Nearly 10 weeks after the collapse of the German tour operator FTI, affected customers can soon expect refunds, the fund which insures package holidays said on Thursday.
The German Travel Securities Fund (DRSF) is starting its reimbursement process, it said. Co-managing director Ali Arnaout said it was probably “one of the largest reimbursement processes to comply with consumer protection in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany.”
The refunds involve more than 215,000 cancelled package holidays. Additionally, there are 60,000 package holidaymakers who were already on holiday with FTI at the time of the insolvency.
The total reimbursement is in the three-digit-million-euro range. Beginning Thursday, affected parties will be contacted and can then submit their reimbursement applications online.
A spokeswoman recently said that the majority of refunds should be made by the autumn.
FTI, previously the third-largest German operator after Tui and DER Touristik, filed for insolvency at the beginning of June and shortly thereafter cancelled all booked trips.
Through the DRSF, payments already made for package holidays are secured against the insolvency of the operator. The protection does not apply to individually booked travel components such as hotel-only bookings.
