First come first served

I refer to Neville Vassallo's letter (June 28) and cannot but totally agree with its contents.

I have been through similar experiences on several occasions and cannot see the reason why Air Malta bothers to go to the extent of including certain destinations in the FlyAway Tours brochure which is specifically intended for the individual traveller.

In my most recent case, as early as the second week in May, I tried to book a FlyAway Tour to Prague for the period August 12-19 - three full months in advance - only to be told that no seats could be confirmed, as practically all seats were "blocked" by tour operators.

I also checked (in May) with some tour operators, who confirmed that several seats were not only available but they had barely started to take bookings for the month of August!

I wrote to complain to Air Malta (Flyaway Tours Department) via e-mail and also copied the letter to the airline's chairman. I received a reply from the FlyAway Tours section informing me that they were trying their best to book two seats for me for the above dates.

I received another e-mail some days later informing me that they were sorry but they could not confirm. My letter to the chairman was not even acknowledged.

I endorse Mr Vassallo's suggestion that there should be a reasonable limit as to the number of seats that can be "blocked" by tour operators.

Could Air Malta also suggest to us how early one should book seats for popular destinations during the high season in order to guarantee beating the tour operators in "blocking" their seats?