Travel industry litigation

Litigation is rife in the travel industry. Consumer claims, whether single claims or class action claims, are virtually the tip of the iceberg. Any consumer claim potentially gives rise to claims by the travel company against the supplier for an indemnity; depending upon the nature of the claim, they can also involve health and safety issues and related regulatory litigation.

Regulatory claims are an increasing, and unwelcome, feature for the travel industry. They may be health and safety/manslaughter prosecutions, whether in the UK or overseas. Or, they may be prosecutions by bodies such as the Civil Aviation Authority.

There is also the inevitable fall out from the financial failure of a travel company, and the extent of the litigation which flows from that will very much depend upon the size and nature of the company which fails.

Our service

We have been advising travel companies and their insurers for very many years on how to deal with consumer claims, and particularly complex claims and class actions. This includes dealing with catastrophes such as coach crashes overseas. The key here is to manage the customer claims in a way which least affects the public reputation of the travel company and which best enables recovery of all expenses from the relevant suppliers.

An integral part of what we do is dealing with health and safety issues – both proactively and reactively. We have long advised clients on their disaster planning and their health and safety plans. We have also been at the forefront of dealing with manslaughter issues.

Our regulatory involvement on behalf of travel companies is very considerable. We know how to deal with regulators, and how best to defend criminal prosecutions.

We are also particularly alert to the need to ensure that the minimum amount of damage possible is suffered, reputationally, by outward facing issues.