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ABTA living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’
ABTA was accused by the Civil Aviation Authority of being in ‘cloud cuckoo land’ for hanging on to the belief that the government will listen to repeated calls for a consumer levy to replace bonding.
Richard Jackson, the group director of consumer protection at the CAA, said: “I agree with you about the levy but what you want is not on the table with the government.
“What is the point of saying to the government we want ‘cloud cuckoo land’?”
His comments came during a debate on the future of the association, which followed an outspoken speech from Travel Counsellors’ David Speakman (see separate story).
Jackson admitted that the definition of who currently needed an Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (ATOL) was confusing.
“The Department of Trade and Industry are due to give guidance on what is a package and I look forward to getting a steer from them.”
Lowcostgroup founder Paul Evans said the current system of financial protection was “borderline corrupt” because some companies paid and others did not.
“The system is patently unfair and I would say borderline corrupt,” said Evans. “But there’s no will by the government to change anything.
“I would like a moratorium on all announcements until you’ve sorted it out because the announcements in the press simply confuse people.
“No one knows what is going on. I used to run one of the big companies and knew nothing about the bonding rules. Now I have my own company and still do not know enough.”
Evans said he sympathized with TUI, which is planning to unbundled more packages to get around the bonding rules.
“I can understand why they are doing it. Why not? They are having to pay more than other companies who are not bonding.”
By Jeremy Skidmore (www.jeremyskidmore.com)
Jeremy Skidmore
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