges the flight and the accommodation as a package, then you would have a claim against the tour operator.

But it may well be worth going on to Joe Duffy to highlight this.

Brendan
 
I have read this note on the Club Travel site and I do not understand it. It includes the wording you refer to which I have higlighted.

If Club Travel is denying responsibility for everything purchased through them, then it should highlight this very prominently on their website.



1. Contract


These conditions govern all bookings with Club Travel Ltd T/A Abbey Travel, Budgetair, Budget Travel, BudgetUSA, Tour4Schools, Destinations, Hotelinstyle, Australian Holidays, 1800Hotels, Caribbean Collection, Go South America, Escape2, Eurasia, Skyline or any other trading names (the Company), whose registered office is at 30 Lr Abbey St. Dublin 1, acting as your agent in the purchase of travel services from Airlines, Hotels, Tour Operators, Transfer Companies and other travel related suppliers. All Travel Arrangements the Company makes are either as (a) your booking agent where your contract is with the supplier(s), that is Individual Travel Arrangements or; (b) an Agent of the supplier of pre-arranged “packages” or where the Company is the supplier of pre-arranged “packages” as described below;

(a)Individual Travel Arrangements: Where the company acting on behalf of the consumer, contracts individual travel arrangements with airlines, accommodation providers, cruise and transfer providers and any other travel related suppliers.

(b) "Packages": A package is defined as a pre-arranged trip organised by the Company or a Tour Operator combining flights and accommodation/transfers that are sold at an inclusive price, that is at least 24 hours or includes an overnight stay.

Any booking made or order placed by you, whether through the Company's website or otherwise, shall be deemed an offer by you to purchase the travel services offered by various suppliers subject to these booking conditions and it shall be at the Company's discretion to accept the offer; said acceptance shall be deemed to exist on dispatch of a confirmation invoice to the client by the Company.

No contract between you and the Company shall come into existence until the Company accepts full payment and issues a confirmation invoice. All contracts with the Company and all matters arising from them are subject to Irish law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of Irish courts. The person who makes the booking accepts these conditions on behalf of all members of the party and is responsible for all payment due from the party .
Booking services with the company are currently only available to persons who are at least 18 years old. By submitting a booking you warrant and confirm to us that you comply with those arrangements.

As we are acting only as a booking agent we have no liability for any of the travel arrangements and in particular any liability for any illness, personal injury, death or loss of any kind.

In the case of Group Bookings, by signing the booking form the consumer (when a consumer is under 18 years old, the authority of a parent or legal guardian) confirms that they have given permission to the Group Organiser to deal with us on their behalf.
 
OK, so that is a standard wording on most travel agent websites. But this is how Cassidy Travel highlight it, which is what they all should do:

upload_2017-7-10_8-59-44.png
 
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