Caso 1 Viajes ingles

Travel (Case 1)

Introduction

Holiday brochures tread a fine line when describing resorts and hotels. But when it comes to flight times they really are on a ‘wing and a prayer’. That’s because when brochures are published, operators could still be negotiating when their flights will be.

Problem

Last September, Bernard Wilcox booked his family a week’s holiday in Minorca with Sunworld. But Sunworld contacted him first in December, and again in April to say that it had ‘significantly’ changed their flight times. When Bernard complained, Sunworld told him it had ‘acted in accordance with our booking conditions to which you agreed’. Its brochure, like most others, states that compensation is paid only if flights are changed by more than 12 hours. It did offer the option of cancelling. But the Wilcoxs had booked to coincide with school holidays. The family had to suffer a return trip which began at around four in the morning.

Changes occur because flight schedules for the summer season are allocated the previous November, long after most brochures are printed and distributed. Tour operators usually include a get-out clause. The small print in Sunworld’s brochure says ‘the timings shown in this brochure are for guidance only’. And to add to the gloom, whatever the time your flight is supposed to depart, there’s also the prospect of airport delays. New figures from the Civil Aviation Authority show that the average delay to charter flights at all five major holiday airports was longer in 1994 than in 1993.