FTI bankruptcy: customers to be compensated by fall
Published: Tuesday, Jul 16th 2024, 04:00
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Following the bankruptcy of the tour operator FTI, the package travelers affected should receive their compensation in the coming months. However, this does not apply to all of the more than 250,000 people affected.
"The majority of refunds should be made by the fall," said a spokeswoman for the German Travel Security Fund, which covers package tours. "The reimbursement process is currently being prepared and will start soon." The spokeswoman did not give an exact date for the start of payments.
According to an analysis of the insolvent company's booking and travel data, a total of 250,000 package tours were canceled. In addition, there were 60,000 package travelers who were already on vacation with FTI at the time of the insolvency. Payments that those affected had to make locally in order to continue trips that had already begun could now also be reimbursed. The fund did not provide any information on the total amount of compensation due when asked.
After the FTI bankruptcy, the Travel Security Fund commissioned other tour operators such as Tui and DER Touristik to look after stranded FTI holidaymakers so that they could continue their vacation. Swiss travel providers also stepped into the breach for FTI. The vast majority of travelers were able to complete their trip as planned, it was said. The fund transferred the costs incurred directly to the respective tour operator.
Only package tours covered
FTI, previously the third-largest European provider, filed for insolvency at the beginning of June and shortly afterwards canceled all trips that had already been booked. The German Travel Security Fund protects payments already made for package tours against the insolvency of the tour operator. The protection does not apply to individually booked travel components such as pure hotel bookings. There is also no reimbursement from the fund for individually booked flights or rental cars.
The fund, which is organized by the German tourism industry and supervised by the Federal Ministry of Justice, was founded following the insolvency of travel group Thomas Cook in September 2019. In the event of the bankruptcy of a travel provider, it is intended to take care of the reimbursement of advance payments made by customers, the repatriation of stranded holidaymakers if necessary and their accommodation until they are repatriated.
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