ABTA Avis 745

Contacted ABTA as getting nowhere despite numerous e mails to P&O for over 2 months. Once ABTA involved I received a cheque in full within a few days. Thank you ABTA.

We booked a package including transfers with an online agent. As our flight was delayed by two hours the transfer had long gone, leaving us in a foreign airport at 2.30 on a Sunday morning. On the advice of their helpline we got a local taxi (159 Euro) but got nowhere with claiming a refund from the company. So when I came home I raised a dispute with ABTA. They aren't quick, but within 24 hours of them saying they were contacting the company, I got an email from the travel agents to say that they would be reimbursing my costs. I was being fobbed off and blamed for incurring additional costs and got nowhere until I contacted them. It wasn't straightforward to get information to them, I ended up printing it out and posting it as the tech options are clumsy, but it worked out in the end.

ABTA resolved my complaint quickly and efficiently. I had spent months corresponding with the travel companies, without a resolution. On escalating it to ABTA my complaint was sorted within 2 weeks.

Whilst they responded to me in a timely and professional manner, it seems ABTA only act as a go between, between you and the travel company. They may force them to respond, but they have no actual powers, or actually do any mediation. The travel company respond, and ABTA just tell you what they said. To get proper arbitration you have to pay £108 to an independent company, which is not worth the time and effort, if all you're after is admission of wrongdoing, a proper apology, and only a couple of hundred in compensation. I guess that's what the travel companies rely on ....

Appear to be useless from what I’ve learned. You have to pay for arbitration so the customer is immediately on the back foot. What a complete waste of time.

ABTA solved our problems swiftly and efficiently. They kept us informed of progress at all times. Should we need them again, which I hope we won't, we wouldn't hesitate to get in touch with them.

What do ABTA actually do?? My wife and her friend had dreadful service from a travel agent but, as has been previously mentioned, when it came to complaining their response was toothless. They suggested the arbitration route at a personal cost and pretty much wiped their have of the matter. Very disappointed. It seems that ABTA Protected means very little at all.

Waste of time and effort.
7 months after raising initial complaint with Easyjet Holidays and 5 months after referral to ABTA we are no further forward in our claim for compensation for Easyjet's failure to provide return transport to airport.

(A month after receiving confirmation from ABTA that our case documents had been uploaded we received notification that this was not so - uploaded a second time, verified a second time and then another month later we were asked to send docs again!)

ABTA is sold by Travel Companies to guarantee that services are provided as in the contract (at a cost to the customer). ABTA for its part states “If your complaint is against an ABTA member, you can register your complaint with us, send through details and we can look into it on your behalf” and “If something has gone wrong with your holiday, we can offer you advice and potential solutions”. ABTA does neither - it simply refers the matter back to the member company for comment.
ABTA has even failed to respond to our request that they confirm that ABTA members are obliged to follow the ABTA Code of Practice and Package Holiday Regulations (1 July 2018) so that one wonders whether anyone at ABTA actually reads customer complaints.

Easyjet Holidays for its part has now refunded "cost of the shared transfers and the Taxi cost" we incurred but has refused to pay compensation due under Package Holiday Regulations for its failure to provide the service in the agreement and the resulting stress, inconvenience, discomfort and loss of time. Easyjet Holidays have also so far refused to explain why they failed to inform us of return transport arrangements, why we had to contact the In Holiday Support Team to get this information, and why the information we eventually received was faulty. They claim that we have accepted this refund in settlement of our claim for compensation (untrue) and that we "did not contact the In Holiday Support Team" (also untrue).

21 May
Interesting that since lodging our complaint with Trustpilot ABTA have contacted us (via Trustpilot) to "ask for more details to better understand your (our) experience" - information already submitted on numerous occasions to the ABTA website!
Update 1 July 2024.
We have been informed by ABTA that we have now reached the end of Stage 1 of the official ABTA ADR Process (pre Action Notice) and nothing has happened to change our initial opinion of ABTA (whose review was apparently carried out anonymously by individuals unknown and unnamed - none of whom, it is stated, "is a qualified Arbitrator") or its member Easyjet Holidays. We have been given the option of pursuing our claim for compensation either through court action or arbitration (at personal costs). So one may ask - what exactly is the point of ABTA and what have we gained by referring our complaint to tehm ?
As a traveler it may be reassuring to know that ABTA exist (as long as you don't need to use them) but in practice (if you do need to use them) they are not "fit for purpose"

A really poor experience from start to finish, drawn out, no powers to actually do anything, no way to contact them to raise a complaint about their dreadful service, and direct you to an arbitration process which they charge you for and then don't even administer in line with their published rules.

Update - ABTA have now also confirmed the rules they publish for their Arbitration Scheme are not those actually used when processing cases, and they have no published complaints process.

Response to ABTA reply - Unsurprisingly remain dissatisfied with the 'correct information provided' being confirmation that a different set of rules to those published by ABTA were used to benefit an ABTA member!

