GUIDANCE ON THE APPLICATION OF THE CODE OF CONDUCT
12 August 2015
booking conditions state that a significant change is a change of more than 12 hours. The Committee will consider not just the number of hours by which the flight time has changed. A change of 5 hours is unlikely to be significant if it moves the flight from 8am to 1pm, but may well be significant if it moves it from 10am to 5am. The case as a whole should be considered and other factors must be taken into account, such as whether the flight has changed from a day to a night departure; whether the flight time has become more inconvenient in another way e.g. very early check-in or very late arrival in resort; whether the client would be forced to take additional time off work at the start or end of the holiday; whether the client will be put to additional expense e.g. the check-in is now very early in the morning and they have to stay in an airport hotel overnight; and whether the client has to change their planned travel to the airport as a result of the change. The length of the holiday is also very important because if there’s a loss of time spent in resort that is significant in relation to the length of the holiday then it will be a significant change, as made clear in the bullet points above.
(ii) In respect of flight delays on the day of departure, if the delay is long enough to mean a significant change to the travel arrangements, then clients are entitled to have a refund. Members aren’t obliged to pro-actively offer a refund to clients waiting at the airport, but if a client requests it this should be granted by the Member. The Code of Conduct Committee is likely to regard a Member as in breach of clause 3E if a full refund is not provided when requested by a client. The refund should be provided in line with the time limits set out in clause 6H of the Code of Conduct.
Overbooking
Code 3HMembers shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that Travel Arrangements are not cancelled or altered as a result of overbooking.
If travel arrangements are overbooked and you, as the principal, know this before the departure of the affected clients, you should immediately inform those clients.
Where travel arrangements are cancelled or altered as a result of overbooking the onus is on the principal to show that the overbooking in question occurred for reasons beyond their control.
Where a principal can show that an overbooking has occurred for reasons beyond their control and which they couldn't have prevented, they're unlikely to be held in breach of this part of the Code of Conduct. Depending on the result of the overbooking, however, the principal may be in breach of the provisions relating to significant changes or cancellations if, for example, the overbooking resulted in a significant change to the booking within 14 days of departure.
Overbooking
If your supplier is to blame, provide evidence of this
Even if your supplier is to blame, if the overbooking causes a significant change or cancellation, you must follow 3A, B, D, E and F of the Code
©ABTA Ltd ©ABTA Ltd
196 ABTA CountryByCountry Guide 2016
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