p48-49 letters sep 12 8/9/08 18:49 Page 44
your letters
Shambolic way to return
fuel surcharge refunds
In the last few weeks we have been inundated
with letters requiring us to contact all our
affected clients who were overcharged on fuel
Global warming
surcharges between August 11, 2004, and
August 23, 2006.
A claim form has been attached with just
the name of the client and we are required to
locate them at the latest by December 31, 2012,
so that they may claim the overpayment from
not due to travel
the settlement administrator.
In my opinion this is not the best approach as
this charade could see refunds end up in the
wrong hands. THE HEADLINES scream that we LET appear concerned about this sup-
It would be nice if a cheque was sent to are going to hell in a handcart
OF THE
TER
posed threat to our very existence.
the relevant agents for all the passengers because of unprecedented I have yet to be convinced that
generated from their offices with a little more temperature increases, melting
WEEK
this is anything other than a cyclical
information about the passengers’ travel dates ice sheets and rising sea levels. phenomenon. At the turn of the last
and the ticket numbers which no doubt the Pretty soon Europe’s best wine will be millennium, Greenland’s ice sheets
airlines could have supplied with the names. grown in Bradford and we will all need melted and Danish colonisers grew crops
Certainly it would give us a chance to recover malarial precautions to visit the Lake District on its fertile grasslands. There were no
some administrative charges. due to the temperature changes. aeroplanes or cars to blame back then. Oliver
Although both airlines concerned, British Abta feels that travel agents are to blame Cromwell died of malaria in 1658, contracted
Airways and Virgin Atlantic, are committed to for the poor uptake in carbon offsetting in Ireland. It gets warmer and then it gets
refunding the fuel overcharge, there has been activities. The clamour for operators, airlines, cooler; it always has and it always will.
no publicity or an apology from the airlines in travel agencies and industry bodies to prove Also, this warming is not unique to earth.
the national newspapers to the affected how green they are is becoming not a little Mars is also experiencing a significant warm-
passengers with instructions to contact their nauseating. They nod sagely when speaking ing, but luckily FlyMars.com is considering a
travel agents to recover the fuel surcharge. of issues they are not remotely qualified to reduction in flights this winter, so it will be OK.
discuss, tutting and shaking their heads at
Dan Lala the appropriate moment, regurgitating the David Sutcliffe.
managing director, Fast and Easy Travel, London musings of the “experts” to ensure that they partner, Traveltalk, Harrogate
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