Travel Shopping Basket - Multi-city which website?

mar7t1n

I have planned a linear trip to the US, which requires a return flight home from another airport, various hotels along the way and car hire. Which website is best for creating a shopping basket of all of these components so that I can get it ATOL protected. The websites I've checked all seem setup that you can only book a flight in and out of one airport and a single hotel for the entire trip.

bagand96

Most websites will allow you to book open-jaw flights, you need to select the "Multi-city" option.

For adding in hotels and car hire British Airways Holidays will let you do what you describe through the "Advanced Search". There you can add as many components as you wish. They can be quite competitive too, and the good thing is you only need to pay a deposit. https://www.britishairways.com/badp/complexItineraries/search.do?fromBAEntryPoint=true

I'm pretty sure other agents like Expedia will also allow it, although you might have to start by searching for the flights and adding the hotels in later in the booking process.  Or a bespoke agent like Trailfinders or Travelbag. 

TELLIT01

Alternatively go to one of the travel agents who still have a presence on the High St.

mar7t1n

Thanks @bagand96. The trip was originally planned with TrailFinders, but canceled because of Covid in 2020. A rouge guess puts the TF commission at £1500 vs booking each component directly. There is a value to it, but not quite sure it's worth that much?

The BA site didn't have availability at every stop and only give one or two hotel so not quite what I was looking for.

I guess the question is - how much is an ATOL cert actually worth, what does it give us that travel insurance and Section 75 doesn't. Is it simply not worth the hassle and risk on something like this.

bagand96

mar7t1n said:

Thanks @bagand96. The trip was originally planned with TrailFinders, but canceled because of Covid in 2020. A rouge guess puts the TF commission at £1500 vs booking each component directly. There is a value to it, but not quite sure it's worth that much?

The BA site didn't have availability at every stop and only give one or two hotel so not quite what I was looking for.

I guess the question is - how much is an ATOL cert actually worth, what does it give us that travel insurance and Section 75 doesn't. Is it simply not worth the hassle and risk on something like this.

ATOL is financial protection for if the airline or tour operator/travel agent goes out of business.  If you haven't yet travelled then you'd be entitled to a refund of monies paid.  If you're abroad then your trip should be able to continue as planned and be brought home at the end of the trip.  If you're paying on a credit card though then you would be claiming under S75 anyway and not ATOL.

Also worth remembering that if you book a package holiday you also get protection under The Package and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018.  For example under a package if the flights were cancelled and no replacement available, you'd be entitled to a refund of the entire trip.  If you've DIY'd and booked everything separately you may end up with just a refund of your flights.  This can be mitigated to some extent by booking flexible rate hotels/cars etc.

There's pros and cons to both to be honest and no one size fits all answer.

Doshwaster

mar7t1n said:

I have planned a linear trip to the US, which requires a return flight home from another airport, various hotels along the way and car hire. Which website is best for creating a shopping basket of all of these components so that I can get it ATOL protected. The websites I've checked all seem setup that you can only book a flight in and out of one airport and a single hotel for the entire trip.

I'm not sure I'd want all of the components on a single booking as it may make it harder to make changes. If you put the flight + car hire and maybe the first hotel onto one booking you will get ATOL protection in case the outward bound flight is cancelled or delayed. After that I would just book individual hotels directly to give more choice and flexibility