What is the point in ATOL and the £2.50 per flight fee?
I’m looking to book a holiday to SFO and have got a rough idea of flight prices online. I then ring Flight Centre to get a price on a BA flight from LHR. The lady gives me the price and breaks down the taxes, and then says there is a £2.50 ATOL fee? Eeerrrr, I am paying with my credit card, so surely I will be protected under Section 75 of the consumer credit act? I’m also taking out travel insurance so I will be protected with that should something go wrong.
I then checked the price on ba.com and under the fare/taxes breakdown, I do not see the ATOL fee?
I may be totally wrong or missing the point here, but it just seems to be I’m wasting £2.50. Yes it’s not a lot of money, but when you have millions of people booking flights daily, the UK government is making a nice number ON TOP of the stupid airport departure tax?
Just an observation here, not having ago or trying to make this political. Thoughts welcome.
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This sums up the two quite nicely.
Basically BA isn't a tour operator, so ATOL wouldn't be sold by them.
Quote:
Book an ATOL protected trip wherever you can - essentially place the booking for as much of your trip as possible with one company where an invoice is issued to cover the entire cost of the trip with one total price for your holiday. The company should hold an ATOL (Air Tour Operator’s Licence) from the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) in order to sell on this basis. ATOL’s are usually held by Tour Operators and their holidays are sold either direct of via travel agents. Some travel agents also hold these licences to allow them to package up trips and offer the full financial cover.
The benefits of doing this are that the ATOL scheme ensures that if the company goes under you are entitled to a full refund under the scheme, or if you are already abroad you can continue on your holiday without any issues. Additionally, if a part of your trip goes wrong, the ATOL holder is responsible for sorting it out for you.
Pay for your holiday by credit card – when you are not able to book a trip covered by ATOL you must pay for your transaction by credit card, whether you book direct or through a travel agent. This gives you protection under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 section 10. However you may well face paying credit card charges on your booking which obviously add cost to your break. Visa debit cards also offering the purchaser protection when companies go under.
If you pay by cash, cheque, bank transfer, debit card or electron/pre paid cards then you do not receive cover under the consumer credit act should something go wrong. There is also no cover for transactions by credit card under £100 in value.
The rules changed in October by all accounts but there should be a carve out if you just buy the flight (and presumably it's a published, not consolidator, fare) http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?ca...4&pageid=13130
Just to clarify, Flight Centre’s price was with a hotel. I just wanted to see what deal they could give with a hotel added on and it was much more expensive.
That’s a bit naughty if the ATOL fee is only 12p and they are charging £2.50???
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Originally Posted by phol
Its to protect those daft enough not to get insurance, nanny state and all that...
Its also 12p per passenger according to the CAA website, so Flight Centre are pocketing the rest, not the government.
That's categorically 100% not true - it's £2.50 per passenger. I've implemented it for a company! They cannot mark up this figure.
But as I said, Flight Centre should not be charging it for a flight only.
Also, most travel insurance does not protect companies going bust. The £2.50 is basically filling in a deficit standing at about £20 million (as of this time last year) that the CAA has covered for numerous big name Tour Op bankrupticies.
Fundamentally it protects the ambiguous situations for those who might book flights with a certain LCC (i.e. Ryanair) and then book the accommodation through a link on the Ryanair site with Ryanairhotels.com, then find this isn't a package and they do not get ATOL protection. Helping to close a few loopholes.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SgtRyan
Just to clarify, Flight Centre’s price was with a hotel. I just wanted to see what deal they could give with a hotel added on and it was much more expensive.
That’s a bit naughty if the ATOL fee is only 12p and they are charging £2.50???
As above the ATOL fee is £2.50 - no further discussion required - 100% goes to the CAA!
If you asked for a quote for flight + hotel you are being charged it whether you go through BA or Flight Centre. If it's just one component you should not be charged it as they will not pay the CAA for it.
BA may just choose to swallow the cost, or hide it in the pricing. But they are paying it on your behalf if you book flight and hotel.
That's categorically 100% not true - it's £2.50 per passenger. I've implemented it for a company! They cannot mark up this figure.
But as I said, Flight Centre should not be charging it for a flight only.
Also, most travel insurance does not protect companies going bust. The £2.50 is basically filling in a deficit standing at about £20 million (as of this time last year) that the CAA has covered for numerous big name Tour Op bankrupticies.
Fundamentally it protects the ambiguous situations for those who might book flights with a certain LCC (i.e. Ryanair) and then book the accommodation through a link on the Ryanair site with Ryanairhotels.com, then find this isn't a package and they do not get ATOL protection. Helping to close a few loopholes.
Maybe there is another charge somewhere i missed but there's an 11.85p charge per passenger for an ATOL licence.
That is the existing charges per passenger that any ATOL bonded Tour Operator has always had to pay. It does not need to be broken down, and is normally paid annually in arrears.
The APC is a new Atol Protection Charge as of 01 April 2012 which is £2.50 per passenger. You received a shiny certificate from your Tour Operator if you are covered. In essence it goes into a Trust Fund to protect consumers when Bond Holders fail, but in reality is helping to cover the deficit caused by the 11.85p not being sufficient to cover all the failures in recent years.
That is the existing charges per passenger that any ATOL bonded Tour Operator has always had to pay. It does not need to be broken down, and is normally paid annually in arrears.
The APC is a new Atol Protection Charge as of 01 April 2012 which is £2.50 per passenger. You received a shiny certificate from your Tour Operator if you are covered. In essence it goes into a Trust Fund to protect consumers when Bond Holders fail, but in reality is helping to cover the deficit caused by the 11.85p not being sufficient to cover all the failures in recent years.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SgtRyan
Ok, so I book a flight and hotel, I pay on my credit card. The company goes bust, am I not covered? I think I am???
Yes, I understand that this protects people who pay cash or debit card, but in my situation, am I covered by the cc company or not?
Yes, you are covered if you pay on your credit card. You are covered however you pay, including debit card, cheque cash etc.
Infact if you paid by credit card and the company went bust, the CAA would probably refer you to the credit card company to seek a refund, so in effect you are double bonding.
However, the £2.50 is not optional, and Flight Centre must collect it and pay it to the CAA irrespective of how you pay.
You may want to bare this in mind if there is a credit card surcharge that you get the same level of security if you pay by a free method (i.e. debit card, transfer etc). Most companies will apply a cc surcharge.
However, with flyertalkers I appreciate that credit cards are used for other reasons than just protection.
It's complex. The protection you have on your credit card falls under section 75. This only protects you for items which have a value of more than £100.
Now - the really important thing is that there must be a debtor-creditor-supplier relationship.
As a result - if you purchase your airline tickets through a third party - you do NOT have that arrangement if the airline goes bust! The supplier - in this case - would be Flight Centre - and the contract you have with them is supply you with tickets.
(The same goes for where you buy something for someone else - if your name is on the credit card, but their name is on the purchase slip - there isn't the relationship required)
So - for those kind of circumstances - you really need the ATOL protection regardless.
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As MPH1980 says, it's a bit murky with travel agents and credit cards. But as long as the agent is ATOL bonded, you don't need to worry - you are covered that way.
If you book direct with the airline and the hotel, you don't have ATOL protection, but you do have s.75 protection from the card issuer (as long as the purchases are >£100). Also note that you don't need to pay in full on the card - as long as you have part paid on the card, and the full value is >£100, you're covered (though try finding a website that'll let you do that...)
