connect with us
Greece's latest tourism industry news by Greek Travel Pages

Tripsta/airtickets Blames GDS Partner for ‘Massive Liquidity Problem’

Greek online travel agent (OTA) Tripsta/airtickets on Friday, June 29, said it was taking legal action against its main global distribution system (GDS) provider Travelport for not honoring its cooperation contract and being among the partners that caused it “a massive liquidity problem”, which then forced the company to suspend the issuance of future airline tickets.

Tripsta/airtickets: What created the problem

“The airline resale industry is particularly competitive because it operates at a very low-profit margin. Therefore, it relies entirely on liquidity,” Tripsta/airtickets said in a statement to the press, underlining that the problem that created the company’s latest cash flow challenges were due to the actions of certain partners that “undermined and derailed” the strategic financial plan of the company. IATA logoThis also influenced the OTA’s agreed-upon repayment schedule with IATA. (It is reminded that Tripsta/airtickets had resulted to a “repayment agreement” with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as the company faced a massive debt to the BSP.)

On Thursday, Tripsta/airtickets had said that its current financial state is due to “unfair and aggressive behavior” of “certain partners and multinational global distribution systems”. However, on Friday Tripsta/airtickets named Travelport as the specific GDS provider.

“Due to malicious and abusive behavior of Travelport, which included contractual breaches, we are forced to initiate legal proceedings to seek justice,” Tripsta said in a press announcement.

Travelport denies any wrongdoing

GTP Headlines contacted Travelport on the matter.

According to a spokesperson, Travelport is unable to publicly share any details relating to its individual agreements with subscribers, as per company policy.

“What we can say, however, is that we firmly deny any wrongdoing in our dealings with Tripsta and will vigorously defend ourselves in the event that any legal proceedings are initiated,” the Travelport spokesperson said.

Status on debt and operations

Regarding its debt, Tripsta/airtickets said that the obligations to all airlines (via IATA) are being settled and the agreed-upon repayment schedule is being respected.

“There are no debts to the Greek government or employees,” the OTA said, adding that all dismissed individuals have already been paid their total accrued and legal compensation.

According to sources, Tripsta/airtickets has kept some 40 employees in order to serve customers for refunds and reissues.

Τhe individual websites of Tripsta and airtickets will continue to work properly and consumers that have purchased air tickets through the platforms are expected to not face any problems.

Tripsta SA also operates the travelplanet24 brand, which is now only offering ferry tickets.

Follow GTP Headlines on Google News to keep up to date with all the latest on tourism and travel in Greece.
About the Author
Nikos is Greek-American born in New York, USA, and has lived in Greece for over 30 years. He is the managing editor of Greece's leading monthly travel and tourism guide, the Greek Travel Pages (GTP) since June 2008 and of news site GTP Headlines since its launch in September 2012. Nikos has also served as international press officer for the City of Athens and for the mayor. He has a degree in Mass Media and Communications, specializing in Journalism. Nikos is a native English speaker and speaks Greek fluently.
  1. OLIVER DE LISLE Reply

    Hi All,

    I found out 5,3,1 days before I flew that my flight did not exist. Panicking, of course I booked new flights to AGP from HAM.

    After trying to get VISA to refund me the money, they said that they would not do this as my claim exceeded the 28-day limit. This means, I had 28 days to ask for a refund from when the money was booked off my card. How would I of known that this was a fraudulent transaction over a month before I flew. Of course this is ridiculous considering that I booked the flights two months before and received all need confirmation.

    Any ideas on where to go next, as I have been to the Police, Eurowings and Lufthansa, he keep telling me to contact Tripsta?

    Thanks,
    Oliver

  2. Dave Reply

    You can call your bank / credit card provider and initiate a “ chargeback”
    It’s a 100 %certain that you get your money back as this process is guaranteed by the credit card schemes. ( even in case of bankruptcy)

    More info if you google visa /MasterCard chargeback rules.

  3. hussam ali Reply

    i have cancelled my booking since about 2 months and did not receive refund .
    my booking was on Royal Jordanian airway from Doha to Beirut , and no answer to emails .
    what can i do

  4. Kamel Reply

    I have the same issue as martin on a flight that i cancelled and refund was due to be paid on 18th june. I an unable to contact anyone. Did u have any contact information

  5. Morkos Reply

    The numbers provided by GTP are replying in Greek language.
    Is there any number replying in English?

