ABTA Avis 745

We turned to ABTA expecting a fair and impartial resolution after our wedding plans were severely disrupted, but our experience has been nothing short of disappointing.

Following the issues with both Perfect Weddings Abroad and TUI — which resulted in our wedding location being completely compromised due to major construction works — we escalated our case to ABTA in the hope that someone would finally take accountability. Unfortunately, that never happened.

After nearly a year of going through the claims process, we feel it has been a complete waste of both time and money. Despite the clear impact this situation had on such an important life event, no party has been held responsible. The outcome left us feeling as though the system does not work in favour of the claimant, regardless of the circumstances.

What should have been a straightforward case of disruption and failure in service instead became a long, frustrating process with no meaningful resolution. We were left with nothing more than disappointment and a sense that our concerns were not properly addressed.

Overall, we are deeply dissatisfied with the service provided. After such a significant and emotional situation, we expected much more in terms of support, accountability, and fairness. Instead, we were left feeling let down and without closure after an already upsetting experience.

ABTA, Perfect wedding abroad and TUI should all be ashamed of themselves. A wedding we saved years for to be the worst experience of our lives and for no one to accept liability or responsibility and to only be compensated for lack of communication is utterly disgusting given the circumstances of everything.

We first pursued ABTA and made a complaint directly with PWA perfect weddings abroad as we had no dealing with TUI directly and everything went through our wedding third party provider so we had no ownership over our booking. After a whole year we were then told by ABTA we would need to pursue TUI separately and PWA could not be held responsible for the holiday part which is absolutely ridiculous.
We then had to start a separate claim against TUI even though we stated multiple time we had no direct communication or ownership of that part of the booking! And just as we suspected that was the response we received from TUI just an apology as we didn’t contact them directly at the time even though we went through our third party provider multiple times complaining.

Don't think you’re protected when you see ABTA they protect the booking agents not us. Making any claim through them is utterly useless and time consuming for them to hold no one responsible and to get just an empty apology from the company involved you’ll just fight a losing battle. Don’t waste your time!

I was kept up to date throughout my claim. Very satisfied. It is worth booking with ABTA associated companies.

ABTA were fantastic at handling my dispute. Really quick and I got a result too. Thank you

Fast & efficient in getting my money back to me from a tour company that went bust.

Very easy to register the problem. Dealt with swiftly and kept up to date. A simple operation and a good outcome.

I wish I had seen the 75% of negative reviews on here before I wasted my time compiling all sorts of evidence in the belief that it would be reviewed independently. All that seems to have happened is the information exchanged between myself and jet2 has just been sent back to jet2 who, unsurprisingly, aren’t interested. abta won’t actually tell me if they have reviewed the data that they asked for) . Then to take it any further, I have to pay for what are failings in jet2 operational issues eg taking 5 months to respond to a complaint, closing a case within 48 hours as i didn’t have access to email to reply ( no indication that this is their policy), not contacting customers who have made themselves available to discuss an issue, gdpr compliance failures, false advertising, refusing to investigate issues claiming I didn’t report them when their own gdpr team says otherwise, claiming I reported something when not even in the country and safety concerns with their hotel on fire risks. This isn’t something any customer should be expected to pay for to resolve. the travel companies know that abta is not consumer supportive and so they carry on with the same disregard for the people whose holiday purchases are hard earned and/ or saved for. Given the number of negative reviews on here, it’s clear that the travel agent is king, the consumer an inconvenience. I have messaged abta again to ask the same question on my data but shouldn’t have to do that. You can’t get to speak to anyone either which sums up my entire experience since September 2025, faceless and voiceless.
It would be interesting to see what trending abta actually complete and act on regarding customer holiday issues and when using their appointed mediator, how many cases are settled in favour of the customer and how many customers have actually benefited from using the paid for service. How Can this information be obtained? Otherwise you are basically on your own, can’t see what their value is at all if nothing changes. They say they guide you through the process, I haven’t had any guidance from them or spoken to anyone. I had numerous comments from people before going to abta saying not to bother as it’s always the travel agent who is believed. If others are feeling the same then the number of complaints submitted will be far lower than what’s happening in reality so not a true picture

Thankyou so much for dealing with our claim very very appreciated

My dispute was resolved very quickly to both parties satisfaction.

I would like to share very positive feedback about the mediation service provided by ABTA, and especially about the mediator, Sarah.

She was professional, calm, and very supportive throughout the entire process. She made what could have been a stressful situation feel structured and manageable, and ensured that both sides were heard.

Her approach was fair, empathetic, and highly professional, which helped to reach a resolution in a constructive way.

I truly appreciate her support and the quality of service provided. Thank you for making a difficult situation much easier to hand.

We are experiencing difficulty in getting a refund from our travel agent and so contacted ABTA for assistance. I was listened to by Sarah who showed a complete understanding of our situation. She gave me confidence that the matter would be dealt by the association.

15/06/25: Following your silence regarding my post 14/04/26 to remove this post if you presented your case why you lead me into HuntABR (waste of time), it has become clear that you would of appeared to use unknown evidence as TUI have now confirmed I am in procession of all evidence( Freedom of information request). So having giving you the opportunity to present your case and why you felt the evidence I presented was unusable by ABTA but didn’t explain why ? You now can understand why I have the right to take this matter further into the public domain and expect answers on your actions and why ?

