Millions of travellers who book holiday ‘packages’ with combinations of flights, hotels, car rentals etc on the internet or in the high-street look set to receive tougher financial protection if things go wrong, under plans put out for consultation by the European Commission today.
The Commission is consulting on extending the basic cover provided by EU’s 1990 Package Travel Directive – on information, liability for sub-standard services and protection for insolvency - to the next generation of ‘dynamic packages’ where consumers make up their own packages, often online, through one website or different partner websites. 23% of EU consumers, and over 40% in countries like Ireland, Sweden are now booking "dynamic packages", many of which currently fall outside EU protection rules (67% mistakenly think they are protected).
Following the recent spate of airlines going bust, the paper also considers extending basic insolvency protection for consumers beyond package and dynamic packages across the board, including for stand alone airline tickets.
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