Flights, accommodation and other travel services: how booking flow, payment, total price and online data transfer affect the classification as package travel or a linked travel arrangement.
Mag. Bernhard Brandauer, Austrian attorney-at-law
BRANDAUER Rechtsanwälte
Mag. Bernhard Brandauer assists with the legal assessment of tourism contracts, operating issues, levies and liability matters.
Flights, accommodation, car hire and additional tourist services are often combined in only a few steps. For the legal classification, however, it is not enough to look at the wording of the advertisement. The booking flow also matters, including who arranged or facilitated each service and whether several contracts belong together.
Package travel and linked travel arrangements do not trigger the same information and protection rules. The sales point, the time of selection, separate or combined payment, the total price and, for certain online bookings, the transfer of the traveller’s name, payment details and email address can all matter.
This article sets out a first assessment under the Austrian Package Travel Act. It focuses on the booking flow, not travel defects, insolvency protection or the purchase of only one travel service. For an initial orientation, you can also use the package travel check and the glossary definition of package travel.
Answer three short questions about the process. The result is only a first orientation, but it shows which documents and contractual relationships should be organised first.
Choose the process that comes closest to what actually happened.
Keep the total contract, total price, pre-contract information and confirmation together. Record which services were selected before payment or put together by the trader.
Next step: identify who acted as organiser and which information was provided before the contract was concluded.
Save the first booking, the targeted reference to the additional service and both confirmations. Record when the second contract was concluded and whether the services were paid for separately.
Next step: check whether the process is in fact not package travel and which information was given for each contract.
Keep the specific offer, selection screen and invoice. Record whether an additional tourist service was promoted as essential, what share of the total value it represented and when it was selected.
Next step: keep the assessment of one travel service separate from the question whether several services were legally linked.
The Austrian Package Travel Act distinguishes several types of travel service. They include passenger transport, accommodation for purposes other than living, the hire of cars or certain motor vehicles, and other tourist services that are not merely an integral part of one of those services.
A tourist service may be an independent activity or experience at the destination. Whether it qualifies as a separate service depends on its concrete design. Not every additional item next to a flight or accommodation therefore changes the legal classification.
For a first review name each service separately. Do not write only “holiday package”. Record who offers the transport, accommodation, vehicle or tourist activity and when each item was selected.
Package travel generally requires at least two different types of travel service for the same trip. A trader may put the services together according to the traveller’s wishes before one contract covering all services is concluded. A package can also exist where separate contracts are used.
This is particularly relevant where several services are selected at one sales point before payment is authorised, offered or invoiced at a package or total price, or advertised as package travel or with a similar description. A contract allowing the traveller to choose between different types of service may also be relevant.
For linked online booking processes the data flow and timing can additionally matter. If the first trader transfers the traveller’s name, payment details and email address to another trader and the second contract is concluded no later than 24 hours after confirmation of the first booking, the statutory structure points towards package travel.
A linked travel arrangement exists where at least two different types of travel service for the same trip are agreed in separate contracts with the respective providers, and the process is not package travel. A trader must have facilitated the purchase in one of the ways described by law.
This may happen during one visit to a sales point or one contact if the services are selected and paid for separately. It may also involve targeted facilitation of an additional service from another trader, where the further contract is concluded no later than 24 hours after confirmation of the first booking.
The distinction therefore requires a precise timeline. Record the first contact, each selection, the confirmation time, payment routes, contracting parties and the conclusion of any further contract. A generic link or advertisement does not answer these questions by itself.
A combination of only one transport, accommodation or vehicle service with one or more tourist services is not automatically package travel or a linked travel arrangement. It may matter whether the tourist service represents a significant part of the total value or is promoted as an essential feature of the trip.
The Act provides a rule for assessing significance: where tourist services make up 25 per cent or more of the total value of the combination, they are generally presumed to represent a significant part. This does not replace the review of the other requirements, and the percentage should not be guessed from unclear package advertising.
A further exception concerns selection and purchase after the transport, accommodation or vehicle service has begun. The concrete process and type of service remain decisive. Keep time stamps, the price breakdown and the presentation used during booking.
Digital booking screens and notices can change quickly. Save the individual pages as PDFs or screenshots and record the URL, date, time and booking number. Keep the first confirmation, invoice and later emails in their original form.
Record whether a platform drew the traveller’s attention to another service, whether a separate payment was required and whether the second contracting party was identifiable. If contact details were transferred, preserve the notice and contract confirmation that show how the process worked.
File the documents in chronological order. A screenshot without a link to the first contract, an offer page saved only later or an invoice without the booking flow can make the classification more difficult.
The booking flow may show that a trader acted as organiser, travel agent or facilitator of linked travel arrangements. These roles should not be determined only from a domain name, logo or the wording of an email.
Check who put the services together or offered them, who is the contracting party for each service and to whom the price was paid. Pre-contract information, standard forms and contract confirmations may also indicate the legal role.
The glossary entries on the tour operator and travel agent support an initial orientation. A reliable assessment still requires all booking documents to be considered together.
The classification as package travel or a linked travel arrangement is a preliminary question. It does not yet answer whether accommodation was defective, transport failed or a claim for compensation exists. Those issues require a separate review of the service, contract and actual events.
Protection if a tour operator becomes insolvent is also a separate issue. It depends on the requirements for package travel and the situation in question. It should not be inferred solely from marketing that calls an offer a “package”.
If the booking flow is unclear, first prepare a short chronology. The question “How did each contract come into existence?” should remain separate from later questions about defects, withdrawal, price reduction or insolvency.
Create a table with date, time, platform or sales point, selected service, price, contracting party, payment route and confirmation. Mark whether the service was selected before or after the first booking.
Also mark every indication of a total price, the description used for the offer, data transfers and the conclusion of another contract within 24 hours. This makes clear which part of the process still needs clarification.
For an initial legal review, the booking page, confirmations, invoice, payment records and relevant communication are often enough. Keep the complete documentation unchanged alongside that selection.
Roles, contract documents and responsibilities at a glance.
Organise the booking flow with a few questions.
Keep the preliminary classification separate from later performance problems.
Clarify the organiser’s role during the first assessment.
Briefly describe the business, location, parties and issue. We will discuss which documents and next review step may be useful.
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