Aer Lingus says claims on its holiday packages are just 'sour grapes'

Claims by travel agents' organisations that Aer Lingus is selling overpriced packaged holidays without any consumer protection are just "sour grapes" the company said yesterday.

The Irish Tour Operators' Federation and the Irish Travel Agents' Association say the airline is trying to "dupe the travelling public" into buying high-priced packaged holidays which are neither "genuine" nor "traditional".

Holidays booked through the Aer Lingus website are not protected by the ITAA travel agents' bond, the groups said and customers could find themselves with no comeback if their holiday falls through. "Consumers need to be aware of the danger in booking holidays through the Aer Lingus website.

"Aer Lingus does not protect consumers in the event of a collapse as it has no bond in place. This happened most recently with the collapse of Jet Magic with hundreds of holidaymakers stranded overseas," Mr Niall McDonnell, the ITOF president, said.

The price of an Aer Lingus holiday is "substantially more than with a recognised tour operator" he said and doesn't include transfer costs, or local resort representation. "The advertising by Aer Lingus is misleading in that it suggests that the public can book a genuine traditional holiday on its website. This is not the case," Mr Michael Doorley, the ITAA president said. "If there is a need for local expert advice or any issue that needs to be resolved whilst abroad on an Aer Lingus so-called package, there is nobody to turn to - you are on your own.

"In our opinion Aer Lingus should leave the full packaging of holidays to the established professionals and not give the misleading impression to the public that it is capable of delivering a traditional summer holiday package."

Aer Lingus said it does not sell packaged holidays, but offers holidaymakers an on-line facility for booking car hire, hotels and holiday insurance.

"This is a non-issue, we never claimed to be offering packaged holidays. It's just sour grapes, but the ITAA and ITOF have paid us the best compliment they can by showing that we're obviously hurting them," a company spokeswoman said. Aer Lingus does not need to be ITAA bonded, she said, because they were not a tour operator but they were offering links on their web site to other reputable companies.

"We're not offering an inclusive holiday package, what we're doing is no different from what other airlines do on their websites, but obviously we're doing it well or the tour operators wouldn't be complaining." Aer Lingus would not leave customers "high and dry", and, she added that the ITOF often chartered Aer Lingus aircraft.