I wish you good luck with your future evidence.

14/04/26- I am more then happy to delete post this post and give ABTA a five star rating if:

You can confirm that you have listen to the telephone conversation/reviewed data between myself/TUI on 27/06/25 as advised to me by TUI operatives during the telephone conversation on 13/07/25. After reviewing the 27/06/25 phone call you referred me on onto HuntABR as you concluded you could not help me any further with this issues.

Once you have confirmed the above I shall delete the post I shall prove a correction awaiting your response.

14/04/26 Hunt ABR response 😂😂😂😂😂 referred to from ABTA

HuntABR have claimed they only review evidence supplied by both parties but the question is to the evidence below do you really think TUI admitted to not making the call on 27/06/25 to rectify the there mistake. Or admitting on 14/07/25 of the call but not providing any evidence of the call up to present day.

I have the telephone calls supplied via TUI so why haven’t Hunt ABR / reply from Hunt ABR on trust pilot 14/04/26 a further £350 required to carry this investigation/ fraudulent activity sham.

I feel the authorities can deal with this fraud and let them listen to the TUI evidence which is evident ABTA/ HuntABR haven’t.

***** SAVE YOUR MONEY *****

Not fit for purpose

13/04/26 Well Done ABTA you have just done it again I will explain it for you:

If TUI had contacted me by Telephone on 27/06/25 ( which they claim on there data evidence), why didn’t they just email over new theme park tickets to cover the remaining 12 days of the holiday ???? Also why haven’t they released the data of this phone call? Yet ABTA/Hunter ABR have not questioned this matter and makes both your investigations a fraudulent activity and questions what you have been investigating ???? Clearly it is not my case which I supplied evidence for ?

Look at the evidence your presented with but yet again ignored for the 2nd time ABTA that’s your problem - not fit for purpose and why I’m asking for external help.

Which I was told that the evidence CAB/BBC Watchdog of TUI phone calls clearly questioned why TUI never presented the 27/06/25 evidence, this in turn clearly made there claim worthless and why ABTA/Hunter ABR were brought into this case. So you now say the telephone data supplied by TUI is incorrect ( missing call 27/06/25 ?). Now this is why an investigation needs to be put in place for ABTA/Hunter ABR. You ignore evidence provided/proof but then either ignore or choose to not act for your customer base - Travelling Public. So why should the public have faith in you or Hunter ABR when you do not act when you have the evidence presented to you from the Travel company. Thats why you both need to be held accountable for your lack of action. Now you see why I invite a total investigation to both companies so the public gets a fair and better deal and not just ignored. You are dealing with members of the public who save hard for these holidays and not get (whitewashed/demands for more monies) with ridiculous stupid reasoning why you can’t ? Time we had a organisation who deal and work with the public and that’s why the government needs to be involved to investigate your lack of help when you have all the evidence and choose not to act? Disgusting shame on you yet again not to help just excuses why you can’t 😡😡😡😡😡😡. So that’s why we need government assistance

Stand up help the public and stop giving excuses.

*** As requested from your reply information below ****

Why is it right for company to take a booking let you down and then ABTA assist the holiday companies to defraud the public of there hard earned monies. ABTA time for you to be investigated along with your Arbitration partner HuntABR, time for the government to investigate and put in place a procedure that helps the people not insult the people.
Any MPs reading this please feel free to contact me to discuss a new fair people friendly organisation.

As requested case number 302377 - would like to remind you I have the recordings of all communications with TUI apart from 27-06-25 that TUI claimed took place ( still awaiting TUI to supply this information awaiting your response to your request regarding my Trustpilot review)

My original appointment was missing due to 'staffing issues' so no one rang me. Rescheduled to the next day and then was 40 mins late to ring. Process was easy and people were helpful

Immediately had a reply from the company I complained about and my dispute was resolved. Thank you for you fast response and all your help

Doesn't seem many people know about this service. When we are ABTA and ATOL protected, it really does mean something. If you feel you genuinely received a bad service for the amount you paid with a travel agent and they aren't willing to accept responsibility, ensure you try to get what you are owed via ABTA. I wasn't asking for a lot, and the process through ABTA came in handy.

As soon as they got all my info they got my money back quickly. The lady on the phone was very helpful.

Given ABTA do not award compensation or make a decision on any case (part of their T&C's), not sure what benefit they bring! In my situation they only acted as a 'middle man' passing on correspondence which I had already done directly with the travel company. However, must take this step to allow you to progress to official independent arbitration, so just delays the whole process if looking to prove ABTA member had failed in their service to you and going onto seek compensation.

Abta was very considerate towards my issues. The team communicated frequently and effectively. I was able to log into my account easily, to check progress of my case and the resolution was completed within the timeframe initially stated.

I had my once in a lifetime trip I’d booked to Euro Disney for me and my son cancelled 10 days before we were due to go and the travel company I booked with weren’t particularly sympathetic or helpful. Luckily ABTA have been brilliant, the travel company hadn’t provided all the documents I needed for the claim which was causing more delays but I managed to speak one of the managers at ABTA Sue who was just amazing and got it all sorted in a day and one week later I have all my money back.

Thanks for your assistance with my dispute, i was happy with the outcome

Each ABTA consultant i spoke to were extremely helpful. They advised and gave assistance when required.