Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New York

Problem with an online Travel site

I live in Manhattan, the company I booked my travel through is located in

Manhattan. On Dec 17th, 04, I booked a travel package which included 4

nights accommodations and 2 days of scuba diving in St Croix, USVI. On Jan

06th I received confirmed reservation for accommodations as well as diving.

On Feb 03rd, upon arrival in St Croix, the hotel could not locate my

reservation and also did not have any availability. Attempted to contact the

agent in New York but they were already closed. I needed to immediately

make alternate accommodation arrangements for me and a friend.

I found a hotel on the island but in another city for 2 nights.

On Feb 04th I was able to get in contact with the travel agent. They were not

able to figure out how my reservation got lost nor provide me with any

assistance in obtaining an alternate hotel.

On the 05th we had to check out, but found another hotel for the remaining

days (Feb 5th - 7th).

Our entire trip was based on the accommodation provision, meaning that we

didn't purchase plane tickets till after I secured accommodations and would

not have taken this trip without secured accommodations.

What is the company that I booked my travel package liable for?


Asked on 3/06/05, 10:29 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mark S. Moroknek Kelly & Curtis, PLLC.

Re: Problem with an online Travel site

It is hard to tell without seeing the agreement. Usually a travel agent pre-books all the things in a package that match the plane arrival and departure dates, or sometimes there are promotional packages.

Read your agreement. I would think that damages should be the difference between the contract price and what your actual bills added up to.

There are probably liability limitations built in to the agreement; but I think if you get jurisdiction over your travel agent sufficiently to sue them in small claims court, or civil court and you have all your proof,you should do well in getting some reimbursement. There is even a chance that they have insurance for goofs like this, such as malpractice insurance.

By the way, something like that almost happened to me on the way to Hawaii once; there was a Huricane hitting the resort I was booked into so I called my agent from the plane, and rearranged everything before we got there. Piece of luck that was.

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Answered on 3/07/05, 2:07 am


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