THE PACKAGE TRAVEL ACT AND THE COVID19 PANDEMIC In cases where travelers that were already at the destination or on their way to the destination at the time of the advice against all non-essential travel, cancelled packages and arranged for return flights, ARN has stated that the travel advice in itself does not give a traveler the right to cancel the rest of the package and get a price reduction. Only in situations where it was clear that the organizer would not be able to carry out the rest of the package in accordance with the contract and did not offer equivalent alternative arrangements, travelers have been entitled to a price reduction. In some decisions, the board has placed fairly high burden of proof on travelers to prove alleged circumstances. 2.3 Obligation to arrange for alternative transport and accommodation Chapter 4 section 4 and 5 of the PTA stipulates that if a traveler can not be returned to the place of departure, the organizer shall arrange for alternative transport. The organizer is further responsible for the costs for accommodation until such alternative transport can take place. The provisions implement Article 13.7 of the PTD. For many packages, the pandemic has led to changes when it comes to transportation back to the place of departure. Many airlines completely shut down operations and canceled all flights. This often happened at short notice. Organisers have to a large extent arranged new transports, which in many cases has led to large extra costs. Travelers who have arranged home trips themselves have received compensation in cases where the organiser explicitly told the traveler to arrange a return trip themselves or where the organizer said that they could not arrange a return trip, has been considered by ARN to be entitled to compensation from the organiser. In cases where the original return flight was not canceled at the time when a new return flight was booked, either by the traveler himself or by the organiser at the request of the traveler, the organiser has been considered responsible for the cost only in situations where the traveler has been able to prove that the organiser would not be able to carry out the rest of the package in accordance with the package travel contract. In these cases, it has not been considered relevant whether the original return flight was canceled by the airline at a later point, as this was not known by the traveler at the time when the journey was canceled. In one case the travelers had booked a 20-day package to Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Colombia. The package was canceled after 13 days by the organiser, when the travelers were placed in quarantine in Peru and thus could not continue the package. The organiser arranged a flight from Peru to Paris. The organizer informed the travelers that, upon arrival in
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