Canada

Marie_Williams

In the past my friend and I have arranged our own package to Canada until we realised we were not ATOL protected and went through an agent. We want to do a trip from Calgary, through the Rockies to Vancouver and then, after spending a couple of days there getting on the Rocky Mountaineer to Banff and returning from Calgary to Manchester. We have tried a number of Agents and no one seems to do this trip. We do not want luxury accommodation. We have seen an Agent in Canada who do the bus tour but they are not yet guaranteed to do the trip. How can we be sure, if we plan our own Journey that we are covered for any problems. Advice appreciated.

Nick_C

Book everything independently. Pay by credit card. If anyone goes bust, you have S75 protection which covers consequential loss.

skint_chick

Also at the same time as booking organise your travel insurance! Research the cover carefully and buy it the same day you book flights/accommodation etc. You only have to read the threads on here to see how many people don't do this and something happens in between booking and departure before they bought insurance. Get a decent level of cover for medical expenses as Canadian healthcare is expensive and in BC/AB you may have further to get to a hospital for the care you may need.

agrinnall

Nick_C wrote: »

Book everything independently. Pay by credit card. If anyone goes bust, you have S75 protection which covers consequential loss.

I don't believe you. Can you provide some evidence to back up this claim?

malkie76

agrinnall wrote: »

I don't believe you. Can you provide some evidence to back up this claim?

The T&C on your credit card enough ?

Nick is spot on. Book direct and save money that you'd loose to an agent. Pay with a credit card and book insurance at the time of booking.

I don't ever see the point in agents.

daveyjp

Marie_Williams wrote: »

In the past my friend and I have arranged our own package to Canada until we realised we were not ATOL protected and went through an agent. We want to do a trip from Calgary, through the Rockies to Vancouver and then, after spending a couple of days there getting on the Rocky Mountaineer to Banff and returning from Calgary to Manchester. We have tried a number of Agents and no one seems to do this trip. We do not want luxury accommodation. We have seen an Agent in Canada who do the bus tour but they are not yet guaranteed to do the trip. How can we be sure, if we plan our own Journey that we are covered for any problems. Advice appreciated.

A decent agent will put a package like that together. Kuoni, Trailfinders, Canadian Affair, North America Travel service to name a few.

HHarry

Friends have just put together an almost identical package with Trailfinders.

agrinnall

malkie76 wrote: »

The T&C on your credit card enough ?

Nick is spot on. Book direct and save money that you'd loose to an agent. Pay with a credit card and book insurance at the time of booking.

I don't ever see the point in agents.

OK, having now looked at the MSE guide it does appear that it should be possible to claim for consequential loss:

"The law allows you to claim for ‘consequential losses' arising from the problem. In other words, if what went wrong forced you to shell out, the credit company is liable just like the retailer would be. Obviously it's more difficult to do, but it's still legal."

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases#when

Of course, in your example taking out insurance at the same time as booking means that there is far less likelihood of needing to test the S75 claim process, it's not something I would want to rely on without insurance.

Nick_C

agrinnall wrote: »

Of course, in your example taking out insurance at the same time as booking means that there is far less likelihood of needing to test the S75 claim process, it's not something I would want to rely on without insurance.

I completely agree that you should have travel insurance for most countries.

As an example of S75 and consequential loss, I booked a trip to Budapest in 2012. I booked the plane tickets with my Halifax Mastercard and the hotel with my (Barclaycard) Hilton Visa card. The hotel was prepaid and non refundable.

Two weeks before we were due to travel, Malev (the Hungarian airline) went bust.

I claimed the cost of the flights back from Halifax, and tried to claim the cost of the hotel on my travel insurance. My Insurer said I was not covered for this. I went back to Halifax and put in a claim under S75 for the cost of the hotel, booked with my Barclays/Hilton Visa card. Halifax paid up, as they were liable for the consequential loss.

Nick_C

Marie, just a comment on your trip.

Are you planning on driving? If you can, I would recommend it. The train line follows the road for much of the way, and a car gives you the freedom to stop when you see something interesting and get off the beaten track.

I would also suggest flying out to Calgary and back from Vancouver, or you will just be retracing your steps.

If you driving, I would also strongly recommend going up to Jasper. The road from Banff to Jasper is breathtaking. Leaving Jasper, continue east past Mount Robson, then south back to the Trans Canada highway. Wells Gray state park is worth a visit. There is also a place on that road where you can go bear watching by boat - the bears swim across the lake. If you are interested in this route, I'll post some more details.

John259

Nick_C wrote: »

The road from Banff to Jasper is breathtaking.

Yes, that's definitely true. From Lake Louise to Jasper it's called the Icefields Parkway and there's no railway line along that route.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_Highway_93
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxvjwW4e5sw