Complaints about problems booking airline tickets online have prompted a call for carriers to introduce a 24-hour “cooling off” period.
The call comes from the consumer watchdog the Air Transport Users Council which says it has seen the number of complaints about booking online with airlines more than double in the last few years.
Although the AUC declined to name carriers involved, chairman Tina Tietjen said a number of airlines “regularly” leave passengers out of pocket.
This can follow innocent mistakes by travellers or even glitches in airline booking systems.
“Reservations systems do not always work smoothly and we believe that the risks of booking over the internet should not be always loaded onto passengers,” she said.
Direct reservation systems used by Travel companies have a certain amount of flexibility, errors can always be corrected same day and connectivity to airline systems is more robust and in real time, thus more accurate.
The AUC has written to the chief executives of the airlines where it has experienced the most unresolved complaints and demanded they put in place more customer friendly policies.
“We have suggested a policy where airlines voluntarily commit to providing a 24-hour cooling off period in which passengers can cancel their reservations free of charge within 24 hours of making a booking,” said Tietjen.
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