The Package Travel Act and the Covid19 pandemic by Jonas Thyberg

deduction should be based on the total price of the package. In one of these cases, the organizer has chosen not to follow ARN’s decision, and the traveler has therefore sued the organizer in court. The case has not yet been settled. In some cases, the package has been aborted by the organizer almost immediately upon arrival at the destination. Amongst these cases there are a large number of cases concerning golf trips where the traveler on arrival or the day after arrival received information that the golf courses were closed and ski trips where the traveler on arrival or the day after arrival received information that the ski systems were closed. In these cases, the entire purpose of the trip has been considered to have failed and the passengers have been entitled to a price reduction corresponding to the total price of the package. In another case, the traveler had booked a 14-day trip to Mauritius. Departure took place shortly before the Ministry of Foreign Afairs advice against non-essential travel. The day after arrival at the destination, the organizer canceled the trip and brought the travelers home. As the travelers only received two out of 14 days of the trip and as the days received mostly consisted of transport, the traveler was not considered to have had any exchange of the trip and ARN decided that the organizer should refund 100%. The size of the price deduction has been determined to an amount corresponding to the number of days that the traveler has not received at the destination. To the extent that the cancellation of the package has resulted in arrangements at the destination, e.g. excursions or meals, not being provided, the organizer also has been obliged to reimburse the cost of the arrangement. The price for such travel services has accordingly been excluded when ARN has calculated the total price of the package. According to the PTA, the carrier has no obligation to pay damages if a trip is canceled due to UEC. In several cases, ARN has accordingly confrmed that in these cases the traveler is only entitled to a price reduction and claims for damages have been rejected. 3.2 Packages cancelled by traveler after the start of the package Many packages that started before the advice against non-essential travel and before the pandemic started, was cancelled by travelers due to the uncertainty as to whether the package could be continued or not or because of a fear of catching the virus. In one case the travelers had bought a package to Tanzania which among other things included a climbing of Kilimanjaro. On March 19, when the travelers were on their way up the mountain, the organizer contacted them to inform about the Covid19 situation. At this contact, the organizer was clear that, at that time, there was no uncertainty regarding the continuation of the journey. The organiser

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