Many Irish consumers will travel for a sun holiday abroad this summer. The travel situation in terms of disruption at present is\u00a0much different from one year ago, but summer 2022 comes with its own set of problems, including flight cancellations due to airport staff shortages, COVID-19 outbreaks and airline staff strikes; for\u00a0Irish consumers this is particularly concerning as flying is the main way to travel out of Ireland.<\/p>\n
COVID-19 is still here despite no longer being a widespread pandemic and documented travel issues at airports result in daily cancellations, particularly for short-haul flights in and from Europe from Dublin airport and main central hubs in Europe, like Frankfurt, Schiphol and UK airports, too. It is why it remains important for Irish consumers to make sure their\u00a0holiday bookings and payments stay protected should something go wrong at any point during their trip.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, they should be fully aware of what cancellations they are covered for, depending on the booking type and the terms and conditions of contracts with various travel service operators. Secondly, it is useful to check the travel and transport operators\u2019 record of refunds and general customer service over the past two years. Many travel companies and online travel agents, as well as airlines and other transport providers,\u00a0have a good record of operating cancellations with reasonable notice, when needed, and refunding passengers within a reasonable timeframe. Some don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
To avoid problems and learn how to deal with travel disruption, here is what Irish holidaymakers should consider before and after making a holiday or travel reservation. (See note.)<\/p>\n
For more convenience and greater protection, they should consider a\u00a0package holiday. Travel package offers the optimum form of consumer protection at present thanks to European Union and national law consumer protections against company insolvency, travel cancellations, exceptional circumstances and potential travel restrictions. It also guarantees that price increases will not go over 8% for holidays already booked.<\/p>\n
If not booking a holiday package, in order to avoid possible\u00a0problems, consumers should look for flexible terms on their reservations. We advise consumers to research travel companies and suppliers that offer flexibility if they need or are forced to change travel plans at a later stage, or at the very last minute, like at the airport, for instance. The best ones will allow customers to cancel or change bookings right up to the date of departure\/start date. While this flexibility is more common with luxury operators, there are some flexible policies offered by most tourism providers of accommodation services, for instance. Many airlines are also offering free changes for extended periods at present. Generally, it is worth noting that the cheaper the price is, the less flexible the terms will be.<\/p>\n
Generally, consumer rights will depend on the type of holiday, which can be classified under these three categories: package holidays, linked travel arrangements (a sub-category of package travel) and independent holidays. Compensation for cancelled, delayed or missed travel will depend on the type of services reserved. The specific\u00a0sets of consumer protection rules applicable to the the various types of holidays can be found on our website\u00a0eccireland.ie,<\/a>\u00a0in the sections linked to below.<\/p>\n Package Holidays<\/a>.\u00a0Consumers who experience\u00a0cancellation or postponement of a travel package will be offered one of the following: a replacement holiday of equal or superior quality; a lower quality holiday, plus a refund for the difference; a full refund. Holidaymakers can cancel the package themselves for a reasonable fee but are entitled to free cancellation and full refund in the following situations: natural disasters; substantial changes in price and nature of the trip; conditions on the ground. Cash refunds should be made within 30 days or less.\u00a0Linked travel arrangements<\/a>\u00a0enjoy similar consumer protections.<\/p>\n Independent travellers are likely to have different contracts with different companies for different services.\u00a0Independent holiday<\/a>\u00a0individual services purchased from separate operators are governed solely by the Terms & Conditions specified in each of the contracts, which also detail the applicable jurisdiction law. Irish consumers who booked independent holidays – and a selection of services – with companies and service providers based abroad within the EU\/EEA, won\u2019t be protected by Irish law nor by EU package travel legislation specifically; general EU consumer rights apply. In such cases, obtaining compensation when something goes wrong may be more difficult and take longer (especially for multiple services bookings made through\u00a0third-party agents)<\/a>.\u00a0<\/a>If\u00a0holiday travel services\/elements are all booked separately, consumers should look into how it all works in case any one of those gets cancelled, specifically when it comes to the cancellation of flights or ferry services out of Ireland, as this would prevent you from reaching your destination abroad, and therefore from accessing the other services at the holiday destination, such as hotels, accommodation, transfers, tours, etc.<\/p>\n Separate consumer protections exist when it comes to passenger rights, for\u00a0air travel<\/a>\u00a0as well as\u00a0sea\/waterways travel<\/a>\u00a0by ferry or passenger ship.\u00a0If passengers are unable to leave\u00a0Ireland, it might mean that they are also unable to take further transport to their final holiday destination. If this involves a bus or a train, other consumer rights apply for\u00a0bus\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0rail\u00a0<\/a>travel in Europe.<\/p>\n If holidaymakers arrive too late or miss the first day of the reservation at\u00a0a hotel or other accommodation, it may trigger automatic cancellations of the entire stay reservation in some strict cases and, in some other cases, the inability to claim your money back. This is the consumer protection for travellers\u00a0facing a problem with travel services providers at destination:\u00a0hotels<\/a>,\u00a0private accommodation<\/a>,\u00a0timeshares<\/a>. As with travel bookings, the situation might differ when it comes to accommodation bookings through third-party engines \/ online travel agents \/ price comparison websites\u00a0or through consumer-to-consumer platforms. In this scenario, multiple sets of Terms & Conditions apply, and cancellation\/refund\/rebooking conditions may differ though in the European Union the minimum standards of consumer rights apply.<\/p>\n Another big problem might be not arriving in time to collect a rental car at destination. Same as with some accommodation providers, car rental contracts might trigger a non-refundable cancellation, which results in not being able to get a refund or a replacement car when you finally arrive at your holiday destination. Delays also can cause problems, as some car hire offices are only open within certain times and provide no collection or drop-off services outside these set opening times. Moreover, car rental is different from the above types of travel in that it is not covered by specific sectoral consumer rights in either European or national law. If you book a car online, by phone or by e-mail in the EU, you don\u2019t automatically have the right to cancel and claim a refund, although the car hire company\u2019s terms and conditions may allow it. While there are no specific EU rules on hiring cars, consumers still benefit from basic consumer rights under general European legislation. Consumers should also pay extra attention to the Terms and Conditions of the third-party booking websites – and then separately to those of the car rental companies themselves -, if this is the method used to reserve a holiday car abroad. More about\u00a0car rental consumer rights can be found on the European Consumer Centre Ireland website\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n For any problems with cross-border reservation of package travel or flights, accommodation, car rental and more, consumers resident in Ireland who have a complaint about a travel or flight operator based in another European Union country, Norway, Iceland or the United Kingdom, and they have tried to resolve the matter directly to no avail, are advised to contact ECC Ireland for assistance\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0Advice on how to make an effective\u00a0cross-border complaint is provided\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\nReport<\/h2>\n
Redress<\/h2>\n