[ad_1]
This spring, it was clear that customers who had their planned flights canceled due to the corona pandemic would have a chance to get their money back. But the rules that apply when you, as a customer, have booked a flight through an intermediary in the form of a travel agency, are not obvious to everyone. Who is really responsible for ensuring that the correct information is provided and that the money is returned: the airline or travel agency where the trip was booked?
Swedish Consumer Agency (KOV) lawyer Maja Lindstrand believes it can be difficult for consumers to know where to turn when booking a trip through a canceled travel agency.
– Many consumers think that the travel agency is the other party, it is not. Travel agencies can mediate, but it is the airline that must return the money. So you can go directly to them to ask for your money back, something not everyone knows about, says Maja Lindstrand.
The Swedish Consumer Agency has started an oversight case against the Swedish Travel Group, following suspicions that they lack information for customers.
Photo: Oyvind Lund
But even though it is the airline that will take responsibility, it is of the utmost importance that the travel agency communicates with the customer and conveys the correct information, says Maja Lindstrand. During the year, the Swedish Consumer Agency received a large number of complaints from customers who were not satisfied and felt cheated when they booked through travel agencies.
One of the travel companies for which KOV received the most requests during the year is the Swedish travel group / Etraveli, which, among other things, owns the Supersavertravel travel site. As of September 1, KOV had received 133 notices against the company. During the same period, competitors Ticket and Travellink had 60 and 66 applications against them, respectively.
– The Swedish travel group stands out in our statistics. Many of her clients contact us, says Maja Lindstrand.
Because KOV has received many applications towards the company during the year, they suspect that communication and information towards clients did not work as expected. Now they have started a supervisory case against the Swedish travel group, to map the situation.
According to Claes Tellman, Swedish Travel Group communications manager, they have had contact with the Swedish Consumer Agency during the year.
– We have a good and continuous dialogue with the Swedish Consumer Agency. We recently had a meeting with them on the subject and jointly agreed that they will come back with specific points on what they want us to improve, Claes Tellman writes in an email.
He continues.
– Our biggest challenge today is the long wait times for customer reimbursement and that most customers think we have their money, when the airline actually has it, writes Claes Tellman.
He believes that all the people within Swedish Travel Group who can work with reservations now do so, some up to seven days a week. They also have trained staff who otherwise have other duties, to help with the job.
– In relation to the corona pandemic, there was enormous pressure overnight with many tens of thousands of cases to be dealt with immediately. This, combined with long wait times for responses from airlines, has meant that customers often have to wait a long time for responses, Claes Tellman writes in the email.
Read more: Tired of vague answers – Supersavertravel reported to RNA
Read more: KO demands that SAS pay when trip is canceled: they threaten fines of millions
