Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

ARTICLE 3 | VINCENZO FRANCESCHELLI AND CARLOS TORRES 133 boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights states: “An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation in accordance with Article 7, if it can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken”. 4.18. Definition (13) – Lack of Conformity Lack of conformity, according to the Directive, means “a failure to perform or improper performance of the travel services included in a package”, and the term is mentioned several times throughout it. For instance, in Whereas 34, it is possible to read that: “(34) It is appropriate to set out specific rules on remedies as regards the lack of conformity in the performance of the package travel contract. The traveller should be entitled to have problems resolved and, where a significant proportion of travel services included in the package travel contract cannot be provided, the traveller should be offered suitable alternative arrangements. If the organiser does not remedy the lack of conformity within a reasonable period set by the traveller, the traveller should be able to do so himself and request reimbursement of the necessary expenses”. The responsibility for the non-performance of the contract is in Art. 19 ( Responsibility for the performance of the package ). Furthermore, Art. 13.3 states that: “If any of the travel services are not performed in accordance with the package travel contract, the organiser shall remedy the lack of conformity, unless that: (a) is impossible; or (b) entails disproportionate costs, taking into account the extent of the lack of conformity and the value of the travel services affected”. 4.19. Definition (14) – Minor The fourteenth definition of the 2015 /2302 Directive deal with minors, which, in the 2015 /2302 Directive, means a person below the age of 18 years. The reference to minor of age is in Art. 7 ( Content of the package travel contract and documents to be supplied before the start of the package ), where it states that the package travel contract shall include the information related to “minors, unaccompanied by a parent or another authorised person, travel on the basis of a package travel contract which includes accommodation, information enabling direct contact with the minor or the person responsible for the minor at the minor’s place of stay” [Art. 7/(f )].