Report by Louise Longman
TRAVEL agents are calling on ABTA to offer them clear advice
that they can give to clients who are worried about the effects of long-haul
flights.
Agents have told Travel Weekly they are concerned about
the mounting number of reports linking long-haul travel and deep-vein
thrombosis and the lack of support and advice given by ABTA.
British Airways is leading the airlines’ response to DVT by
issuing leaflets in ticket wallets from next month (Travel Weekly January
15).
Singapore Airlines is planning to produce an information
brochure on healthy air travel, which will be available at Singapore’s sales
offices and travel agencies.
But travel agents have made it clear they are looking for a
definitive set of guidelines, preferably from an industry body.
Travel consultant Terry Barber from Bowyer Travel in
Steyning, West Sussex said: “We had a phone call today from a woman who had
booked a flight with Qantas but I did not know what to tell her, so I said she
should call the airline.
“ABTA needs to do something. It issues information about
where it is safe to fly but we need ABTA to say ‘we have checked this out’ so
we can have the right information to tell customers.”