Two weeks of summer vacation in Greece, the flights conveniently booked online from home - many are using this form of vacation planning these days. But in some cases it is concealed online who is the actual contractual partner in the case of a booking.

“Some online brokers use the so-called screen scraping or crawling technique: A computer program accesses a third party database and displays its content as its own,” says ÖAMTC lawyer Verena Pronebner. And this approach of the travel platforms is often even permissible. "Many airlines only allow such use of their online content to certain partner platforms."

The problem: Some platforms do not adhere to it and use the airlines' data without a contractual basis. Usually the traveler does not notice the technology and assumes to book directly with the airline or an authorized representative. “It is often unclear who the contractual partner is for the customer - the travel platform or the airline itself,” explains the mobility club's expert. 

“The result is that you have to re-register for the flight at the airport in order to synchronize the data - with sufficient lead time. The airline advises customers in advance that they should be at the airport 90 minutes before departure. But we fear that this time buffer is too tight with the current controls, so that in the worst case, you will not be promoted because of a late check-in. "

Reimbursement can also be difficult

If the booking was made through an agent, reimbursement of costs is often difficult or impossible in the event of a flight cancellation - this was clearly shown by the experience of ÖAMTC legal advice last year. "According to EU law, the airline is obliged to refund the ticket price in full if it has initiated a cancellation - within seven days," says Pronebner. "However, if an intermediary is involved, the airline often has no or incorrect data from the customer."