ANVR and SGR present, in cooperation with the Consumers’ Association and the ANWB, a guarantee fund for loose airline tickets. This also insures passengers who only buy an airline ticket if the airline cannot meet its obligations.
The proposal for a ticket fund will be presented to politicians on Monday. ‘The proposal will eventually have to be regulated by law, to ensure that every airline is also obliged to participate,’ says ANVR front man Frank Oostdam.
Until now, air passengers have only been insured if the flight is part of a package holiday. The new fund is designed to compensate passengers when an airline goes bankrupt or to retrieve stranded passengers. ‘This creates better consumer protection, more of a ‘level playing field’ with package tours and less risk for the travel industry itself,’ said Erik Jan Reuver, director of SGR.
In the past nearly 3 years, some 16 airlines have gone bankrupt in Europe alone, including Air Berlin, Wow Air, Aigle Azur and Thomas Cook airlines. Outside Europe, others fell, including Jet Airways. Consumers then not only lose the money from their purchased tickets, but stranded passengers often have to buy expensive one-way tickets to get back home. On top of that, in many cases, the cost of canceling hotel rooms and car rentals, for example, is high just before departure. A guarantee fund reimburses airfare and/or repatriates the traveler if necessary.
The plan is for all departing passengers from Schiphol to pay a surcharge of approximately 0.25 – 0, 50 cents per ticket, regardless of which airline they fly with. This makes the fund competitively neutral. That contribution will be deposited in the new fund.
The goal is to raise 25 to 35 million euros. If that limit is reached, then the surcharge is stopped as long as there are no claims.
‘This method works well in Denmark,’ says Oostdam. ‘We go one step further, because in the Netherlands passengers do not have to pay a deductible, while in Denmark there is a deductible of 250 euros.’
The levy is through the airport tax at Schiphol. Implementation is in the hands of SGR who will launch SGRL, with the L of Aviation, a sister therefore to SGR. The fund covers departing passengers from Dutch airports. The guarantee does not apply to flights from airports in Belgium and Germany. This is difficult to implement in relation to levy and implementation.
‘The special thing is that the ticket fund is a broad initiative, as the Consumers’ Association and the ANWB are also behind it.’ (Photo Shutterstock).
