DIY holidays Atol non Atol advice

DIY holidays ATOL advice: Many of you now plan so-called “DIY holidays”, where you bring together holiday flights and accommodation from different suppliers, such as from charter and no frills airlines and hotel bed-banks.

However, despite what many people believe, these holidays are not protected in the way a holiday package bought from a single holiday company would be under the ATOL Scheme.

Which means, if your booking is not covered by ATOL and should the no frills or charter flight company go bust, the CAA will not fly you home or refund the cost of your flights if you are yet to fly…

ATOL Protected alternatives

If you build your DIY holiday package this way and have a contract with the ATOL tour operator for Example, Thomson or Monarch, you will be fully protected.

Check the company has an ATOL, when you book, check that all the items you’ve booked and paid for are covered and make sure you get an ATOL Confirmation Invoice confirming this..

However be aware that many companies that match hotel and flights together, are either not atol bonded or the Atol will only cover the flight and not the accommodation… Potentially leaving you out of pocket.

If you book your own travel arrangements.

You should consider paying by credit card, since you should be covered under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Be careful though, you have to pay more than £100 and you won’t be covered for any indirect loss as a consequence.

The no frills airlines are not Atol bonded so make sure you book with an atol bonded operator or travel agent, NO ATOL NO BOOK should be your mantra

Booking on-line with separate suppliers may seem like a cheap option, but if for example an airline were to stop flying, you would have to make your own arrangements to get home and you could pay considerably more.

You may also have to curtail or increase your stay in order to get available flights.

Should an airline fail and you’ve yet to travel on your holiday you may have difficulties getting to the accommodation you booked separately.

If you can’t reach your destination you may lose the money you paid, and if there are last minute alternatives flights, these may not operate on the same day and are likely to be more expensive.

Our advice is to take out travel insurance making sure it covers airline insolvency and any possible indirect loss as a consequence.

Be careful though because many policies don’t give this cover, while those that do limit the amount you can claim or have exclusions, so read the small print.

Please note many non atol bonded companies – such as Travel republic and On the beach offer failure insurance, however it is our understanding that this will not fly you home if your flight company goes bust, you will have to pay out for flights and then claim it back…