IATA/ABTA and equivalents

Beenie

We are planning a holiday to South Africa for February next year. We want to drive the Garden Route and end up with a 3 day safari at one of the lodges in the Eastern Cape.

We have done the usual price comparisons and used British agents for that, plus one South African company. They, unsurprisingly, are the cheapest but are not IATA or ABTA accredited. This worries us slightly, but they ARE accredited with a South African equivalent.

Given that our holiday starts and ends in the U.K., are we covered by the SA guarantee if his company goes bust?

Alan_Bowen

IATA represents airlines and does not provide consumer protection although it does appoint agents to act for airlines worldwide. ABTA's protection is also limited nowadays and booking with a non European agent is best done using a credit card when you will be protected against the failure of the agent. Most agency trade associations protect 'home based' passengers, if they provide any financial protection at all but if the saving is substantial take a chance but only pay by CC, never by bank transfer. In Africa as a whole it is worth checking to see if they are a member of ATTA, the African Travel and Tourism Association, they don't provide financial protection but they do monitor agencies and have a good record of avoiding failing businesses

leylandsunaddict

Is the SA company an agent or a tour operator? If a tour operator paying with a credit card will protect you under Section 75. If they're an agent then Section 75 is a bit of a grey area. If the agent failed you would be covered, but if their supplier/s failed then you may not. There would be no direct link from you to them.

Presumably the UK companies you were looking at hold an Atol (assuming you're booking the flights with them, not just the car and accommodation)? IATA isn't important for protection. Abta would protect against the member going bust, but not their suppliers unless they were also Abta members.