Cosmos Responds

If problems develop on a group tour and the operator is later willing to accept at least some responsibility and provide some compensation, all well and good. In the case of our Morocco tour, the response of Cosmos Tours to inquiries and complaints was less than satisfying.

Interviewed in early August by phone in Marrakech, our guide, John W. Traynor, said no airport transfer was provided because “I was told the flight was canceled, [and] we didn’t know when the plane was going to arrive or whether our clients would be on it. I phoned the airline, but that Friday and Saturday (May 23-24) were holidays, and I couldn’t get concrete information.”

Traynor said he went to the airport on Saturday and left word at the information desk that tour participants were to make their own way to Casablanca. But the information desk had no such message.

Traynor also was asked why he told those returning on the flight to JFK either that reconfirmation wasn’t required or that there was no need for him to call the airline. “It’s not necessary to reconfirm excursion tickets,” he said. “If reservations were canceled, this is the first time this has been reported to me.”

A New York spokeswoman for Royal Air Maroc said the flight to Morocco was marked “delayed,” and on Saturday morning airline personnel in Casablanca were advised when the 747, en route at the time, was due. Royal Air Maroc said reconfirmation of all reservations is mandatory.

A Florida woman on our flight, Rose Neuman, and a New Jersey couple, Charles and Edith Sobel, said their experience getting to Casablanca matched ours.

A spokesman for Cosmos in Littleton, Colo., John A. Martinen, claimed that my companion and I were the only ones to turn in a negative evaluation. Phone calls to some of the people on the tour belied that. A New Jersey woman, Sheila Hellman, said she had written negative comments. Edith Sobel told me she and her husband hadn’t bothered with the form, but that the beginning and end of the tour were “disastrous.” Additionally, Rose Neuman mailed me copies of letters she and her travel agent had sent Cosmos saying the transfer and reservations mishaps had made the trip an “ordeal.”

Cosmos’ reply: “Passengers who experience delays are expected to join the tour program independently by means of public transportation.” However, the tour catalog says nothing of the sort. There was no response to the complaint about the canceled reservations for the return flight.