Five rules to stop airlines sabotaging your holiday
Rule No 1: Buy your insurance on the same day you book your trip
First British Airways’ computer systems crashed causing thousands of passengers to miss flights. Then Ryanair announced it was cancelling 20,000 flights due to a shortage of pilots.
And now Monarch has collapsed, causing chaos for 860,000 passengers who had bookings. Here we explain how you can protect your holiday against disaster. ATOL stands for Air Travel Organiser’s Licence and is a government-backed scheme run by the aviation watchdog. It means if the airline or travel company you’ve booked with goes bust you are guaranteed to get your money back or you’ll be offered an alternative trip. If you’re abroad you’ll be able to finish your holiday and get home as planned.
In the case of Monarch, around half the 860,000 customers affected are covered by Atol, either under the airline’s scheme or that of the travel company they booked through.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has committed to bringing all 110,000 abroad home regardless of whether they booked an Atol holiday, so no one will be stranded. But there are a further 750,000 who have booked to travel with Monarch in the coming months and only those with Atol protected holidays are guaranteed their money back. The remainder will have to try to claim their money back from their travel insurer or bank.
To check your holiday is protected, look for the Atol logo and a unique licence number four to five digits long. You can check the licence is legitimate on the CAA website (caa. co.uk). As a rule of thumb, if you are booking a package holiday you should be covered automatically. You should also be covered if you book flights and board or flights and car hire with the same company.
Some direct flights are also covered by Atol. Monarch, for example, used to offer flight- only protection but withdrew from the scheme last year.
So anyone who booked direct flights on or before December 14, 2016, will be covered. Those who booked after will not. If you’re covered you should receive an Atol certificate by email or post as soon as you have paid. Always take this on holiday with you. EVEN if your holiday is Atol protected you still need travel insurance. The Atol scheme will not pay out if you need medical care abroad or lose your luggage and it will not cover anything you book separately in advance such as excursions, transfers or car hire.
Beware that not all travel insurance policies will pay out in the event of an airline or travel company collapsing. You need something known as ‘end supplier failure’ or ‘travel abandonment’ cover.
Of the 938 single trip policies on sale, under half offer this as standard, with a further 10 pc offering it as an add-on that customers can pay for, according to data analysts Defaqto. If your policy does have cover, check the terms and conditions carefully.
Some may only pay up to a certain amount, while others may refuse to cover ‘consequential loss’ — meaning any pre-booked accommodation or excursions you paid for and can no longer use.
CHOOSE THE RIGHT TRAVEL INSURANCE GET COVERED AS SOON AS YOU’VE BOOKED
JUST 15 pc of single-trip travel insurance policies bought through comparison site GoCompare last year were purchased more than a month in advance. More than a fifth were bought on the actual day of departure. Leaving it this late is a gamble.
As Monarch shows, anything can happen between booking your holiday and departing. Cancellation MORE than a million holidaymakers have suffered travel chaos this year.
MAKE SURE YOUR HOLIDAY IS ATOL PROTECTED
cover and airline failure cover starts on the day you buy your policy.
This means the sooner you buy your policy the better protected you are should something happen. Alternatively, consider an annual policy. If you go abroad regularly this can be cost effective — and means you can book in confidence.
USE A CREDIT CARD TO PAY FOR HOLIDAYS
UNDER Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, if you pay for something by credit card that costs between £100 and £30,000 your bank is jointly liable. This means that if something goes wrong, such as your airline going bust, you can claim a refund.
You don’t even need to pay for the whole bill by credit card to benefit. You can put just £1 on your credit card and pay the rest with cash. The only catch is if you are booking through a third-party website such as a travel agent. In this instance the rules don’t apply, you must have paid directly. If this is the case, or if you paid by debit card, try to get your money back under a lesserknown rule called Chargeback.
It is not legal protection like Section 75, but is part of Visa, Mastercard and American Express rules that banks must abide by.
In these cases your bank will try to reclaim the money from the company’s bank, but there is no guarantee of success. You typically have 120 days from becoming aware of a breach of contract to claim.
CLAIM WHAT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO
IF YOUR flight is delayed or cancelled you may be entitled to compensation. Under EU law if your flight arrives more than three hours late you could claim up to €600 (£533). How much you get depends on how far you are travelling and how long the delay is. If your flight is cancelled you should be offered alternative travel or, if unsuitable, a refund.
You may also be entitled to up to €600 (£533) compensation depending on how much notice you are given and the length of your journey. If your flight is grounded as a result of an extrordinary circumstance such as bad weather your airline does not have to pay out.
Regardless of the cause you should also be entitled to refreshments and overnight accomodation where necessary. You may be given food vouchers, but if not keep receipts to make a claim when you get home.
For more information visit the CAA website or call 0330 022 1500.
If you are unhappy with how your claim is dealt with, complain to the ombudsman. This may be AviationADR (020 3540 8063) or the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR)(020 7536 6099), depending on the airline.