Gold Medal and Travel Republic add ‘Covid waiver’ to avoid claims for holiday changes

Dnata brands have introduced a ‘Covid Waiver’ to warn customers that the company won’t be held responsible for changes to holidays, cancellations or curtailments due to coronavirus.

Gold Medal, Travel 2, Travel Republic, Travelbag and Netflights have all  introduced the waivers for new and existing customers in June, but each company has used slightly different wording.

The waivers warn customers that, for their protection, ‘products, services and facilities included in your booking may be subject to short notice change, closure or intermittent availability’.

They also point out that additional safety measures might be in place in their destination and it is the customer’s responsibility to understand and comply with any new policies introduced and to have adequate travel insurance.

The waivers, which Gold Medal customers must agree to before making a booking, also state the customer agrees not to hold the company or their suppliers responsible for any loss or damage suffered, including loss or damage arising from or in relation to:

– shortening or cancellation of any aspect of the booking connected with Covid-19.
– any restrictions put in place by the government of the country you are travelling to

The Travel Republic waiver, which is included in the small print on its website, also asks customers to agree not to hold the company responsible for any loss due to:

– any changes to your booking resulting from additional safety, cleaning or social distancing measures
– travelling against FCO and DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs Policy) advice.

John Bevan, CEO Dnata travel Europe said the waivers were intended to make it clear to customers that they weren’t entitled to refunds for changes to their holidays over which the company has no control.

Insisting that Dnata was not trying to wriggle out of its obligations under the Package Travel Regulations, he said: "We would never walk away from our tour operator responsibilities. We are just trying to cover ourselves for small changes that some people may abuse."

However, he agreed that the wording used could lead some customers to believe that they were signing away their rights to a refund if holidays were cancelled or cut short due to Covid-19.

He said he would review the wording with the company’s legal team.

The waivers were introduced prior to the FCO lifting its blanket advice against all overseas travel, so they also ask customers to acknowledge that current government guidance is against all non-essential travel.

This is in line with ABTA’s Code of Conduct, which states that members must bring any FCO advice against travel to a destination to a customer’s attention before they book.

Bevan said: "Our role now is to ensure customers are fully aware of what they are doing.

"We’ll give them the information, and if they decide to travel, depending on the destination, we might operate the holiday. That said, I don’t think we have anyone travelling to anywhere against the FCO advice at the moment."

When TravelMole asked ABTA if the association had approved Covid waivers, a spokeswoman said: "We are liaising with our member on this to ensure the correct practices are in place." She later added: "We are supporting our members through the complexities of the current situation," but  refused to say whether ABTA considered such waivers ‘correct practice’.

By Linsey McNeill, Editor (UK)