The Civil Aviation Authority has admitted customer refunds have already been withheld from travel agents following recent tour operator failures.
Speaking at the Aito Agents 2014 conference in Prague, CAA head of Atol Andy Cohen said the failures of Longwood Holidays and Villa Parade’s parent Air Parade had again highlighted the fact some agents did not have up to date Agency Agreements in place.
One large agency has already been forced to pay out a “lot of money” to clients – instead of the CAA – because it did not have an Agency Agreement in place when an operator failed, he revealed.
“We have had several cases where agents have been shaking their heads saying what Agency Agreement? In these circumstances we have refused these claims.
“There has been a large agency that did not have an agreement in place and it’s cost them a lot of money.”
So far agents have been able to cover the customer refunds in these cases, he added, but all had learnt a “valuable lesson”.
He warned agents it was illegal to take bookings without agency agreements – introduced in 2012- in place.
“We don’t want to refuse claims but if you act illegally no-one from the CAA will bail you out,” he said. “You can get into serious difficulty.”
He said the CAA wanted to get the message out that agents and operators were jointly responsible for ensuring an agreement is in place before a booking is taken and said there were “no excuses” with modern technology.
The CAA said agency agreements would need to be dated from October 1.