News

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.