28 Oct 2012
Is your holiday protected?
Good news! The Government has reformed the ATOL scheme of financial protection this month. There’s now certificates. Well, hurrah. And, er, what does that mean exactly?
If you’re not sure whether your holiday is protected, for example from companies going bust, travel association ABTA has created a checklist to help simplify matters.
Currently, package holidays and ‘Flight-Plus’ holidays (when you buy separate flights, accommodation and/or car hire from a travel agent at the same time) are financially protected under the law. The package holidays include train, coach and cruise holidays, so you don’t even have to be flying.
But airline holiday sales are currently exempt, so there is no legal requirement for airlines to financially protect holidays in the same way – which means over a third of the flight-based holiday market is unprotected, according to ABTA.
So if you’re not sure, ABTA’s checklist is available to download with information on the documents you should get as part of your booking, and what to watch out for – plus some tips on what to do if you do have a problem.
Image: bloomsday616/Flickr
