ATOL Protection for your Trip

ATOL and ABTA

ATOL and ABTA are topics that are covered a lot online. Both these have plenty of conflicting, confusing information written about them. Let's look at the facts here

Generally speaking ATOL protection relates to flights. ATOL stands for Air Travel Organisers Licencing. ATOL is a government-run financial protection scheme operated and managed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The scheme is designed to protect flights and air-based holidays.

ABTA protection is a code of conduct and relates to accommodation bookings. Although ABTA protection legally requires that you are brought home if things go wrong when you are abroad. So technically there is a bit of a cross over of the two

Neither ATOL and ABTA are ‘Trip Protection Payment Plans’ that you take out separately when you book a trip. The high street travel agent or online booking agent either possess one or both of these licences or they don’t. And if the company you choose to book with does have the licence, you still need to know the protocol to follow in order to get the benefits of ATOL

ATOL: Trip Payment Protection

Just because you see the ATOL protection logo on a website don’t automatically assume the website offers you ATOL trip payment protection. Check the company out at the Civil Aviation’s website to be sure they are bona-fida. Check the company's name and licence number.

USE THE ATOL CHECKER TOOL AT THIS WEBSITE

Guidelines for booking an ATOL protected Trip

Asides form the company holding a genuine ATOL licence, you have to follow certain protocol to be ATOL protected.
The trip has to be purchased in the UK and consist of two components. One MUST BE A FLIGHT and the other component can either be accommodation or car hire. Both components have to be booked with the same company or on the same website. They must also be booked within a certain time frame to qualify for ATOL protection. These are the basic rules when it comes to being covered by ATOL trip payment protection

Package holidays qualify for ATOL protection

Package holidays have always offered the best form of protection as far as ATOL legislation goes and still do. All travel firms selling air-based holiday packages must by law have an ATOL licence. Packages are the only category of holidays that can get ATOL protection. Tui, the high street and online agent is a solid example of a company providing package holidays. Traditionally the flight and the holiday are booked together at the same time.

Laws on definition of a package holiday changed in 2018

A new law introduced on July 1st 2018 means ATOL protects your trip beyond the formal, standard package holiday. This works in the consumer’s favour but you still need to know the correct way of booking your trip. What has changed since July 1st 2018 is the legal definition of the word ‘package’. You, the consumer now have more options of how you can book a package holiday. You do need to be clear on these options though if you want to be sure of ATOL protection

Flight plus holidays or Flight + holidays

‘Flight Plus holidays’ and ‘click through’ trips are now defined as package holidays too. Although for a holiday to fall under either of these terms and to be ‘ATOL’ protected, it must be booked in a certain manner and timeframe

A flight plus holiday (sometimes called an air-based holiday), is a flight booking plus either an accommodation booking or a car hire booking. You have to book both components within a certain timeframe and in a certain way to be defined as a package holiday. Look for travel websites giving the ‘flight plus accommodation’ or ‘flight plus hotel’ option as well as ‘packages’ in the menu bar at the top of their home page.

Guidelines for the manner a ‘flight plus holiday’ should be booked in

Besides the company holding a valid ATOL licence and one of the components of the package holiday being a flight, other criteria to be ATOL protected are:

1. The holiday components have to be booked with the same company to get ATOL protection

2. The flight and hotel components of the holiday must be booked through the same travel agent or website agent.

3. The Tui example above is an example of an agent selling packages. Easyjet also enables you to book a package holiday all at once under the ‘holidays’ section on the top menu of their website.

