Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

ARTICLE 19 | PATRICIA BENAVIDES VELASCO 435 Article 3.5 of the Directive considers that linked travel arrangements means “at least two different types of travel services purchased for the purpose of the same trip or holiday, not constituting a package, resulting in the conclusion of separate contracts with the individual travel service providers, if a trader facilitates: (a) on the occasion of a single visit or contact with his point of sale, the separate selection and separate payment of each travel service by travellers; or b) in a targeted manner, the procurement of at least one additional travel service from another trader where a contract with such other trader is concluded at the latest 24 hours after the confirmation of the booking of the first travel service. Where not more than one type of travel service as referred to in point (a), (b) or (c) of point 1 and one or more tourist services as referred to in point (d) of point 1 are purchased, they do not constitute a linked travel arrangement if the latter services do not account for a significant proportion of the combined value of the services and are not advertised as, and do not otherwise represent, an essential feature of the trip or holiday” . The European rule imposes a duty to member States to regulate the obligation of businesses facilitating linked travel arrangements, whereby they must offer minimum information about the product they are trading. The companies facilitating these services must indicate to the travellers that they are not contracting a travel package and that the providers of the services are only liable for the proper execution of their contracts and not for the fulfilment of the contracted services as a whole. As it happens with travel packages, the traders of linked travel arrangements are bound to provide protection to the travellers in cases of insolvency. Such security must cover the restitution of all payments received from the travellers. If such traders are the party responsible for the carriage of passengers, the security shall also cover the traveller’s repatriation. However, the traders responsible for the execution of each one of the different contracts that compound the services in the linked travel arrangement are obviously also bound by the regulation regarding the protection of consumers 4 , both of a general or particular nature. Travellers may in no way renounce the rights recognized by the Directive. Neither may the traders justify the breach of the obligations imposed by the European regulation by arguing that they simply acted as providers of travel services, as intermediaries or as any other kind of subjects. This regulation implies a clear positive evolution in the protection of travellers. 4 On the improvement measures under consideration by the European Union on the protection of consumers, see BENAVIDESVELASCO, P., (2019), “Los sujetos (III): consumidores y usuarios ante el reto de la economía colaborativa”, in Régimen jurídico del consumo colaborativo , (Dir. H. Gosálbez Pequeño), Cizur Menor, Aranzadi, pp. 163-183.