Holidaymakers who book trips through online travel agents are being warned that they could loose their money if their flights are cancelled or delayed.
Pat Dawson, CEO of the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA), said the poor treatment of Irish holidaymakers by online travel agents over the past number of years is going “under the radar” and he believes thousands of consumers have lost money.
“I would say in the course of the pandemic, there were several millions of euro lost by consumers as a result of this,” he said.
Growing numbers of customers are discovering that if their flight is cancelled or delayed due to external issues, they are unable to get their money back.
Most OTAs generate unique email addresses to supply to airlines when making bookings, which means that important communication such as cancelled or delayed flights does not reach the customer.
In the case of cancelled flights, refunds are often sent to the payment details used for the booking, which are the OTAs, not the customers.
Aware of the practice, Ryanair has introduced Customer Verification Forms for those who book through OTAs and require a refund.
Ryanair’s head of communications Jade Kirwan said airlines get paid regardless if bookings are made through OTAs, but that it is the customer who is at a loss when things go wrong and are often significantly overcharged for add ons.
