The scheme was designed to cover charter flights and package holidays, and functioned well for years. However, the holiday market changed considerably and the scheme was overhauled in and again in to keep pace with these changes. ATOL stops you losing money or becoming stranded abroad if the travel business you booked with collapses:. UK law says your holiday must be protected if you book a package. The law says your holiday must be protected if you book a holiday with a single travel firm that includes:.
The scheme also applies to some flight only bookings - usually those where you book flights including UK domestic flights but do not receive your tickets immediately.
This is most common with charter flights, but can also apply to discounted scheduled flights or where you pay for flights in instalments. Please note that ATOL does not apply to flights booked directly with scheduled airlines or to flights booked with airline ticket agents. If you purchase an airline ticket from an airline or travel business and you receive a valid ticket in exchange for payment, ATOL does not cover this flight sale.
If a travel business sells an LTA, it must inform you that this is the case and what protection you may have. UK law requires travel businesses to financially protect their package holidays.
If you are not sure, ask your tour operator or agent to tell if they offer ATOL protection. This allows you to check that the travel business you are booking with is an ATOL holder. The law says you should be given an ATOL Certificate to show that if you are protected by ATOL as soon as you have booked and paid any money towards a holiday or flight. It explains what protection you have and what to do if your travel business collapses.
Keep it somewhere safe and take it on holiday so you know how to make an ATOL claim if you need to. We are confident the travel industry has implemented procedures and systems to issue ATOL Certificates as required by law.
However, if you do not receive a certificate and believe you should have done, first contact your tour operator or travel agent. Some holiday and travel arrangements purchased may not be ATOL protected, since travel firms may also sell travel arrangements that are not protected by the scheme. This will either be handed to you or immediately e-mailed or sent in the post. If you are unsure whether you are covered, you should check with the firm before you book.
ATOL does not apply to flights booked directly with scheduled airlines or to flights booked with airline ticket agents. UK law requires travel businesses to financially protect their air packages holidays under the ATOL scheme. Most air holidays booked in the UK must be protected. It represents the biggest change in the regulation of holiday sales since the introduction of the original Package Travel Directive in Click here for a fuller summary of the key changes.
It merely amends the Act of Parliament the Civil Aviation Act which provides the Government with the legal framework within which to publish the ATOL Regulations and other associated regulations. Nevertheless, the changes to the Civil Aviation Act do give a clear insight into the direction of travel.
The New PTD allows travel companies to use the insolvency protection regime of the place of their establishment to cover all EEA-wide package sales. It is potentially a very attractive proposition as it will allow travel companies to centralise their arrangements and avoid having to comply with the insolvency protection regime of each market into which they sell.
At first glance, this would appear relatively uncontroversial, but it could be problematic. It will mean UK-established travel companies having to cover travel arrangements which, according to the law of the market into which the travel company is selling, may not have to be protected. This would put those ATOL users at a competitive disadvantage when compared to local operators and so it may simply be more efficient to take out insolvency protection arrangements in each place of sale.
The Government was very clear in the Consultation that removing Flight-Only was something under consideration in the longer term and that, at that stage, it was only seeking industry views so that it could set a policy direction and develop proposals for further consultation.
In spite of the clear indication that Flight-Only will remain within the ATOL Regulations in the short term, the Government has decided to do the groundwork now so that it has clear legal authority to make this change.
We will have to wait and see the draft text of the proposed amendments to the ATOL Regulations to understand whether the Government has decided to bring this change forward.
It sought views on whether LTAs should instead be protected by some market-based solution. It was given its first reading on 22 June , second reading on 3 July and the committee stage, report stage and third reading are all due to take place on 11 July If this pace continues, it will become law very quickly, following which the real business of amending the ATOL Regulations should begin to take place.
A-Z List Sectors. Financial Services. Life Sciences. Real Estate. Transport and Infrastructure. Client Challenges. Inclusiveness and Diversity. Technology Regulation. Our Services. Advertising and Consumer Protection. Similarly, Wow Air passengers who booked flights with the Icelandic airline would not have been covered unless they booked the flights as part of a package holiday. After a number of travel company failures left people stranded, the Government realised consumers needed protection in case firms fell into difficulties.
If you book separate flights and accommodation from different suppliers, you might not be fully protected if things go wrong. The scheme originally covered flights and package holidays only, but the scheme was extended in to recognise the rise of people buying holidays online. So now, you are covered if you book a "flight plus accommodation" through the same company but from different suppliers. As an example, if you booked a package holiday through Monarch, which went into administration in October , you will be Atol-protected.
However, if you booked only your flights with Monarch then it is likely you were not protected by Atol. Atol protection doesn't cost anything extra for the customer directly - it's included in the cost of the holiday. The money goes into a fund used by the CAA to make sure consumers can either complete their holiday or receive a full refund.
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