FATTA Malta - Consumer Services

When you make a business or holiday booking (usually when you get a confirmation /invoice/ transportation ticket, hotel vouchers etc..) , This is a legally binding contract with the travel agent , tour operator, airline etc.. - the company that has taken care of your travel arrangements. The Consumer protection legislation stipulates that you have the right to expect what you booked and paid for. You should make sure to have all the details, terms and conditions of the services you are being offered and booking. The travel agent/ tour operator is liable for all the services - car hire, accommodation, flights, etc - as long as they were part of the package the company arranged for you.
There may be many reasons to entitle you to file a complaint and claim compensation, but for example , bad weather or simply a wrong choice of holiday for you, and things beyond the tour operator’s control.
You have a legal duty to prove that the travel agent, tour operator, airline etc.., has broken the terms of the services contract. These are known as ‘express’ or ‘implied’ terms. Examples of express terms are : the brochure promises full board or water-skiing, say. Implied terms are those which aren’t spelt out in the contract. For example, the holiday was not up to standard , as promised and for the price you paid.

To qualify for compensation you must then prove that you have suffered a loss as a direct result of a breach of the contract. This is not always a straightforward process.

How much compensation you can reasonably expect (if any), depends on the extent to which you were prevented from travelling and/or enjoying the holiday. It’s not an exact science. The law expects you to act reasonably when faced with a problem and when looking for things to be sorted out

If you have a complaint about the quality of goods and services you have a legal duty to ‘mitigate’ your loss - that means taking all reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your enjoyment of the holiday/travel. Your claim may not succeed if you didn’t complain as soon as possible on the spot while in resort and give the travel agent representative, tour operator , airline or any other supplier every reasonable opportunity to put things right, or if you didn’t accept any reasonable attempts by the company to sort out the problem at the time.

Compensation claims can have three components, although your complaint may not fall into every category:

a) Loss of value: the difference between the value of the holiday you paid for and the one you actually got
b) Out-of-pocket expenses: refund of any reasonable expenses you incurred as a result of the breach of contract
c) Delay and/or Loss of enjoyment: something to compensate for denied boarding, disappointment and distress caused by things that went wrong, that is not as per contract.
With regards to a holiday package , where ‘disappointment’ and ‘distress’ form part of the claim, there is little guidance for arbitrators or judges to help them work compensation levels. They will weigh up all the evidence to see if the company has broken the law, but will also look to see if you have acted reasonably. You must work out the amount that represents the proportion of the holiday that was a failure. If, for example, you spent two days sorting out a problem (eg, an unsatisfactory room) it may be appropriate to base a claim for compensation on the proportion of the accommodation part of the holiday which was ‘lost’

Remember that it’s rare to get the whole holiday cost back. Only if the holiday was a total disaster from start to finish or if your disappointment and expenses were substantial can you expect a full refund or more. Also remember, if you’ve already accepted compensation in resort, you can’t usually reopen your complaint when you get home.

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COMPLAINING

FATTA provides assistance to you if you have a complaint against companies that are members of our Association. The quality of the holidays and services provided by companies members of FATTA is crucial to the reputation of the industry - Tour operators and travel agents are responsible for the sale of the vast majority of package holidays as stipulated and regulated by the " Package Travel Directive".

When you seek our assistance regarding a possible complaint :

We need to see all the documentation. This includes confirmation invoice, relevant parts of the brochure containing descriptions of the holiday, and copies of all relevant correspondence

We will immediately make a record of your complaint

We aim to reply to you within 7 working days

We will deal without any prejudice directly and informally with you and with the Travel agent or tour operators if this company ONLY if this is a member of our Association.
We may be able to help you settle your dispute by bringing you and our member together. If this doesn’t work, you could send full details to our Consumer Affairs Department (see ‘Contact Details’).