Blog homeOver here in the UK we are having a bit of trouble with travel payments protection. Consumers can be covered through a variety of means - some of which are hellishly complex. Most relate to what happens if a travel company fails (ceases trading) post booking (and post payment) before the consumer has travelled:
- If you pay by credit card - your credit card payment provider may cover you…. but not if you pay by debit card (perhaps) - or if you make a part payment on one card and another part payment on another
- If you book with an ATOL bonded travel company - you may be able to get an alternative flight (ATOL mainly covers that). The alternative may of course be on a different date…. different airport (hope not) etc….
- If you book with a TTA member - the money is held in trust fund. Goodness knows how you get that back.
- Your travel insurance may cover you for travel supplier failure…… if you have taken out travel insurance prior to booking (unlike me who takes out travel insurance just before travelling - which can be some time after booking)
- You can get specific “travel supplier failure” insurance
- If you book direct you may not be covered at all (hotels, flight only)
- etc
Anyway, I am not going to go into the inns and outs of this complex area. I haven’t got a clue how it works. Nor do many others in the trade….. so how consumers are meant to understand this I dunno.
ABTA (the UK regulators and industry association) have a website that ought to be explaining all of this - both to the trade - and more importantly - to consumers.
However, as you can see from their website - they don’t have a significant mention about bonding or any other kind of financial protection on their homepage*. Instead they look much like any other travel website. I think they are missing the point as to what their website should be about. It is like a Miss World contest - looks nice - but pointless.
* Yes I know they have a tiny mention in their footer…… but, er, easy to miss.
So, as ABTA are failing to help communicate what is covered or not…. this generates an opportunity for someone else.
I suggest someone buys a domain name such as “IsMyTripCovered.com” and hosts a nice and simple flow diagram based quiz (with interactive questions) - so that consumers and the trade can get to grips what is going on. Really this ought to be done by ABTA or some other industry organisation - but failing that - any large travel company that wants to earn a bit of positive PR could do this - or even the trade press themselves.
So who is up for contributing something back to the industry?
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Of course the XL failure brought all the financial protection issues to the fore again and we published an easy to use guide to financial protection. You can find it in the media zone of the ABTA website or here http://www.abta.com/consumer-services/protecting_your_travel_arrangements.
The area of financial protection is a minefield and will be hotly debated at the Travel Convention next week in Gran Canaria. You are right, it’s ridiculously complicated because the way we book travel now means that current legislation falls way short when it comes to covering everyone. One sure way to find out about this is to book - and ask an ABTA member - who can guide you through the maze. One of the main issues is about price, another, the speed at which we book travel. Over the past few years, with the proliferation of the £1 flight, many have thought why bother to think about financial protection when jumping on a plane is so quick, cheap and easy. Things of course are changing again, so look out for all the info coming from the convention as we will be releasing some details on consumer attitudes to financial protection, as well as the attitudes from the industry itself.
Hi Frances,
Thank you very much for coming to this blog to comment.
I wonder whether something that explains all the different ways that a consumer could be covered would be helpful. ABTA is just a subset of the UK travel industry. (an important subset, but a subset nontheless)
For example TTA is perfectly sufficient bonding in my mind - so is the new supplier failure insurance that some companies offer. Your page, although helpful, only really goes as far as explaining the ABTA coverage.
As one of ABTA’s stated aims is to maintain high standards of trading practice for the industry at large (not just ABTA members) this is where I feel you guys ought to reach out to the other consumer protection mechanisms to produce a single, easy to use, website that explains all the options.
Thanks. Alex