LONG-HAUL HOLIDAYS WILL BE TAILOR-MADE ONLINE

The company that owns Kuoni announced its new online brand Meraki Travel (merakitravel.co.uk), which launches next month offering tailor-made long-haul holidays. This is a difficult concept to put online, as itineraries are complex and costs are high. Many travellers prefer to book only after talking to expert agents.

Meanwhile, the chief executive of Saga pointed out that although online browsing and research was increasing, there is a noticeable resistance among some of his customers to commit to booking without speaking to an agent. It will be interesting to see whether Meraki can crack this one.

ABecause TAP Air Portugal gave you notice of the cancellation less than seven days before your departure, you are entitled, under EU law, to claim €400 per person in compensation for the inconvenience – as long as the replacement flight arrived more than three hours after your original flight.

In my experience, TAP has poor post-flight customer services. Readers have struggled even to get refunds for unused tickets after the airline has cancelled flights which it does from time to time. So it is heartening to see that TAP has now signed up with an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) company which will take up passenger complaints against airlines that have signed up to use its services as a mediator. That should make it much easier to claim any compensation due.

In this case TAP’s offer of vouchers was a particularly generous one – worth more than twice the legal

EASY ACCESSAmsterdam now has a direct rail link from London