Package travels: new rules on traveller protection 

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament.

Parliament has struck a deal with Council on updating protection rules for package holidaymakers, based on lessons learned from the pandemic and high-profile bankruptcies.

The draft law informally agreed by Parliament and Council negotiators clarifies the definition of a travel package, conditions for cancelling a trip, and travellers’ rights to information, help and refund in various situations, including when their travel organiser goes bankrupt or extraordinary circumstances cause travel disruptions.

Definition of a travel package

New rules should make it easier to know which combinations of travel services constitute a package and therefore fall under the protection provided by this law. The existing category of linked travel arrangements will be removed, so there will be one uniform definition and criteria linked to when and how the combination of services are booked. When the travel organiser invites the client to book additional services that would not form a package with previously booked services, the client has to be informed of this.

Online purchases, where linked booking processes enable easy combinations of services offered by separate traders, will be considered a package if the first trader transmits the traveller’s personal data to the other traders, and the contract is concluded within 24 hours.

Vouchers

The updated directive also includes detailed provisions about the use of vouchers, which became widespread during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Consumers are given the right to refuse vouchers and request a refund within 14 days if they prefer. The vouchers should be valid for a maximum of 12 months and clients must be refunded – without a proactive request – for any fully or partly unused vouchers when they expire.

When choosing travel services, voucher holders must be free to spend the voucher on any travel service offered by the organiser, either in one go or in parts. Vouchers must be covered by insolvency guarantees and extendable or transferable once. Their value will have to correspond at least to the amount of the refund they would have been entitled to.

Trip cancellation and refund rights

If their trip organiser goes bankrupt, clients must receive a refund for cancelled services from the insolvency guarantee funds within 6 months. In exceptional cases of high workload, this deadline can be extended to 9 months.

If unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances arise at the travel destination or departure point before a trip, or affect the journey, travellers have the right to cancel their trip without a penalty, with a full refund. Such cases should be assessed individually and official travel recommendations will be important elements to be taken into account when considering whether a termination of the contract due to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances is justified or not. However, an official travel warning alone will not be considered sufficient grounds for a refund following trip cancellation, as EU countries do not use travel warnings in a coordinated manner.

If travellers are aware of a risk at the time of the booking but decide to purchase a trip nevertheless, they can not request cancellation without a termination fee.

Penalties, pre-payments and complaint handling mechanism

The co-legislators decided not to harmonise the level of penalties for infringements in the updated rules. They also decided not to cap the level of pre-payments, but member states who wish to may do so.

The negotiators also agreed that travel operators must establish a clear complaint-handling arrangement, to ensure that reported issues are dealt with reasonably quickly. They must acknowledge receipt of a complaint within 7 days and give the client a reasoned reply within 60 days.

Quote

After the successful trilogue, Parliament’s rapporteur for the file Alex Agius Saliba (S&D, MT) said: “Today’s agreement reinforced the rights of travellers in the EU. We introduced a complaint handling mechanism with mandatory deadlines, making sure people get a timely, reasoned reply from the travel organiser if something goes wrong and they have to file a complaint. We set new rules on vouchers to make sure they are voluntary, and refunded if not used. We shielded travellers better against the trip organiser insolvency and gave them the right to cancel their travel with a full refund in extraordinary circumstances, such as a pandemic. This is a good deal that will help both consumers and businesses in all Europe.”

Next steps

The deal must now be formally approved by both the European Parliament and the Council early next year before entering into force. EU countries will then have 28 months to adapt their laws to the new rules and a further 6 months to start applying the new provisions.