“Copy the agenda”: ​​how to return money for the missing tours to the mobilized

If a person planned a vacation and managed to buy a tour, but instead turned out to be mobilized, will the travel agency return the money to him – this painful question remained without a clear answer. For example, one of the airlines for a refund suggested that recruits come to them with a summons – but what if, according to this document, they are first sent to the military registration and enlistment office, and from there – even further ?! Finally, the relevant department gave clear explanations, and the first tour operators confirmed their readiness to follow them.

– Not only those who received the trip and those with whom they planned the trip began to refuse tours after September 21, – they answer the question in the capital travel agency why the return has to be “knocked out”, – but also those who have not yet received the agenda, but have not runs the risk of leaving the country, as theoretically subject to conscription. As well as relatives of actual and potential recruits who were going on a trip separately from them, but after September 21 decided to stay nearby. And this is a total of a large number of refuseniks, moreover, “burning”, that is, refusing at a time when there is nothing to return, everything is transferred to counterparties – carriers, hoteliers, insurers, and so on.

Other players in the tourism market also reasoned about the same, adding that they are not even required to return their commission, in theory, since the work has been done. Lawyers only shrugged their shoulders for two weeks: in their memory, mobilization has not happened, respectively, and the money-back algorithm in this case has not been adjusted. In the meantime, a number of companies in the industry undertook to urgently sell ready-made second-round tours left without an owner, with discounts of 30-50 thousand rubles for urgency, in order to return at least part of the money to sudden refuseniks involuntarily. Relatives of recruits also did not sit idly by, organizing a spontaneous “bazaar” of last-minute tours in Runet.

– As for the urgent re-registration of the tour for other people, I agreed with the agency, from which I bought vouchers, – says the wife of a man who went to the war zone instead of Turkey. – They went forward for a commission. With losses, but I managed to sell the tour.

Finally, Rostourism recommended tour operators and hotels “to meet tourists as much as possible in the current conditions, namely: not to charge a fee for replacing a tourist on a tour or booking a hotel, as well as to return funds for such tours or paid hotel reservations on a priority basis without deducting the actual expenses incurred “. The agency even added: if the tourist is not satisfied with the conditions for terminating the terms of the contract with the travel agency, he has the right to go to court.

– I’m afraid that those mobilized are not up to the courts with travel agencies, – I share my doubts with the representative of the tour operator, who posted on his website the recommendations of the Federal Tourism Agency and confirmed his readiness to follow them. – Can at least relatives do a showdown with travel agencies for them?

– Yes, if you follow the letter of the Rostourism statement, “not only the recruit personally, but also his relative or the person with whom the trip was planned can contact his tour operator or travel agent at the place where the tour was purchased.” And, therefore, having received the summons, you must immediately make several copies of it, also let the mobilized person write a power of attorney for the person who will deal with the travel agency.

– And if this person comes to his travel agent, he will return all the money to him?

– It’s not quite that simple. But there are solutions. You can re-register either the entire tour, or only the place of the conscript to another person. For example, if you yourself found buyers for your tour, your travel agency must re-register it for new tourists for free. Or if, for example, the companion of the called person decided to go on vacation with someone else. You can simply cancel the tour. Depending on the option chosen, the refund amount will be calculated.

– Are there options in which 100% of the money spent will be returned? Or will they return nothing at all?

– Nothing at all, if the owners of the tour just silently go on it. But it is also unrealistic to receive the entire amount without costs, because the travel agency has already incurred expenses. For re-registration of the tour, in some cases, even an additional payment is required. Relatives of recruits who managed to sell their tour online without much loss usually take it upon themselves. And if a last-minute tour is sold by a travel agent, then the new owners will have to pay extra. But still, by and large, they will get a tour cheaper than the market.

The same sounds from the mouth of Rostourism: “According to Russian law, the inability to go on a tourist trip due to conscription for military service as part of partial mobilization is a significant change in the circumstances from which the parties proceeded when concluding the contract for the purchase of the tour. This means that in case of cancellation of the tour, the refund, in accordance with the law, is made minus the costs actually incurred by the tour operator – that is, the tour operator could already pay counterparties (hotels, airlines, etc.) part of the services at non-refundable rates. The head of the department also recalls that in the absence of a summons, Russians of military age and status have the right to travel both outside the region of residence and abroad. And if a person went on vacation without a summons, and she “caught up” with him at the very border, locking it up, the department advises you to immediately get a document on the spot, which indicates the reasons why you were limited in the right to travel abroad.

– Such a document is necessary for the travel company to have legal grounds for canceling the tour, – says the head of Rostourism, Zarina Doguzova. – In this case, it is necessary to contact your tour operator as soon as possible to minimize the costs incurred on the tour.

We look at how the instructions of the relevant department are being fulfilled “on the ground” – by the leading tour operators. One of them, who actively sold autumn tours to Turkey and Egypt, beloved by Russians, posted the following ad on his website: 09/21/2022, have the right to replace the tourist on the tour or apply for an involuntary refund at the place where the tour package was purchased. The following are the documents required “for a full or partial” return of funds: a summons, a mobilization order, a certificate from the military registration and enlistment office, for family members – documents confirming kinship. They must be sent to the tour operator in the prescribed manner for consideration, and he, in turn, promises “the maximum minimization of costs in the shortest possible time”, but recalling that “each case of cancellation is considered on an individual basis.”

– In words, Rostourism recommends that travel agencies “go as far as possible”, but in reality, some kind of paperwork! Are there any chances for relatives mobilized to return their money?

“The most effective way is to sell the tour yourself and force the travel agency to reissue it for free,” says lawyer Andrey Kuzin. – This, of course, is unnecessary trouble, but there is a chance to return most of the amount spent. With other methods, a refund – and then a partial one – is due only to the one who received the summons and his immediate companions, and with those who simply did not dare to leave without yet having the summons in their hands, or relatives of the mobilized, who were going on a trip separately from him, the contract with a travel agency is terminated in the usual manner, that is, with “reimbursement to the contractor for the actual costs incurred.” And in case of refusal in a week or two, the travel agency has actually incurred almost all the costs. Mobilization does not apply to insured events, so there is no need to wait for compensation from not leaving the place. One thing is clear: if your refusal to leave is somehow related to the call for mobilization, be sure to copy all the documents confirming this.