While the vast majority of travel and tourism companies appear to have been doing the right thing, with travel bookings in turmoil as a result of COVID-19, creating international travel bans, cruise bans, state border closures and much, much, much more, with travel not happening very much outside the control of both travellers and the industry.
Sadly, others it appears have not been behaving so well, with some also behaving pretty appallingly, potentially severely damaging the industry’s reputation for honesty and good business practice.
The news has been full of very sad stories and some I have already reported include for example, even Virgin Australia refusing to refund international fares booked before the sale of Virgin Australia to Bain Capital, because they now only fly domestic flights and therefore only offering domestic flight credits!
Another is QANTAS refusing to confirm to me that they had refunded all the fares cancelled from March, yet they were selling new tickets and taking money for them, with their refusal to me meaning that they had not refunded the earlier bookings!
There are many, many more stories and some very complex indeed with another article from our friends at Cruise Passenger I featured in Global Travel Media, about a cruise passenger who had been told by Celebrity that Celebrity was giving them a refund for their cruise and other travel, but Webjet apparently refusing to confirm they were going to pay it! Amazing! I do seriously wonder where the state and federal governments are in this debacle?
In the meantime and thank goodness, enter Adam Glezer, a knight in shining armour on a white horse to many frustrated Australians, who have not received their refunds having paid out many hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more, with Adam on his Facebook page saying: –
My name is Adam Glezer and I am the co-founder of the Facebook group Flight Centre Class Action Australia and I am running Flight Centre-Give Us Our Refunds.
I am a consumer advocate and a media liaison.
I created this group because what we are facing is an industry wide issue; it’s not specific to one company. Many problems that are being faced by customers of one travel company are also being faced by customers of others.
This is a forum to bring together Australian customers that are facing issues with ALL TRAVEL COMPANIES to give each other advice and support.
Way too many people are experiencing significant mental or physical anguish over what they are experiencing through the stress a travel company has caused.
This is a group to show that you are not alone. Whether it be airlines, online travel agencies, traditional travel agencies, tour companies, cruise-lines, rail companies, wholesalers, package holiday companies, travel insurance etc., this is the place for you.
We are proposing legislative change to the government to ensure that us, as customers, are protected and we NEVER find ourselves in this position again.
Irrespective of if you are currently facing issues with a company, you have in the past or you just want to see change, please join.
Our Admin team includes Sarah Holmes, Frances Bourke, Jaclyn Glezer, Dennis Hartney and myself and I will be posting updates, advice, breaking news and anything else relevant on here. Please feel free to PM any of us with any questions you may have if you haven’t got the answers you are looking for through the group.
REMEMBER WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
If things are getting on top of you are and you need to speak with someone now, remember these two numbers are always available to you:
Lifeline – 131114
Beyond Blue – 1300224636
Adam urges anyone in a difficult situation with securing refunds to not give up, saying, “Chase your travel provider and do the hard work”, adding, “It is important to collect evidence and find out where your money is,” and “It is very hard for providers or travel agents to deny you a refund if you can see they have your money.”So, where do consumers and travel agents fighting for refunds and feeling they are getting nowhere or are frustrated by the responses they are receiving go from here?
Well, the next step is joining Adam and his team’s Facebook page ‘Travel Industry Issues – The Need for Change for Australians‘ and seek advice and support from his Facebook group.
In the meantime, With Adam having become the saviour and champion of those trying to secure travel refunds, John Alwyn-Jones of Global Travel Media spoke with Adam and to check out what Adam had to say, CLICK HERE or on the box below:-
An edited report from Cruise Passenger by John Alwyn-Jones
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…. it’s about time travel industry design a new way of protecting consumers…. like creating an escrow bank account for all payments made by travelers that will be only released to suppliers when services or goods have been delivered or fulfilled… like for example you book a flight and hotel with an agent and fully paid for both services, the agent would then send the payment to an escrow bank which will hold the funds…. the only time the funds can be released is when the services have been fulfilled by suppliers….. this will protect consumers when agency shuts down unexpectedly or even when suppliers goes under admin… just a suggestion..