August update - CTSI (the scheme custodian) have confirmed they 'will now address the issues that (I) have raised with the ADR body directly and take further action with the body, as necessary. Any non-compliance issues that are identified...will be reported to the Department of Business and Trade.

It was nice to have experts fighting your corner in any dispute.
I should imagine ABTA are very busy with complaints and that was obvious with the time the complaint took to rectify.
But I am more than happy with the outcome.

Not sure why you bothered to reply to my statement as yet again unhelpful. This hotel should never have been advertised as a 5star hotel. I have stayed in a couple of 4star and 5star hotels in the same area and yours was absolutely disgusting. Furthermore my Christmas was ruined. There was no TUI Rep that came to the hotel even though TUI said there was, which I have in writing. I was also told this Hotel was not thru a 3rd party, in writing, this was also incorrect information.

I put in a complaint about a 5star Hotel which was dirty, unhygienic, cold food etc. I decided to move out half way thru my holiday. I complained to ABTA. Heard nothing for 2 months, went in to Facebook and said this and ABTA sent an email saying I was on stage 1. Another couple of months went by. Again said something on Facebook and again I got an email saying there has been an update. What a scam of a company. They didn't look into anything at all. Pointless company. I wouldn't trust TUI or ABTA, appalling customer service.

ABTA really helped me with my concerns regarding a package holiday that was changed by an airline.
Really easy complaints procedure, and helped resolve the issue after I was getting no where speaking directly with the airline. Thank you ABTA

Moc děkuji za asistenci. Můj první boj proti nespravedlnosti dopadl dobře. TUI společnost s námi nechtěla komunikovat a už vůbec nebyla ochotná nám kompenzovat zničenou dovolenou. Po stížnosti u ABTA se vše dalo do pohybu a najednou to šlo. TUI nám nabídla to co jsme chtěli původně. Je samozřejmě smutné že TUI společnost to s námi neřešila předtím, ale jsem ráda že to pomohlo. Vše proběhlo velmi rychle a komunikace ze strany ABTA výborná.

Gill (forgive me for not getting the sub-continent spelling) was great in customer service, really patient and attentive, thank you so much Gill or maybe Jill ✅

I am rest assured, sorry to double check my booking 🚢🙏🏻

I am very surprised to see such split reviews here and can only speak of my own experience, my first time taking a matter to ABTA. Like Lisa, my travel agency declined my request 3 times, but within a week of ABTA contacting them, I received a reply that the request was 100% solved, so I was very happy and thanked both organisations.

I complained to ABTA regarding P and O using Maleth Aero for flights to our Caribbean cruise in Dec 23. P and O changed the airline and the service delivery was significantly less than promised at purchase. P and O even apologised publicly over this on the internet. This is really well documented throughout the internet. Our claim was one for recompense for the difference between what was promised and what was provided.I have just got a reply. ‘P and O have not changed their position’. ABTA have offered mediation at cost. I am sorry, but ABTA have failed in their delivery and I feel that asking for more money for mediation smacks of working hand in hand with P and O, and not as independent as they would hope to give as an impression. They really are a waste of your time and effort, so I would consider very carefully before putting your trust in this organisation. Thanks.

Contacting ABTA is an utter waste of time, they appear to go through the motions but nothing happens until you get to the stage when in order to proceed with your issue, you are required to part with even more money.
We were abandoned by Tui twice and received a paltry Holiday Travel Voucher. But in all honesty my dealings with ABTA turned out as expected, it seems the holiday companies obviously have a great deal of influence on the trade association, ABTA do admit that they can not influence the travel companies, which beggars the question, “what exactly their purpose”?
After reading the ABTA reply, it just confirms what I have said above, I would also just like to add that I shouldn't have to spend money in order to address a truly awful experience whilst on holiday with Tui who do seem to have a very much monopoly on the UK travel scene, there are other options out there but they aren't always suitable.

Opend a case agains the awful Shearings/Leger group. Documents provided as asked. Advised thirty days for a response. This was in November 2023 It's now late February 2024. I have heard absolutuely nothing. I tried to sign in to my account, and I got the message "credentials not recognised"! Utter bag of sh1 T.

We are delighted with ABTA's help in getting a prompt resolution to our dispute

I had a dispute with their ABTA Member, After I raised my complaint being food poisoning I knew i got from the pakage i booked, as I did not eat anywhere else, there was no repreentative at the hotel, When i rasied it with the hotel reception person, they ignored it and was more interested in getting money for drinks like water I had not paid for as no wallet with me. I did not seek medical advice as I it lasted a few hours. Abta just backed the Agent, as I did not get a medical report, this was due to illness not lasting two days, otherwise gone to a doctors in Gran Canaria I was after a small amount of compensation for loss of enjyment ABTA is a waste of time just xtra work for nothing not impressed, The hotel did not do an investigation,