4. All holiday components must be booked together at the same time OR within 24 hours of each other to qualify for ATOL protection

An example of booking a flight plus holiday

Booking .com has a flight plus hotel option on their main menu at the top of the page. Click this option on the menu bar. Choose a flight, pick your accommodation, click and pay. Hey presto, you’ve booked yourself a ‘Flight Plus’ holiday. Booking all holiday components simultaneously like this is probably the easiest way of saving time in getting ATOL protection

Booking.com is an agent that advertises and sells flights, accommodations etc on behalf of other companies and individuals. Within the package you purchase from them, The flight you buy off them may be from one company and the accommodation from another company. This is OK though in terms of ATOL protection. As long as the components are all booked from the same booking agent (booking.com)

In this example of booking your holiday package through booking.com you have followed correct protocol for being ATOL protected. This is because:

·Booking.com holds a valid ATOL licence when using their flight + hotel option

· You booked two trip components via the same holiday provider company. You booked both components at the same time or within the allowed 24 hours

Click-Throughs

THERE ARE OTHER WAYS OF BOOKING WHEN YOU WILL STILL BE 100% ATOL PROTECTED

Example of booking a ‘Click-Through Package’

Imagine you just book your flight on The Travel Republic Website.
You open your flight booking confirmation Email from travelrepublic.co.uk. In the Email they have also provided a link to hotels they sell. You click on the link and have a quick look.
‘Wow, that hotel looks good value’ you think. That’s decided then ‘I’ll book this’ THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A CLICK-THROUGH You weren’t going to book your accommodation in the first instance but a hotel takes your fancy and you ‘click through’ to book it. Pay attention to the time-frame when booking your accommodation as an after-thought. That’s if you want your complete stay to be ATOL protected.
The ‘click Through’ is the type of holiday that you have to beware of the time-frame rules. That is if you want it to be protected by ATOL legislation

Importance of Timeframe when booking a ‘click-through’

When you booked your return flight to Majorca with Travel Republic online booking agent, it was advertised at a great price. You thought ‘I’ll get this now it may not be around tomorrow’ You intend to book your accommodation at a later date when you have got more time.
The thing is you can’t leave it too much later if you want to be covered by either ATOL.

Some internet posts say that the longest gap you can leave between booking your other travel component is just over a day. For example, they say if the flight is booked on Tuesday morning, the accommodation and/or car hire has to be booked by the end of Wednesday
Other information states that the two components have to be booked within 24 hours to qualify for ATOL protection. So lets err on the side of caution and stick to the strict 24 hour guideline to be on the safe side

IT DOESN’T MATTER IN WHICH ORDER YOU BOOKED YOUR TRAVEL COMPONENTS SO LONG AS ONE OF THE COMPONENTS IS A FLIGHT. It makes sense to book the flight first though. There’s no point booking the accommodation and afterwards finding there are no available flights to take you there.

If you book components separately, make sure your 2nd booking gets tied in with your first

If this is a real life scenario, phone up and make the second booking with someone personally over the phone. All reputable online agents selling Majorca holidays have a local rate number to call from the UK

The phone call or at least an email is necessary to make sure the website you booked your original travel component with, recognises you are making the 2nd booking with them. By using this ‘click through’ approach, your trip will be ATOL protected. In other words, it is classed as ‘package’ so make sure you get your certificate. Don’t lose your right to the protection just because you’ve not followed the timeframe guidelines.

Formal jargon found online states defines a click-through package as follows:

”A holiday is classed as a ‘click through’ package as long as the first service provider transmits the customer’s name, email address and payment details to the second provider and the second contract is concluded within 24 hours of the first contract”

If your holiday provider holds an ATOL licence, they’ll be able to provide you with your ATOL certificate once you’ve booked your trip. It can be at the shop, or through the wesite via email. Check with whichever agent you book with that you will get an your certificate if you’re expecting one before paying.

NB Follow the above protocol and any subsequent bookings for excursions or attractions are also protected with the same website or high street store.

TO AVOID ANY CONFUSION THE SIMPLEST WAY TO BOOK YOUR COMPONENTS IS AT THE SAME TIME WITH THE SAME COMPANY AND YOU WILL RECEIVE YOUR ATOL CERTIFICATE ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, WHETHER BOOKING ONLINE OR IN STORE. Remember to travel with the ATOL document always to hand