Leadership1 publisherNot yet confirmed elsewhere2 min readPublished
Tui refuses refunds on Danube cruises that low water turned into coach trips
Tui is refusing refunds to Isla passengers whose Danube cruises became coach trips in low water, citing its standard booking conditions. The complaints that follow will test whether those terms or the trip passengers paid thousands for decides what they are owed.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
What happened
- Richard Pearson, on the Isla from 21 September, says he spent 14 to 15 hours of the week on coaches and is asking Tui for some of his £3,300 back.
- Sue Crosby asked Tui for a refund before her 14 September Isla departure and was told none was possible.
- David Mallon and five others declined their 21 September sailing after seeing the new plan and booked a last-minute holiday to Kos instead.
- Tui's spokesperson said the company reviews every sailing individually with its nautical partners.
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Why it matters
- contradiction Tui's weather explanation answers a point Crosby and Mallon already grant, so it does nothing to settle their refund claims.
- constraint With the new plan arriving a few days before departure, passengers had to choose between a week built around coach transfers and losing what they had paid.
- exposure Mallon's threat of a small claims case means Tui's booking conditions could be tested before a judge, one booking at a time.
Two of the passengers quoted by the BBC concede the point Tui leads with. "We don't blame Tui for the water levels, but it's the way they've handled the consequences of that," David Mallon said [14]. Sue Crosby said it was not the river levels that frustrated her, but "how they handled it" [11]. Tui's spokesperson answered on the cause: "Extreme heat across Europe this summer caused low water levels on the Danube, affecting river cruise operators across the region." [16]
Tui's side of it, put fairly, is that its contract covers this. The company said customers continued their holidays on amended itineraries under its standard booking conditions [2]. Those terms may well permit what happened. The BBC report does not set out what they say about changed itineraries, so the passengers' case rests on what they actually received.
On Richard Pearson's account, it began with a night in a Budapest hotel he called "average", because the Isla was in Vienna and could not reach them [4]. Next came a four-hour coach ride to the ship [4]. The vessel sailed overnight to Krems and stayed a few days while passengers were bussed to sites 45 minutes to two hours away, then returned to Vienna in the dark [5]. "It wasn't a river cruise, it was a little bit of sailing, a floating hotel with coach transfers," he said [7]. His coach time works out to roughly two hours a day across a week-long holiday [19]. Crosby counted two half days of sailing on hers [12].
Each passenger handled the new plan differently. Crosby's trip began on her 70th birthday, and she travelled "reluctantly" [9]. "We feel as though we've been had," she told the BBC [10]. Pearson said he and his partner would not have gone had a refund been offered [8]. One of Mallon's group was meant to avoid long periods of sitting, such as coach journeys, for health reasons [13]. "What they were planning to give us was not a cruise but a glorified coach trip," Mallon said [17].
Tui is choosing between two costs. A refund, even a partial one, gives up revenue on sailings that did run. Holding to the booking conditions keeps that revenue and takes the complaints instead. The new ones join earlier complaints about conditions on board two of Tui's river vessels [3].
I'd expect Tui's weather explanation to hold up better than its refund position. The refund decision belongs to this quarter, and its effect lands on next season's bookings. Crosby's other objection is "the fact they're still advertising the holidays now" [11].
What to watch
- Tui's replies to the formal complaints from Pearson and Mallon, and whether any of them includes a partial refund.
- Whether Mallon files in small claims court, and how a judge reads Tui's standard booking conditions against the itinerary he was offered.
- Whether Tui changes its refund terms or its advertising for Danube sailings the next time low water forces itinerary changes.