  6. Sandeep Basavapatna Shamasundar Reply

    Even I have same issue. I had booked a flight ticket via Tripsta in April and was supposed next week. Yesterday I got an email from Tripsta saying that my ticket has been cancelled and I was asked to contact airline for refund. When I contacted airline they said that Tripsta has cancelled my booking on 09-Jul itself and they have been refunded on that date!
    It looks like because company has liquidity problems, they are cancelling all customer’s tickets, getting refunds from airlines and then not giving money to customer as well.
    This is completely unethical as they are cheating hard earned money of innocent people.

  7. Teresa Reply

    Hi, my flight was also cancelled from Dubai and I am contacting them to get a refund but not getting any response. Has anyone heard anything back from them?

    Thanks

  8. GTP editing team Reply

    Dear readers,

    As mentioned in the article, airtickets/Tripsta has temporarily suspended operations.

    The company’s operating cash flow is not sufficient to continue with their business and they owe airline companies more than 60 million euros. On June 29th airtickets/Tripsta dismissed a large number of employees (some 140), keeping only 40 people to serve their very large clientele with refunds and reissues only.

    airtickets/Tripsta have assured that their websites are working properly and that consumers that have purchased air tickets through the platforms will not face any problems.
    The contact numbers in Greece for airtickets/Tripsta are (+30) 2106074000 & (+30) 2111079799.

    Until today, there has not been any further update nor has there been any news of the company seizing operations completely.

    Furthermore, it may also be a good idea to inform the IATA, the worldwide organization in charge for such kind of issues http://www.iata.org/customer-portal/Pages/index.aspx, as well as your country’s passenger’s rights organization. It may also be useful to check the https://www.airhelp.com/en for additional information on such situations.

    Please know that GTP Headlines is monitoring the situation and will publish all updates that come about.

    Kind regards to all.

    The GTP editing team

    • Morkos Reply

      The contact numbers you provided are replying in Greek language.
      Is there any other numbers replying in English.

      Also, please tell us how we can contact any of these 40 employees?

  9. Morkos Reply

    It is more than three weeks since I cancelled my booking; please advice when I will receive my refund.
    WHY YOU ARE NOT REPLYING TO EMAILS OR PHONE CALLS ??? !!

  10. Nas Reply

    I have the same issue as martin on a flight that i cancelled and refund was due to be paid on 10th june. I an unable to contact anyone. Did u have any luck?

    Thanks

  11. ZAFAR HAIDER Reply

    THE SAME PROBLEM IS WITH ME ALSO I HAVE BOOKED MY TICKET FROM TRIPSTA UNDER BOOKING NUMBER F104752341 BUT AFTER ONE WEEK IT HAS BEEN CANCELED WITHOUT PRIOR INFORMATION TO ME AND NOW AFTER THIS THEY ARE NOT REPLYING TO THE MAILS ALSO , ITS VERY HARD TO CONTACT THEM . PLEASE SUGGEST ME IF SOMEONE HAVE THE CONTACT NUMBER OF TRIPSTA.

  12. Adriaan Reply

    Hi Martin

    Did you get any reply from Tripsta?

  13. Martin Baker Reply

    Thank you for this article. If Tripsat have kept on 40 staff to process customer refunds and requests I would like to know how to contact them because my many attempts have failed. I purchased 4 x tickets via Tripsta for a Qatar Airways Jakarta – London flight on 4 July. One passenger didn’t get their UK visa and I have been chasing Tripsta for a refund for over 1 week, via emails/Tripsta webform and Tripsta tel.nos in Jakarta, Singapore and Athens. None of the tel nos connect and there have been no replies to my emails.

    I would appreciate you passing on any working Tripsta contacts you have to me so that I can pursue my refund with them.

    Appreciate any help you can give, best wishes, Martin

    • Nas Reply

      I have the same issue as martin on a flight that i cancelled and refund was due to be paid on 10th june. I an unable to contact anyone. Did u have any luck?

      Thanks

Leave a Reply to GTP editing team Cancel reply

*