ATOL certificate

sandiego

Help please I booked 3 flights & 2 hotels at the same time but have 3 itineraries because u can't enter all at once all was completed in 30 minutes now Expedia are saying I can't get a ATOL certificate because there's more than one itinerary I understood if you booked within 24 hours with the same company I was entitled to a certificate I did this with a 2020 holiday same company and was entitled to one anyone help please?

Westin

Did you book with expedia.co.uk or expedia.com?

If the .co.uk site, booking two or more travel components together, or within a 24h period, should mean you have a linked travel arrangement and the ATOL cover.

On the Expedia.co.uk site you would normally book this under their 'Packages' tab or with a flight then adding a hotel.  I'm slightly unclear about your 3 itineraries but perhaps the way you booked this has lead to this issue. Booking say (a) Flights, (b) Hotel in one destination and (c). Hotel in another destination, may have confused matters.

sandiego

Booked on UK site but because I had to book multiple flights there's no way to book hotels until the flights are paid for so you have to create another booking straight after I'm getting worried as I thought it would be protected 

sandiego

Can anyone help please is there anyone I can contact at MSE or anywhere else that could give me advice I'm panicking a bit thank you 

Westin

Whilst Expedia is not an ABTA member, this article published on the ABTA website is a useful read - https://www.abta.com/news/linked-travel-arrangements-potential-minefield

I think your case is similar to the example (a) given as a linked travel arrangement, but it is important to read the full article report. 

The method of booking has I think created the issue. The problem will now be if this can be reversed and somehow the separate flight and two hotel elements merged on a booking, or at least linked.

I suspect the problem is going to be getting a hold of someone at Expedia to discuss this with who has knowledge and authority.  I expect the call centre is overseas and the call handlers have little or no knowledge of the Package Travel Regulations or what ATOL is.

sandiego

Yes ive read similar on money sites regarding ATOL they say it is valid booking within 24 hours.. if not its non compliance of ATOL regulations. But like you said i have been on live chat to expedia got nowhere and i spent 45 minutes on theb phone got nowhere he asked me what ATOL was !!

Alan_Bowen

Live chat is with a bot most of the time and their call centre in India is a total waste of time. If you were buying everything from Expedia itself I think it looks like a package, a linked travel arrangement is hardly worth a bean as it only protects against the failure of the airline, not the other suppliers and you won't get an ATOL Certificate as the CAA wanted to avoid trying to explain the whole idea.

The problem I suspect is that the algorithms do not understand what you have done and it requires a human intervention which you certainly won't get from our friends in India. I looked for a UK address on the CAA ATOL website but they only have the HQ address in Seattle, and they won't know any more than our Indians..I looked for an email address in the UK but couldn't find one but I have found Expedia UK Ltd at Companies House, They have an address at The Angel Building, 407 St Johns Street, London EC1V 4EX and if you could get a phone number, they might at least be able to point you in the right direction to talk to someone who understands the question. Good luck!

sandiego

Thanks for trying to help just feels a bit useless I'm a pensioner and not good with all this tech stuff but thanks for trying to help me

bagand96

sandiego said:

Can anyone help please is there anyone I can contact at MSE or anywhere else that could give me advice I'm panicking a bit thank you 

To be honest I wouldn't be panicking. ATOL protects you financially for the failure of the supplier. Its highly unlikely Expedia will go out of business. 

sandiego

Hope you are right but with things at present you never know.

Alan_Bowen

With respect, if you are not good with technology, Expedia was not the place to go to book the arrangements. You might have been much better visiting a good agent in your local High Street