The chairman of travel agency chain Miles Morgan Travel has called on Abta to hold airlines to account amid fears the industry was starting to look like “the Wild West”.
Speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast, Miles Morgan said that Abta’s attempts so far to lobby government for an easing of the Package Travel Regulations had proved fruitless.
He urged Abta to redirect its efforts by “calling out” the airlines and demanding to know what they have done with customers’ money.
He said: “Abta is trying the lobbying route. They are getting precisely nowhere with it and at the same time airlines are getting away with doing vouchers and also going for government bailouts.
‘No justification for airlines to hold money’
“I am struggling to understand why Abta is not calling out airlines and saying they are the villains of the piece. There is no justification for them holding the money.”
Morgan accused airlines of “appalling behaviour” during the current crisis, adding: “My question to the Willy Walshs and Richard Bransons is what have you done with that money? And why are you not refunding it?
“If you look at the [money] chain, it’s obvious where the money started and where it’s ended up. Airlines are at the top of the tree and they have not provided these flights for tens of thousands of customers. Clearly all of that money, because they have not flown those sectors, should be sat in the airlines…they should be refunding that money.”
The resulting confusion over refunds was simply making the industry look “somewhat embarrassing” and a “laughing stock”, he claimed.
“It’s like the Wild West out there with people doing what they want to do and making it up as they go along,” he added.
‘Airlines refunding direct customers’
Amanda Matthews, founder and managing director of Designer Travel, which has 90 homeworking agents, told the webcast the situation was made worse by the fact airlines were reimbursing direct customers and not agents’ clients.
She said: “A lot of airlines are paying out direct clients and withholding funds to the travel trade. We should come together to look after the end client whether they have booked direct or not and not discriminate.”