Continued from page 48
bonds required. It won’t be easy, but I don’t see why we won’t have the success we had with the September renewals.” Tanzer declined to say
whether bonds would be higher than a year ago or pre-pandemic, arguing: “It’s difficult to generalise. We look at each case on an individual basis based on how much customer money is at risk. That is what the regulations say must be protected. “Where a business is in
terms of existing bookings and new bookings will determine what customer money is at risk. In so far as that number comes down, the bond will come down. It depends on a company’s trading profile. We don’t bond anything not required to be bonded.” Refund credit notes
should have been redeemed or refunded by now, but Tanzer said it was “impossible to generalise” about how many deferred bookings members might be holding. He said: “Clearly bookings
have been rolled forward, some more than once. We want to see those become fulfilled travel arrangements, at which point the exposure goes down.” Abta issued guidance
on bonding in December explaining it would allow up to 75% relief on payments made with UK credit cards by UK customers. Tanzer said: “We put that out to help members understand the process. We recognise some of the refund liability would be picked up by the credit card companies.” He insisted this was nothing
new, saying: “There hasn’t been a fundamental change in the way we assess bonds.”
Royal lost $5.3bn in 2021 but tips return to profit
The Omicron wave of Covid-19 stalled Royal Caribbean Group’s recovery in December and January, causing “service disruptions” and the cancellation of several sailings. Royal Caribbean Group
president and chief executive Jason Liberty conceded Omicron would “likely delay our return to profitability by a few months”, noting it “created short-term
operational challenges that weighed on close-in bookings”. But Liberty insisted: “We do
not expect it to impact our overall recovery trajectory and the strong demand for cruising.” He reported bookings had “increased each week since the beginning of 2022 and are now back to pre-Omicron levels”. The group recorded a net
loss of $5.3 billion for 2021, an improvement on losses of $5.8 billion in 2020. The cruise giant forecast a further loss for the first half of this year but a return to profit in the second half. Liberty said: “We made significant progress toward recovery during 2021, with
over 85% of capacity returning.” The group had 50 of its 61 ships
in operation by the end of 2021 and expects 53 to be in service by the end of March, with the rest returning by the summer. The company held $3.2 billion in customer deposits at the end of December.
Lawyer questions proposal to boost CAA refund power
Ian Taylor
A leading industry lawyer has questioned a government proposal to revise air passenger rights to require airlines to pay customer refunds to Atol holders when holiday flights are cancelled. Rhys Griffiths, partner and head
of travel at law firm Fox Williams, pointed out the proposed right for Atol holders “already exists”. The proposal forms part of a
Department for Transport (DfT) consultation on Aviation Consumer Policy Reform launched last week (Travel Weekly, February 3). This focuses on granting the CAA
stronger powers to enforce consumer rights and revised compensation rules for domestic flight delays, but it also notes industry demands for package organisers “to be able to make a claim on behalf of the consumer . . . where a flight that is part of a package holiday is cancelled”.
46 10 FEBRUARY 2022 Rhys Griffiths
It seeks views on a revision to legislation on air passenger rights that “would make clear the right for the package organiser to recoup the refund from the airline”. Yet Griffiths said: “These statutory
rights already exist in Regulation 29 of the Package Travel Regulations [PTRs].” This gives a package organiser the right to “seek redress from any third parties which contributed to the event triggering compensation”. Travel companies have struggled
to refund package customers for cancelled holidays during the
pandemic because of the difficulty of obtaining flight refunds. Part of the problem is that airline refunds and holiday refunds fall under different regulations, with holiday refunds covered by the PTRs and airline refunds by EU Regulation 261 on air passenger rights. Griffiths told Travel Weekly:
“When an airline cancels a flight [that is part of a package], the obligation to refund the customer sits with the organiser. Regulation 29 of the PTRs gives the organiser the right to get a refund from the airline. That is the issue the DfT will be looking at. It’s a bit odd not to reference that.” He argued: “It can only be an
oversight. I read this as ‘We’ve heard the travel industry’s concerns and we’re looking at it’. There is a sense someone has chucked it in because people are asking about this. “It’s up to [package] organisers to
bring claims against the airlines.” i Get Social, page 31
travelweekly.co.uk
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