Blog homeInteresting quote in the TTG this morning [See article]
The article is about a new form of travel company consumer protection that is being planned / discussed later this year to provide additional / clarified protection to UK travel consumers:
The government’s plan could see all non-air packages brought under the current Atol regime, or under some parallel protection arrangement, the CAA said.
It could also look at bringing in low-cost airlines that sell other holiday components on a “click-through” basis into the protection regime.
The second paragraph is what attracted my attention.
What about non-transactional travel sites – e.g. review sites, a price comparison / meta search etc. Can you really imagine that all these sites are going to required to give consumer protection too?
If the CAA is only talking about airlines requiring protection when they have external links to independent 3rd party travel websites…. that could be tricky for airline owned travel websites….. like Metrotwin, Vtravelled etc….
And what about non-transactional sites that link to both airlines and accommodation sites (but don’t handle any transactions)…. I guess they would end up in this wide net too.
I don’t see this particular clause making the final proposal myself, but the fact that it is even being discussed should wake up a few people. Stranger things have happened when it comes to UK government made legislation!
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If I am reading you right, this just going to penalise airlines who try and make money from Extras.
Ie. Airlines cannot link to Car Hire companies if they are not included in Atol.
Hi Toby
That is what I think it says
However when (if) they widen the remit to make ATOL cover non flight holiday packages….. then it wouldn’t just be the airline that would be forced to protect consumers from any linked websites….. but it could be a hotel company as the central site…. hence careful what precedent we set (if you read both of those quoted paragraphs together)
What I think the problem stems from is that there is a lack of knowledge between the web as a series of interconnected links for marketing purposes- and actual sales / transactions. Many of the links from airlines to 3rd parties are just marketing links – just like any other affiliate link.
Either way this again shows why ABTA need to cover more than just transactional companies in their membership. If ABTA / CAA are in discussions about these topics they need some non-transactional travel company input and fast!