The industry organization BT4Europe welcomes the EU's work to strengthen air passenger rights, but at the same time warns that the proposed legislation risks placing unreasonable financial responsibility on travel agencies and other travel intermediaries.
The revised EU passenger rights regulation aims to provide travelers with stronger protection in the event of cancelled and delayed flights, while clarifying the rules for compensation and refunds.
BT4Europe supports the ambition but reacts to a proposal that means that travel intermediaries – such as travel agencies, travel agents and online booking platforms – could be obliged to refund their own booking and service fees when a trip is cancelled, even if the cancellation was caused by the airline or another external party.
According to the organization, these fees replace services that have already been performed, such as booking, travel planning, support, rebooking and traveler care.
“Business travellers deserve strong consumer protection and we fully support this. At the same time, responsibility must lie with the party that caused the disruption. If a travel agent has fulfilled its contractual obligations, it should not bear the costs of events that are completely beyond its control,” says Patrick Diemer, Chairman of BT4Europe.
BT4Europe has therefore sent its views to the European Parliament rapporteur and to the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The organization emphasizes that it wants to see a reform that both strengthens passenger rights and ensures a fair distribution of responsibilities between airlines, travel agents and other players in the travel industry.
According to the press release.
