Is it safe to book an easyJet flight through TUI?
Q I was going to book a package holiday with TUI but noticed the flights are with easyJet. I know TUI is Association of British Travel Agents-bonded but as the flights are with a third party, will I still be covered if TUI or easyJet go bust?
Joanne C
A Consumer protection of package holidays, and other travel arrangements, are mighty complicated, with rampant misunderstanding about the interactions between the law, an Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (Atol) and the role of Abta, the travel association.
In the case of your proposed holiday, you will be protected by the (deep breath) Package Travel and Linked
Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018. They stipulate the tour operator, in your case TUI, must deliver the holiday as promised or make amends if that is not possible. So in the event that easyJet were to fail, TUI would need either to find you a replacement flight or provide you with a full refund.
The law also requires the money you pay upfront to TUI to be protected. This involves the tour operator charging you £2.50 for an Atol certificate. The cash goes to top up the prodigiously rich Air Travel Trust fund, which is designed to provide refunds to consumers if their travel firm goes bust.
In practice, when a tour operator or airline closes down, the consumer is told initially to claim through their credit-card provider – which is one reason the fund is so wealthy.
Having said all of that, and possibly thoroughly confused you in the process, I think it almost inconceivable that either easyJet or TUI would go out of business between now and when you go on holiday. So go ahead and book, and start the essential and enjoyable process of anticipation.
Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder