For many tourists, the dream of a summer vacation bursts like a soap bubble. But at least most people get their money back. Now is the time to quickly replan and hope that the summer vacation can be saved with another provider.
The travel company FTI Touristik has canceled all booked trips. This was announced by the provisional bankruptcy administrator, Axel Bierbach, after the decision of the creditors' meeting. Many travel agencies were waiting for this step.
This affects 175,000 package holidays and certain individual services that customers booked for their departures from 6 July through the insolvent companies FTI Touristik GmbH and BigXtra Touristik GmbH, as well as through the sales brand 5vorFlug. Now FTI member travel agencies can finally offer alternative trips. FTI has already begun to inform clients, travel agencies and hotels about the drastic measures.
Three-digit million amount: customers get their money back
The total volume of canceled travel reservations amounts to millions of dollars. But there remains one small consolation: all deposits made by combined travelers will be refunded by the travel insurance fund. All package travelers get their money back.
However, those who have only booked individual services such as flights, hotels and transfers through FTI are in the dark: these customers are not entitled to a refund from the DRSF. The following applies to you: Depending on how the invoice was paid, a chargeback procedure, PayPal buyer protection or revocation of a direct debit may be successful.
With the so-called chargeback procedure, Visa and Mastercard refund the money if a service paid for with the credit card was not provided. However, those affected must take the deadlines into account. For a direct debit it is eight weeks. It is not necessary to give reasons.
Even for airport transfers, day trips and rental cars, the customer must request their money back from the bank.
The cancellation was important, otherwise customers would have had to book twice.
Originally, FTI had only canceled trips through July 5. That made the situation very confusing. Many tourists who wanted to travel after July 6 had to wait until they could book an alternative. In many cases, tourists would have had to pay twice. Once at FTI and once at the new provider. By canceling, you now have more planning security and can expect a refund very quickly.
According to legal expert Nicole Mutschke, traveler complaints must be addressed immediately and without undue delay. The contact details of the responsible DRSF can be found in the so-called security certificate, which must be attached to the travel documents.” That is why this document is especially important now.