Holiday protection ATOL, ABTA and Travel Trust

techno79

Hi. I'm wanting to book a holiday (flights and accommodation) via a travel agent. There's a few different travel agents I'm considering and I noticed that they are all ATOL protected (I confirmed this via checking their ATOL number on the official website).

However, there's some agencies that mention they are also registered with ABTA (https://www.abta.com/) which is some finacial trust association and there's others that are with Travel Trust which is a different trust organisation (https://www.thetravelnetworkgroup.co.uk).

ABTA and Travel Trust seem like they are competing services so agencies will be registered to one or the other. However, one of the agencies I'm keen on doesn't mention being registered to either ABTA or Travel Trust but they are ATOL protected.

How does ATOL related to ABTA/Travel Trust?

If a travel agent is ATOL protected and I'm booking flights with accommodation at the same time, should I get more financial security on this?

I was hoping to pay via credit card for extra security but the travel agent does not accept credit card payments.

Thoughts?

MothballsWallet

ATOL is a guarantee scheme for package holidays operated & overseen by the Civil Aviation Authority (ATOL).

This article I found with a Google search may help as it talks about all 3. Admittedly, it's from a travel company, but may help you.

Also, if the Travel Agent you're talking to doesn't accept credit card payments, I'd be very wary as you could lose out on Section 75 protection if anything goes wrong and you need a refund.