4 | UPDATES


Tour Operators Besieged by More False Slips and Trips Claims


A LEADING travel solicitor has warned that tour operators are facing an unprecedented “new field” of trips and slips claims. The


industry is also being


warned to brace itself for more litigation in areas such as medical tourism, so-called “workations”, and even from the impact on holidays of climate change and extreme weather. Speaking at ABTA’s annual Travel Law Seminar, Claire Mulligan said:


solicitor “Tour


operator liability is a new field of claims – we’re seeing many more trips and slips. We’re also seeing new law firms coming through to make claims for trips and slips. “It’s the same trend as the sickness claims – now it’s bed bugs, trips and slips, that’s where the main cases are coming from.” Tour operators were hit by a tsunami of fake gastric travel sickness claims between 2016 and 2018,


fuelled by CMCs


encouraging holidaymakers to start legal action even if they had not been sick. But the industry was able to fight back by successfully prosecuting some of their customers who made false sickness claims, while the government’s move in April 2018 to fix the legal costs in these sickness cases effectively derailed the business model of the CMCs, who had previously profited from high costs in bringing these claims.


www.nitravelnews.com


June 2023


Dublin Airport Could Slash Security Waiting Times by Up to 15 Minutes


Easyjet Announce NEW Route to UK’s Cruise Capital from Belfast!


DUBLIN Airport boss Kenny Jacobs says security waits can be slashed as low as 15 minutes – but only if airport charges are increased. This time last year, queues at the airport


were up to a kilometre long with the airport penalised €3.1m by the Commission for Aviation Regulation for failing to meet quality-of-service targets.


Speaking to Independent.ie, Mr Jacobs said: “Ultimately what we’re trying to do here is have a resilient airport. “To do that we need additional staff, and to have additional staff we need a higher charge. “In that same timeframe, air fares have gone


up 30pc. Nothing is cheap in Ireland. Nothing is cheap in Dublin.


“The average European capital city airport charge is north of €18 [per passenger]. The max Dublin charge is €8.50. That really doesn’t allow us to give the type of service that we want to have. “We want to put the smile back on those faces,


take away the hassles that existed last year and the anxiety of travel – we want to reduce that.”


Tenerife Residents Protest Against Mass Tourism


PROTESTORS have taken to the streets in Spain’s Tenerife to complain of what they call the “irreparable damage” caused by mass tourism.


IATA Hits Out at US Passenger Compensation Proposal


THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) has hit out at the US Department of Transportation’s new passenger compensation proposals. The US administration has proposed mandatory financial compensation for travellers for out of pocket expenses during long flight delays and cancelations. IATA says the move will raise the overall cost of air travel.


The air transport body says the 10 largest US carriers already offer meals or cash vouchers to customers during extended delays with nine of them also offer complimentary hotel accommodations for overnight cancellations. However, this is not currently mandatory. Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General:


“Airlines work hard


to get their passengers to their destinations on time and do their best to minimise the impacts of any delays. “Airlines already have financial incentives to get their passengers to their destination as planned. Managing delays and cancellations is very costly for airlines. “The added layer of expense that this regulation will impose will not create a new incentive, but it will have to be recouped on ticket prices.”


Protestors have claimed that the island has “completely collapsed” and complained of sewage spills, long traffic jams and environmental damage which they are blaming on the construction of new hotel complexes in coastal areas of south Tenerife.


A spokesperson for the protestors said that “mass tourism” had destroyed some of the island’s “natural spaces” and had caused “irreparable damage” to the natural environment in southern Tenerife. The group is calling for a temporary


stop to tourism so officials can develop a plan to reduce the number of visitors to the island. Protestors are also calling for an eco- tax to be introduced for tourists.


2022: The Year of the Unruly Passenger


THERE were nearly triple the number of unruly passenger incidents on UK flights in 2022. Over 1,000 cases were reported by UK airlines


in 2022, nearly three times what was reported in 2019. It involved the full gamut of disruptive behaviour


– physical and verbal abuse, molestation, passengers stripping off, and more. The UK Government is considering a bill to


issue no fly orders on all British airlines for unruly passengers.


Madrid Court Fines Ryanair


BUDGET airline Ryanair has been ordered to pay damages to two Spanish on-duty police officers who were banned from boarding a flight from Tenerife to Madrid because they were carrying their weapons. The court ordered Ryanair to pay €1,836 euros (approximately £1,500) to the two police officers.


EASYJET has announced it will be launching nine new routes from the UK from next winter, including flights to a brand new destination in Iceland for the very first time. easyJet holidays will be offering brand new package holidays on eight of the new routes.


EasyJet will also offer even more choice from Southampton,


strengthening


domestic connectivity from the region, with two new routes to Glasgow and Belfast launching from 29 October 2023 with departures up to three times a week.


This winter, easyJet will become the only UK airline to operate to Akureyri in North Iceland when flights launch from London Gatwick twice a week from 31st October. Dubbed ‘The Capital of the North’, the town lies in the fjord Eyjafjörður in North Icelandand is located a short drive from many of Iceland’s top natural, cultural and historical attractions. Visitors can enjoy whale watching, hiking, viewing the Northern lights and geothermal bathing, all while taking in the stunning scenery. Ahead of the opening of a new base at Birmingham next spring, the airline will continue the expansion of its network from the midlands, with new routes now launching this winter to the French cities of Lyon and Paris from 30th October and city break packages available with easyJet holidays. More new routes to France, to Paris Charles de Gaulle from London Southend


Plea to holidaymakers: avoid hiring motorcycles and quads


HOLIDAYMAKERS have been warned to think twice before hiring quads, beach buggies, motorbikes and mopeds abroad after a string of tragic deaths and injuries.


Ahead of the summer holiday season, the holiday car rental experts at StressFreeCarRental.com have cautioned tourists looking for fun, warning that the vehicles are extremely dangerous. Vehicles like mopeds are readily available


and accessible to tourists


abroad, especially in party destinations in Greece and Thailand. Still, many are unaware of the dangers and are quick to ignore road rules when using them. After a flurry of deaths involving tourists who hired the vehicles abroad last year, holidaymakers have been told to avoid hiring them unless on a properly supervised excursion.


While abroad on holiday, tourists


can forget the importance of following road rules, failing to take basic safety precautions like wearing helmets, and even drunk driving, which can have serious consequences. Last year, a British tourist was jailed after he struck and killed a woman with a beach buggy In Ayia Napa while drinking and on drugs. In Phuket, Thailand, there were over 500 reports


of motorbike accidents


and a weekly service to Grenoble from Manchester will also take off this winter, while new services between London Luton and Enfidha in Tunisia and Bristol and Marrakech will provide those in the south and south west with two new winter sun destinations to choose from. The launch of even more new routes follows easyJet’s return to growth this summer in the UK which will also see the airline operate its biggest ever UK summer flying programme, flying around eight per cent more capacity than pre-pandemic with over one million more seats in peak summer and 23 new routes from the UK.


involving tourists in the first two months of 2023 alone.


The vice governor of Phuket, Amnuay, claimed most cases involved people with no driving licenses, wearing swimsuits and driving at high speeds. In January, a Ukrainian man, who was not wearing a helmet, was found dead in Bali after his rented motorbike fell off a bridge. After a surge in accidents and deaths at the holiday destination, Bali is soon set to ban foreign tourists from using motorcycles altogether. The Governor of the Island has said foreigners using them are ‘disorderly’ and ‘misbehave.’ Holidaymakers have also been warned


that standard travel insurance policies often don’t cover riding these vehicles abroad, leaving those who get in accidents with unaffordable medical bills should they get into an accident.


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