If you find out a company you have booked all or part of your holiday has gone bust or is facing an uncertain future, follow this guide so you know what you should do
It’s been a turbulent year for a number of travel firms. On Monday, it was announced that Great Little Escapes, based in Sandhurst in Berkshire, has ceased as an ATOL holder. The Civil Aviation Authority predicted that 141 customers had bookings impacted as a result.
Jetline Travel, a London-based company established in 2000 and parent company of Jetline Cruise, ceased trading as an ATOL holder in March. Now it has been taken into administration.
While a few hundred customers were impacted by JetLine and Great Little Escapes’ troubles, far bigger firms have previously folded, which has had much more significant consequences.
In 2019, Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest travel firm, collapsed, stranding hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers around the globe and sparking the largest peacetime repatriation effort in British history. The firm ran hotels, resorts and airlines for 19 million people a year in 16 countries. It had 600,000 people abroad when it went under, forcing governments and insurance companies to coordinate a huge rescue operation.
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In 2010 British tour operator sun4u collapsed, leaving approximately 1,200 customers stuck abroad.
If you find out a company you have booked all or part of your holiday has gone bust or is facing an uncertain future, here is what you should do.
Get your phone out
As soon as you hear that your airline or holiday company has gone bust, you should sit down with your phone and start making calls.
If you booked with a travel agent, call them first. There’s a good chance that your trip will be protected if you did book through a travel agent, or that they can help you rearrange the impacted part of your trip.
If you can’t contact the travel company, go directly to your airline and accommodation provider to check they have your booking and that your payment has been made. If the booking is there, you should be fine to proceed with your holiday.
Check your paperwork
If you can’t find out if your booking is still in place, and you can’t contact your travel firm because they have ceases operator, then check your paperwork.
If the company you were travelling with was ABTA or ATOL-protected, then you should be okay. ABTA protection offers tavellers financial protection if a holiday company goes bust. The Association of British Travel Agents represents travel agents and tour operators that sell over £37 billion worth of holidays, so there’s a good chance that yours is among them.
The Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (ATOL) has been protecting people booking package holidays since 1973, and by law every UK travel company that sells holidays and flights is required to hold such a licence. You can apply to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for a full refund if your firm goes bust before you travel, and the CAA will arrange to get you home if you’re on holiday when it does.
Good travel insurance may be able to help you out and offer additional assistance on top of what ATOL and ABTA can, but make sure to read the small print.
If you haven’t got travel insurance in place at the point when your holiday company goes bust, your credit card company may be able to step in. If you paid more than £100 for your holiday or flights and booked directly with the holiday company or airline, and paid by credit card, you may be able to claim through the Mastercard and Visa Chargeback scheme.
Card providers may reverse a transaction on your debit card, giving you your money back, if you ask them nicely.