Package Holidays - Section 75

Civvy21

Never gone on any package holidays in the past. We've always made our own arrangements and, pleased to say, never had any problems.

Now we are a bit older, we looked at getting away for some winter sun, on a holiday arranged by a tour operator. We would, of course, use my credit card to make the booking. Found some good deals from a company called Love Holidays. The deal included flights, hotel and transfers. And all made with a single payment. All sounded good. But on doing my background checks it transpired that any booking with them would potentially not be covered by Section 75. Presumably because of a break in the supplier link? Can anyone confirm if that is correct? I always understood Section 75 wouldn't apply to purchases made via Amazon or Ebay etc, but I am surprised it would not apply in this case.

If S75 does not apply to holidays booked with Love Holidays, how about companies like TUi or Jet 2 etc. How easy is it to ascertain which companies will be covered by S75 and those which won't. Seems a bit of a grey area to me.

Grateful for any advice.

Isthisforreal99

Ignoring the S75 issue, I would avoid LH altogether

eskbanker

Section 75 requires an unbroken debtor-creditor-supplier chain, which essentially means that using an agent in between the cardholder and the ultimate supplier of services will generally break this chain and deny s75 coverage, so if, for example, you bought flights from an agent then this would prevent a claim resulting from breach of contract by the airline.

However, package holidays are a different contractual structure, in that the Package Travel Regulations hold the package organiser responsible for performance of the contract, and therefore it should be possible to raise a s75 claim against the organiser, in this case LoveHolidays.

Having said that, these cheap bucket shops don't have a good reputation (as you should find during your due diligence), so it'll often be worth dealing with a 'proper' tour operator such as those you mention….

la531983

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81868350#Comment_81868350

Very much this.

They cobble together packages from other providers and seen many a tale on here of the proverbial hitting the fan when a flight is changed etc.

Stick to Jet2 Holidays, Easyjet Holidays or TUI, imo

visidigi

As others, avoid resellers.

Jet2 - highly recommended, they did the 'right' thing during COVID and actually looked after customers (yeah I'm looking at you TUi and BA who made it downright difficult to get your own money back)

Easyjet holidays also well recommended

We've booked with both this year for different trips, the little upgrades such as private transfers are really easy.

Civvy21

Thank you all for your extremely helpful replies.

I will certainly take on board your comments regarding Love Holidays. I will instead have a look at Jet2, Easyjet, TUI etc. Any other recommendations would be welcome.

And thank you to ESK for your points regarding the S75 issue. So just to clarify, in theory the Package Travel Regulations trump the "broken" DCS link.

Not that I would ever do so, but if, for example, if I booked a flight and hotel (if only for the first night) through an online booking agent ie Booking.com, presumably S75 would apply?

born_again

S75 is in reality the last line & covers "breach of contract, &/or misrepresentation", It is not a get out of jail free card. You should have insurance in place.

 I booked a flight and hotel (if only for the first night) through an online booking agent ie Booking.com, presumably S75 would apply?

All depends, on who you are paying. Pay booking.com, then no as they do not run hotels or airlines, & what exactly the problem is..

eskbanker

And thank you to ESK for your points regarding the S75 issue. So just to clarify, in theory the Package Travel Regulations trump the "broken" DCS link.

It's not so much 'trumping' anything, but that in a package scenario, the supplier is effectively the package organiser, by virtue of their ongoing service provision obligations under the PTRs.

Not that I would ever do so, but if, for example, if I booked a flight and hotel (if only for the first night) through an online booking agent ie Booking.com, presumably S75 would apply?

It would depend on the booking constituting a package under the definition within the PTRs - booking.com take the view that it doesn't but whether that would withstand court scrutiny is another story:

https://www.booking.com/content/terms.en-gb.html#may_25_a21_title

ButterCheese

We used LH for ours and had no problems. Any provider is capable of delays and/or staff that don't do their job properly. If you're that concerned, book a flight and then book a hotel, then at least if there's a problem you are dealing with the organ grinder and not the monkey

Civvy21

Thank you ESK. That is very helpful. I will stick with booking direct with airlines and hotels, as I always have done.

visidigi

just to say, book with ATOL protection, that way the package is collectively protected, if you book separate if one part fails you're still on the hook for the rest.

Jet2 and Eayjet holidays, and if you must :) TUi, are ATOL protected