“ATOL fee” refund refusal from OnTheBeach

DisgruntledOwl

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere and I’ve missed it, I did try searching!
On the Beach have issued me a refund for hotel and transfers booked with them which have been cancelled due to Covid. I noticed this amount was missing £5, and they’ve told me this is the “ATOL fee” which is non-refundable. Is this correct? I thought I was entitled to a full refund of the exact amount paid for the package holiday! I can’t see on my invoice or ATOL certificate any mention of the £5 fee. Thank you for any help anyone can give!

bradders1983

I believe it is £2.50 per person for all package holidays, some companies will itemise it, for others its just part of the headline price.

No reason why you should not have it back though.

bagand96

ATOL bonding costs £2.50 per passenger, and nearly all companies pass that cost on to the customer.  Most companies itemise it separately at the checkout, no idea if OTB do or not.  The travel agent don't keep that money, it goes to Air Travel Trust which is the fund that meets the costs when tour operators go bankrupt (Thomas Cook, Monarch etc).  More information can be found here: https://www.caa.co.uk/ATOL-protection/Consumers/About-ATOL/

I'm not sure on the status of whether it's refundable or not, never come across it before.  Maybe get in touch with ATOL and ask. 

DisgruntledOwl

That makes sense as it was a holiday for 2. I can’t see why they won’t refund it though - I had a different package holiday cancelled and refunded last year when Thomas Cook collapsed and got the full amount refunded then. Thanks for your input. 

DisgruntledOwl

bagand96 said:

ATOL bonding costs £2.50 per passenger, and nearly all companies pass that cost on to the customer.  Most companies itemise it separately at the checkout, no idea if OTB do or not.  The travel agent don't keep that money, it goes to Air Travel Trust which is the fund that meets the costs when tour operators go bankrupt (Thomas Cook, Monarch etc). 
I'm not sure on the status of whether it's refundable or not, never come across it before.  Maybe get in touch with ATOL and ask. 

Thank you - I’ve contacted ATOL to ask and will report back. I know it seems silly to fuss over £5 - but I have plenty of time on my hands now I’m not “on the beach” haha. 

Life__Goes__On

I would be interested to know as well,  is it classed as an insurance, so you have had use of it.

DisgruntledOwl

Life__Goes__On said:

I would be interested to know as well,  is it classed as an insurance, so you have had use of it.

Update: I argued it out with OTB on twitter and they’ve now refunded it to me as a “gesture of goodwill” after I pointed out that their terms and conditions don’t mention that it is non-refundable and that it’s not accounted for on their invoice or the ATOL certificate. So, I guess moral of the story is that it’s worth asking for. (Haven’t heard back from ATOL yet for their official position).