p36-37 letters Feb 6 3/2/09 17:29 Page 44
Your letters
BAA dealt with the snow, but
some airlines let us down
Even BAA managed to watch the telly at the
weekend and got an inkling the snow may cause
Booking-obsessed
problems. BAA tried hard to keep things going,
but not the airlines?
As usual, as soon as things go pear-shaped,
the only people you cannot talk to is the airline
you are travelling with, despite the suggestion
on BAA’s website this is what one should do.
agents lose profit
In fairness, with British Airways one usually
can, but Air France and Lufthansa? No – they
open at 8am and close at 6pm.
LET
Murray Harrold I HAVE just been relayed the
OF THE
TER
Now, correct me if I am wrong,
business travel agent, Sam Smith Travel following story by a colleague,
WEEK
but aren’t they working for the
about a couple that had costed a same company and aren’t they in it
If Atol costs rise to £5, then long-haul holiday three weeks ago, to make something called a “profit”?
my bonding costs double but then decided to wait to see if the It goes without saying that all of the
In response to “Consumers warned about Atol prices were reduced. commission was given away.
costs” on ttglive.com, if you band about a £5 Being a good independent agent, my Do the powers that be and the shareholders
headline for Atol Protection Contributions, are collegue took their details and said that she know what is really going on?
we then supposed to be “happy” with £2 to £3? would watch the prices for them. We have been “pushing water uphill”
Well I’m not. It more than doubles my previous She rang them yesterday to alert them that during the last two weeks trying to match the
bonding costs. Yes, you can “charge it” to clients, the price had come down and gave them the multiples and their ridiculous “get a booking
but in reality we have to absorb it while there is new price. at any cost” mentality.
confusion over the legal status of whether an When they didn’t return immediately with a I have never seen an industry with such a
Atol is needed for dynamic packages or not. booking, she rang them and was told that the lack of common sense and it seems to be
I appreciate the CAA has a tough job on wife had gone into a First Choice branch, at getting worse, and I had to write to you out
bonding and overall the APC payment scheme is the same time as the husband had Thomson of pure frustration.
probably better – but not to the extent that strong direct on the phone at home.
companies end up subsidising weaker ones. Then began a game of play-one-off-against- Paul Beech.
the-other, each reducing the price further partner,
Nick Cooper, director, Villa Plus than the other. Connect Travel, Stoke-on-Trent
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36 06.02.2009
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