Travellers get more rights over holiday fine print

Holidaymakers won a significant victory yesterday when Britain's biggest travel operators agreed to give customers greater rights over bookings, cancellations and compensation.

The changes were hailed as a triumph for the consumer by the Office of Fair Trading, which negotiated them. "Holidaymakers with these companies now have greater peace of mind that they will get fair treatment," said its director general, John Vickers.

Thomson Holidays, Airtours and First Choice Holidays have promised to modify some conditions surrounding reimbursement in the event of changes to holidays, lost luggage, cancellations and the imposition of surcharges.

The new contracts will come into force immediately. Those who have already booked a trip but are disputing its conditions will be able to take on the new contractual arrangements.

The OFT found that scores of travel companies were failing to meet the demands of existing package tour regulations. It is still working with 46 smaller companies. An OFT spokeswoman said they expected the rest of the tour industry to "fall in line" with these improvements.