IATA confirms Air Australia BSP funds preserved.
AFTA has hailed a communication just sent to agents by IATA, advising that the airline association has reached agreement with the administrator of the collapsed Air Australia for the processing of refund applications filed by travel agents in BSPlink.
Funds held by IATA in the BSP have been preserved, allowing refunds to be processed for not flown or partially used tickets.
The deadline for filing refunds is close of business on 06 April, and IATA is asking agents to provide a full calculation of the refund including taxes and commission to facilitate a timely and effective process.
Credit card refund requests still have to be addressed directly with the airline or the credit card issuer.
Further information will be provided to agents once Air Australia has evaluated the refund applications submitted and provided IATA with a list of approved transactions, with this expected to happen during the week of 30 Apr.
AFTA ceo Jayson Westbury said “this is very good news in what has been a long wait to at least be able to get some money back for travel agents and consumers for not flown sectors,” Westbury said.
“While this does not solve everyone’s problems, it will help some agents recoup against refunds that they may have had to offer through no fault of their own”.
At this stage there is no confirmed amount in respoect to tickets issued by BSP and for which a refund will be eligible, because the money held by IATA is only that which had not been remitted to the airline at the time of its collapse.
Westbury said it’s not known exactly how much in the dollar will be refunded, “but nevertheless this result is better than no refund at all and the funds held by IATA being seized by the administrator for use with creditors”.
He also said it’s now time for some real action in relation to how travel agents get caught in the middle when a collapse of this kind takes place.
“Over 24 years ago when the TCF was created it was because of the drama a collapse of a travel agent created for some consumers. An airline collapse is exactly the same thing but on a much larger and more serious scale. Not only does the issue of the consumer being at loss come into play, but for AFTA the bigger issue is that of the travel agent’s loss as a result of acting as the merchant for the airline and having to cover the loss via the credit card chargeback laws”.
Westbury urged that all travel agents should review this process going forward as it’s inevitable that similar collapses will occur in the future.
He also confirmed that AFTA had approached Federal Tourism Minister, Martin Ferguson, in relation to the issue, urging changes to regulations for start-up carriers to include financial monitoring and covering the treatment of moneys held for sectors that have not been flown.
AFTA is urging clearer powers for the ACCC to ensure that easily identifiable funds held for tickets sold but not yet flown are returned to travel agents and consumers and not be allowed to be taken by the administrator to pay other creditors.
“In light of the significant, protracted and delayed review of consumer protection in the travel agency space, this latest airline collapse makes a total mockery of that entire process. The administrators report shows that forward sales held were in the order of $35 milliion. This loss to consumers is more than the cash reserve of the TCF. It is in one way fortunate that the TCF does not have to pay out for this collapse as it would have wiped out the entire reserve,” he said.
“This fact clearly demonstrates that the TCF is not the model nor the vehicle to resolve the collapse of airlines. AFTA continues to call on the State governments to move forward on the reform of travel agent regulations at the same time and we are hopeful that finally in 2012 we will have a clear and concise pathway to new regulations for the management of travel agents in Australia.
“In the end airlines will come and go but what the industry really needs is better controls in place by government to not only ensure the safety of the travelling public but also ensure the financial certainty and fairness for travel agents who are always in the middle when these collapses occur,” Westbury concluded.
More information in tomorrow’s Travel Daily.