Section 75 claim protection for group holiday booking

stajon

Thanks for any help on this.  If I make a booking with a foreign tour operator on an AMEX or Mastercard credit card for myself and 5 other people in our holiday group and the tour operator doesn't provide the service will I be able to make a S75 claim for all 6 of us? i.e. the total payment?  The tour operator is based in South Africa and would be paid in South African Rand.
I'm trying to work out if paying by credit card is going to give me more protection than relying on my travel insurance and its associated excess and exclusions. 

eskbanker

stajon said:

I'm trying to work out if paying by credit card is going to give me more protection than relying on my travel insurance and its associated excess and exclusions. 

A s75 claim should be viable assuming the normal conditions are met (e.g. minimum item value of £100, etc) but in any case it's not an alternative to insurance as such, so paying by credit card while also buying a reputable travel insurance policy is the safest way of keeping your options open - chargeback is also an option when paying by card if a service isn't delivered.  Paying a foreign supplier in a foreign currency doesn't affect such claims, although it would be local consumer legislation applying to the service provision, as defined in the contract....

DullGreyGuy

stajon said:

Thanks for any help on this.  If I make a booking with a foreign tour operator on an AMEX or Mastercard credit card for myself and 5 other people in our holiday group and the tour operator doesn't provide the service will I be able to make a S75 claim for all 6 of us? i.e. the total payment?  The tour operator is based in South Africa and would be paid in South African Rand.
I'm trying to work out if paying by credit card is going to give me more protection than relying on my travel insurance and its associated excess and exclusions. 

No, it will give you less... it only covers a breach of contract whereas travel insurance will cover you if one of your group become sick or are injured either before traveling or during.

MEM62

stajon said:

Thanks for any help on this.  If I make a booking with a foreign tour operator on an AMEX or Mastercard credit card for myself and 5 other people in our holiday group and the tour operator doesn't provide the service will I be able to make a S75 claim for all 6 of us? i.e. the total payment?  The tour operator is based in South Africa and would be paid in South African Rand.
I'm trying to work out if paying by credit card is going to give me more protection than relying on my travel insurance and its associated excess and exclusions. 

I am not sure why you would think that S75 would give better coverage than an insurance policy specifically written for the purpose. It is not a catch all remedy  and, as advised by @DullGreyGuy, it will not.   

eskbanker

MEM62 said:

stajon said:

Thanks for any help on this.  If I make a booking with a foreign tour operator on an AMEX or Mastercard credit card for myself and 5 other people in our holiday group and the tour operator doesn't provide the service will I be able to make a S75 claim for all 6 of us? i.e. the total payment?  The tour operator is based in South Africa and would be paid in South African Rand.
I'm trying to work out if paying by credit card is going to give me more protection than relying on my travel insurance and its associated excess and exclusions. 

I am not sure why you would think that S75 would give better coverage than an insurance policy specifically written for the purpose. It is not a catch all remedy  and, as advised by @DullGreyGuy, it will not.   

OP's question was specifically about protection in the event of an overseas tour operator not providing a service - it may be that some travel insurance policies cover this, but I'd suggest that most such policies aren't really written for that particular purpose?  I think we're all on the same page about the benefits of paying by credit card as well as having travel insurance though....

Olinda99

Strange - I always thought that in the above scenario the OP would be covered should they wish to claim S75 but that the other five people would not (unless of course they each individually paid their tour ticket on their own credit card)

Obviously I'm wrong !

MEM62

eskbanker said:

MEM62 said:

stajon said:

Thanks for any help on this.  If I make a booking with a foreign tour operator on an AMEX or Mastercard credit card for myself and 5 other people in our holiday group and the tour operator doesn't provide the service will I be able to make a S75 claim for all 6 of us? i.e. the total payment?  The tour operator is based in South Africa and would be paid in South African Rand.
I'm trying to work out if paying by credit card is going to give me more protection than relying on my travel insurance and its associated excess and exclusions. 

I am not sure why you would think that S75 would give better coverage than an insurance policy specifically written for the purpose. It is not a catch all remedy  and, as advised by @DullGreyGuy, it will not.   

OP's question was specifically about protection in the event of an overseas tour operator not providing a service - it may be that some travel insurance policies cover this, but I'd suggest that most such policies aren't really written for that particular purpose?  I think we're all on the same page about the benefits of paying by credit card as well as having travel insurance though....

an insurance policy specifically written for the purpose

The latter half being the pertinent part of that sentence.  I believe that most policies require your trip to commence in the UK if taking a policy in the UK.  However, I am sure that a broker would be able to provide a suitable policy.    

eskbanker

MEM62 said:

eskbanker said:

MEM62 said:

stajon said:

Thanks for any help on this.  If I make a booking with a foreign tour operator on an AMEX or Mastercard credit card for myself and 5 other people in our holiday group and the tour operator doesn't provide the service will I be able to make a S75 claim for all 6 of us? i.e. the total payment?  The tour operator is based in South Africa and would be paid in South African Rand.
I'm trying to work out if paying by credit card is going to give me more protection than relying on my travel insurance and its associated excess and exclusions. 

I am not sure why you would think that S75 would give better coverage than an insurance policy specifically written for the purpose. It is not a catch all remedy  and, as advised by @DullGreyGuy, it will not.   

OP's question was specifically about protection in the event of an overseas tour operator not providing a service - it may be that some travel insurance policies cover this, but I'd suggest that most such policies aren't really written for that particular purpose?  I think we're all on the same page about the benefits of paying by credit card as well as having travel insurance though....

an insurance policy specifically written for the purpose

The latter half being the pertinent part of that sentence.  I believe that most policies require your trip to commence in the UK if taking a policy in the UK.  However, I am sure that a broker would be able to provide a suitable policy.    

Ah right, I see what you mean now, i.e. you're advocating a policy specifically written for the purpose of protecting an overseas tour, rather than referring to OP's existing travel insurance policy, which is what they were comparing with s75 coverage.