Ultimate Trip Liability Rests With the Traveler : Vacations: When booking through a travel agent, consumers should carefully read all disclaimer forms before signing, and ask plenty of questions.

Consumers are increasingly being asked by travel agents to sign disclaimer forms.

Disclaimers are a form of protection for travel agencies, which fear being held liable when consumers run into trouble with a tour operator or other supplier such as an airline, hotel, etc., on a trip arranged by the travel agent.

Travel agents also use these forms in connection with travel insurance. Consumers are asked to sign disclaimers acknowledging that they have been advised about the availability of trip cancellation insurance, which protects travelers in case they later decide to change or cancel their reservations.

Agencies also use disclaimers because of the shaky financial status of many tour operators, who are struggling in the wake of the general economic downturn and stiff competition for travelers.

Some travel agencies ask clients to sign disclaimers if the client wishes to book a trip with a tour operator that the agent won’t recommend.

Consider this passage from a disclaimer form used by Glendale Travel Service: “I understand that I have asked my travel agent to make reservations with a supplier (i.e., hotel, tour operator, car rental company, etc.) that has not been recommended by my travel agent. I agree to hold my travel agent and Glendale Travel Service harmless if I am dissatisfied with my choice or if the supplier does not provide the service which I have contracted for.”

Travel agencies, it seems, are a consumer’s first target if there is trouble on a trip.

“Travel agents are sued more and more and for all kinds of reasons,” said Ada Brown, president of Seaside Travel House in Long Beach and head of the Southern California chapter of the American Society of Travel Agents. “The travel agent is very visible, and it doesn’t always matter what the situation is or who is really to blame.”

Some recent examples of that visibility:

--A New York travel agency was sued by its clients when an airline lost the clients’ luggage for nine days during a 14-day tour. The agency was held not liable on grounds that the consumers had signed a disclaimer form indicating they had read and understood that the travel agency was not responsible for negligence by any suppliers, such as the airline in this case.

--A California travel agency was absolved from liability for overbooking at a hotel during a tour since the clients had signed a disclaimer form clearly establishing the agency as not being responsible for the actions of suppliers--the hotel in this case.

“Once a travel agency warns you of a specific danger, they aren’t responsible for any misadventures that come from that hazard,” said attorney David Boller, who specializes in travel industry cases.

“But if the agent knows, or should know of a potential problem, and doesn’t alert you, then they may be held responsible even if you signed a general disclaimer. It depends on the language of the disclaimer, and the specific knowledge or presumed knowledge of the agent. It is the duty of the agent to warn clients of any known problems.”

One of the problems in determining responsibility is that travel agents have a dual relationship--to the consumers they serve, and also to the suppliers--airlines, cruise lines, hotels, et al., whose products they sell.

“The courts have decided that travel agents are agents for both parties,” said Susan Tanzman-Kaplan, an attorney and travel agent who is an official with the American Society of Travel Agents.

Agents try to establish to consumers that they act as representatives on behalf of the supplier, but aren’t responsible if something goes wrong with the supplier’s product. The problem for most agents is that they may not always be able to establish whether or not a supplier is financially stable, thus the presence of a disclaimer form such as the one used by Glendale Travel Service.

“We can’t get that type of financial information, which is confidential,” Tanzman-Kaplan said. “A supplier isn’t going to tell us that they may go out of business. But if there are reports of problems with a tour operator or airline, then we should disclose it.

“Agents use disclaimers to protect clients as well as themselves. It’s a mutual concern. Agents want consumers to have successful trips so they will become repeat customers and recommend them to others. But it’s important that consumers understand what is beyond the control of the agent, and the consequences of using travel arrangements that the agent won’t or can’t recommend.”

A number of prominent tour operators have ceased operations in recent years, often leaving consumers stranded and stuck with paid-for travel arrangements that are worthless. Hemphill Harris Travel, a major Los Angeles tour operator, finally folded last summer after stranding some clients and failing to provide refunds to others who had purchased tours that were later canceled.

Litigation is currently under way charging one travel agency with selling a Hemphill Harris tour while neglecting to advise its client that the tour operator was experiencing both financial and managerial problems. Consumers should make absolutely sure that they fully understand what they are agreeing to when they put their signature on any disclaimer form. Before you indicate consent to a disclaimer, read the fine print and ask the agent if he or she has worked with a particular tour operator or supplier before, and whether they have a good reputation.

And don’t be fooled by all those slick brochures that are routinely prepared by tour companies and other suppliers. Ask travel agents to clarify such promotional material if there are any doubts or questionable areas, making sure that the often flowery descriptions are both current and accurate.

Travel agents should be better judges than consumers of which suppliers may be on shaky financial ground, or what country is experiencing internal problems, including political upheavals, terrorism incidents, street crime and epidemics. Agents have access through their computerized reservation terminals to U.S. State Department advisories on risky travel conditions in areas around the world.