ABTA
head of legal services Ricardo Nardi has fired a broadside at EasyJet over the
issue of split contracts.
Speaking
at an Association of Greek-Cypriot Travel Agents seminar in London, Nardi said
heavy branding on the low-cost carrier’s website is confusing. He claimed
consumers booking a flight and hotel might assume they are buying an
ATOL-bonded package when in fact they are purchasing two separate products with
little protection.
He
said: “I would like to see a level playing field so low-cost carriers are
bonded to the same standard as everybody else in the industry. The branding
with EasyJet has gone so far that anyone buying a hotel and flight would think
they have a contract with EasyJet.”
His
comments come weeks after ABTA revealed it is to launch its £200,000 ‘Without
us, you’re on your own’ campaign to highlight the risks of booking
accommodation from non-bonded suppliers on-line (Travel Weekly August 18).
Meanwhile,
Sunvil Holidays managing director and Association of Independent Tour Operators
deputy chairman Noel Josephides used the seminar to call for regulations to
force unscrupulous agents and operators out of the market.
He
said: “You could be a tour operator with a retail agency, but since you have
reached the limit of your bond, you have started issuing split contracts. At
AITO we would like regulations to go much further to stop this.
“There
are also companies with brochures selling villas in Europe. But when you look
at the booking conditions, the contract is with the owner and not with the
company that sold you the package in the UK.”
Josephides
added: “They are passing the problem on and washing their hands. These are
high-profile organisations dealing with upmarket accommodation.”
Civil
Aviation Authority consumer protection group deputy director David Moesli urged
companies to come forward and comment on changes they would like to see made to
ATOL regulations. The CAA is currently holding a consultation period with the
trade, which ends on November 23.
* Global distribution system Galileo and
Leeds-based solicitors Mason Bond, travel industry specialists, have become
associate members of AGTA.