ATOL Protection?

[annie, Glasgow]

I disagree.

My comprehensive Travel Insurance will cover all those things, so why pay for ATOL?

ATOL is free to the consumer.

Why the agent charges more is a question for the agent??

Annie

[Mrs M]

I disagree.

My comprehensive Travel Insurance will cover all those things, so why pay for ATOL?

Our travel insurance is top of the range/pretty well platinum coated, but not every one has the same level of cover. Blanket cover for all may be?

As to agents, maybe the extra is to cover possible admin if things go toes up?

[Topdeck, London]

ATOL is a requirement of package regulations if the package includes flights.

Based on what ATOL costs, the £100s differences are not ATOL fees.


https://www.caa.co.uk/ATOL-protectio...ATOL-licences/

[Mrs M]

ATOL is a requirement of package regulations if the package includes flights.

Based on what ATOL costs, the £100s differences are not ATOL fees.


https://www.caa.co.uk/ATOL-protectio...ATOL-licences/

I think that's been established. I can only think the extra is a possible admin premium and definitely on the loaded side of premium. We just absorb it into the overall cost, and grimace and bear it.

[Topdeck, London]

I think that's been established. I can only think the extra is a possible admin premium and definitely on the loaded side of premium. We just absorb it into the overall cost, and grimace and bear it.

I suspect your cruise allowance is much higher than ours, if your discounts on the cruise portion are not significant then along with your admin/flight premium I can see why your TA may be on call.

[annie, Glasgow]

I suspect your cruise allowance is much higher than ours, if your discounts on the cruise portion are not significant then along with your admin/flight premium I can see why your TA may be on call.

I am a value cruiser and on a recent quote the cost of the Atol protection effectively doubled the cost of my flight. Whether that was down to the booking portal I do not know but I do know it was not ATOL fees.

Annie

[Bradbury, Coventry]

My guess is, the flights were more and they couldnt get the cheaper flights you wanted within their package so misled you into saying it was to do with ATOL protection

[annie, Glasgow]

My guess is, the flights were more and they couldnt get the cheaper flights you wanted within their package so misled you into saying it was to do with ATOL protection

Let's cut to the chase, they were not honest.

BTW the flights were exactly the same as I was pricing. I dictated the flights.

Annie

[Mrs M]

My guess is, the flights were more and they couldnt get the cheaper flights you wanted within their package so misled you into saying it was to do with ATOL protection

As we don't place any restrictions on pricing, that wouldn't apply in our case.

[Wilba]

Let's cut to the chase, they were not honest.

BTW the flights were exactly the same as I was pricing. I dictated the flights.

Annie

I agree Annie, and that is made worse by me dictating exact flights and times, even quoting the actual airline prices.............Wilba

[cymrucruiser]

When dynamic packaging first happened Atol was used by agents to panic travellers into having protection that wasn’t automatically there by packaging separately.

My take on it would be that you know the cost of the flight and you know the cost of the cruise. You’ve asked an agent to package it for you. They’ve added a booking fee of sorts to make some commission and are telling you it’s ATOL to try and hide their packaging procedures and thus their earnings.

[annie, Glasgow]

I agree Annie, and that is made worse by me dictating exact flights and times, even quoting the actual airline prices.............Wilba

Snap - I quoted the airline prices from their website. The response was as an agent, those 'low' prices are not always available to them - yeah right!

Caveat emptor.

Annie

[annie, Glasgow]

When dynamic packaging first happened Atol was used by agents to panic travellers into having protection that wasn’t automatically there by packaging separately.

My take on it would be that you know the cost of the flight and you know the cost of the cruise. You’ve asked an agent to package it for you. They’ve added a booking fee of sorts to make some commission and are telling you it’s ATOL to try and hide their packaging procedures and thus their earnings.

Thanks cc.

To cut to the chase again, they are 'padding' the package to increase the agency earnings and their commission - JMO.

Reasonable and transparent fees please.

Annie

[Topdeck, London]

One other thing to watch out for booking cruises.

Unless you package(add a component) you are probably not covered by the TAs ABTA membership.

Most sell cruises on an agent only basis so your fall back for package regulations and ABTA cover is the cruise line.

[Topdeck, London]

Thanks cc.

To cut to the chase again, they are 'padding' the package to increase the agency earnings and their commission - JMO.

Reasonable and transparent fees please.

Annie

There are agents out there packaging cheaper often when the cruise line dump.

Airlines also dump, Virgin fare last year £1k for a late booking(next couple of days) available for £450 once the searches were in.