Scottish travel agents association SPAA has repeated its call for the government to halt its plans for Atol reform and undertake a wholesale review of consumer protection.
SPAA president Brian Potter repeated the demand in the association’s response to government on the reforms while calling into question the value of the consultation which ended last week.
Potter said: “These proposed reforms are seriously flawed at the most basic level. “Rarely have we seen such agreement among major travel sector organisations. We agree the January 2012 implementation deadline is unachievable. We agree airlines must be included from the outset.
“The proposed reforms must be halted immediately, pending substantive review.”
He also hit out at remarks by Civil Aviation Authority consumer protection group deputy director David Moesli last Thursday. Moesli told industry leaders at the Elman Wall directors’ conference in London: “One thing that is absolutely certain is that the government is not about to bring airlines into Atol.”
Potter said: “If this statement is correct and government intends to ignore the recommendations of consultation respondents, one has to question the rationale behind the reform consultation in the first place.”