Online Travel Agents

vix2000

I have booked a holiday with an online company and am now worried I have made a big mistake. I did what I thought was extensive research, and saw they were owned by a well known high street travel agent, and were abta and atol members. Thinking this was all the assurance we needed we booked our holiday. When I received the paperwork there were quite a few discrepancies in the calculations and I am having a few problems getting a breakdown from them. From my further research it appears that, despite their abta membership being clearly displayed on their web page, because the hotel and flight are booked through 3rd party companies none of their holidays can ever be abta protected? Can anyone tell me if my perception of this right? Thanks

richardw

Will you get ATOL's flight plus protection?

Alan_Bowen

Indeed, have you got an ATOL Certificate? If you have you are financially protected but if the accommodation supplier goes bust, you have to beg the agent to find suitable alternative accommodation which isn't the easiest. I assume the ABTA and ATOL actually belong to another company altogether (its usually Hays Travel) from the one you actually thought you were booking with?

By the way ABTA provides no cover at all for travel involving flights, its a misconception that they like to keep quiet about. They do however have a code of conduct which sets out the standards they expect of their members so if they are beginning to appear to be less than competent, you can certainly make a complaint

vix2000

Thanks for the replies. I do have an ATOL certificate, the Abta number is actually in the name of the online travel agent, although it says on their website they belong to Hays Travel. my main worry is that there are many reports of people arriving at their destination and they haven't even been booked into the hotel. I have already been given 3 different balances on the holiday on the paperwork sent to me and have resorted to writing to head office. The response says that they will reply within the 28 days prescribed by Abta, which seems bizarre seeing as by all accounts my holiday does not come under Abta, despite booking everything together. Its all very confusing!!!

Alan_Bowen

You are protected to the extent that Hays is a member of ABTA and it's sub agents have to abide by the Code of Conduct but ABTA does not provide financial protection. I could have a guess at the name of the but to protect the 'guilty' I won't. It might be worth writing to John Hays himself at the address in Sunderland which you should find somewhere on the website of the agent you booked through as he always takes a personal interest when things are going wrong.

vix2000

Thanks Alan, and thanks for not naming, as I am going to give them the chance to sort it out. They have said the 28 days prescribed by abta and we have plenty of time before our holiday. I'm hoping that the over £150 increase between the original booking confirmation and our holiday documents with our balance is just a clerical error!!!!

Alan_Bowen

It probably isn't a mistake, they may have delayed making the booking with the airline and the flight costs increased during that delay? You should have 2 invoices one for the accommodation and one for the flights, see which has the change? If it is the accommodation then you may be able to argue that you were quoted a lower price and hopefully you printed off the screen at the time of booking so that you have something to argue with.

goldConsidered

I have a complaint against Cruise Circle, a travel agent that organises cruises with add ons such as flights. I booked on the phone a few days ago on the 15th, and, after specifically asking when the balance was due, I was told two weeks before departure. I got the confirmation 3 days after booking which says the balance is payable about 3 months before departure! I complained as soon as I got the email confirmation. The response says I cannot cancel now without foregoing the deposit - a whopping £1300! They have offered to delay the balance payment by a couple of weeks, but I do not think this is enought. Does anyone know if I can get any redress?

Alan_Bowen

There isn't a cruise line in the world that takes the final balance two weeks before departure, three months is average and some want it even earlier. If the deposit was £1300, which will be the cancellation charge in most cases, then it must be an expensive cruise and I would have assumed you had cruised before and would be familiar with the usual booking rules. The cruise line will simply cancel your holiday if you don't pay according to their conditions, have you looked at their brochure and checked the deadline, I think you have to accept the situation, ask if they record their calls and if they do and they told you 2 weeks then you can pay then but since no cruise line to my knowledge nor any standard tour operator has a balance due date of 2 weeks, it is not a mistake I could imagine any sales person making, sorry