Tourists who arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport on April 18 to board an iFly flight to China were denied boarding.
According to iFly, on April 18, dozens of Russians who were not on the passenger list applied to check in for flight F7-9897 on the route St. Petersburg (Pulkovo) - Haikou (China). The tourists' tickets turned out to be invalid.
The tourists had vouchers from tour operators Good Time, Planeta Travel and TUI Russia. According to sources, the suppliers in turn purchased these tickets from Sanya Wealth, which bought a block of seats on the flight from the main customer of the flight, Tempus Tour.
According to tour operators, tourists will receive full compensation for their cancelled vacations in the near future.
As reported by the press service of TUI Russia, as soon as the company learned about the non-flight of its tourists from St. Petersburg to Hainan, the decision to return 100% funds was made immediately. According to TUI, 25 clients of the company found themselves in this situation.
Other tour operators have so far refrained from making official comments. However, according to informed sources, suppliers have promised tourists a full refund of the tour package within the next 10 days.
Rostourism also officially spoke out about the situation with Russian tourists who did not fly to Hainan. Here is the department's message in full:
In connection with the cancellation of the flight of tourists from St. Petersburg to Haikou (PRC) on April 18, 2019, the Federal Tourism Agency informs:
Rostourism immediately requested information about the current situation from the airline IFly and tour operators in order to clarify the current situation and the measures they are taking to resolve it. Official requests have also been sent to them.
According to the information currently available, more than 130 Russian tourists who were supposed to fly to Hainan Island were unable to use the air transportation they had paid for due to their absence from the list of passengers on the flight.
At the same time, according to information from tour operators, the money for the tourist product was fully paid by them to the Chinese host party. In the current situation, tour operators will fulfill their obligations in full in accordance with the terms of the contracts for the sale of the tourist product.
The Federal Tourism Agency is monitoring the situation and is in constant contact with Rosaviatsia, the airline and tour operators. A corresponding appeal has been sent to the Chinese authorities.
Rostourism is investigating all the circumstances of the incident. The initial analysis of the situation shows that the cause of the incident could have been a multi-level chain of intermediaries between tour operators, hosts and airlines.
The Federal Tourism Agency draws the attention of tourists to the fact that, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, if the consumer travels outside the territory of Russia, the contractor (tour operator or travel agent) is obliged to transfer to the consumer a ticket confirming the right to transportation (including charter) to the destination and back no later than 24 hours before the start of the trip. The tour operator who created the tourist product and purchased the relevant services from third parties is liable to the tourist for failure to comply with this requirement.
Source: trn-news.ru
