New package travel regulations

A package holiday can come in many different forms and can be sold in different ways – from a ‘ready-made’ package (where the different travel services are put together for you by the travel company and offered at a single price) to many tailor-made trips (for example where you select different services from a range offered before paying for them together) – however they will all have the same level of financial and legal protection.

A package holiday is a combination of at least two different types of travel services, which are listed below: 

• transport (such as a flight, coach or train but not transfers from an airport)
• accommodation (such as a hotel, villa or apartment)
• car rental 
• a tourist service (such as a tour guide or a trip to a historical attraction) where this is a significant part of the holiday either because of its value or because it is an essential part of the trip.

It counts as a package holiday if your travel company:

• Has asked you to pay a single price through a single payment 
• Has let you select a combination of services – such as a flight and accommodation – before you agreed to pay for them
• Charged you an inclusive or total price for all the services you bought
• Advertised or sold the travel services to you as a package or similar term
• Sold you one travel service; and then transferred your details, including your payment details to another company which you then booked another travel service through within the space of 24 hours.

All package holidays booked with an ABTA Member are financially protected.

If your package holiday includes a flight you should be provided with an ATOL Certificate as soon as you have paid for your holiday.

If the package doesn't include a flight, you won’t receive an ATOL Certificate or ATOL confirmation, but you should receive a confirmation (likely via email) which shares the details of the company you booked through, the amount paid for the package and how your money is protected. ABTA is the largest provider of non-flight package protection in the UK.

A linked travel arrangement is a combination of at least two different types of travel services (listed below) – but it is how these travel services are sold which defines it as a linked travel arrangement. 

Types of travel services covered by a linked travel arrangement:

• transport (such as a flight, coach or train but not transfers from an airport)
• accommodation (such as a hotel, villa or apartment)
• car rental 
• a tourist service (such as a tour guide or a trip to a historical attraction) where this is a significant part of the holiday either because of its value or because it is an essential part of the trip.

It counts as a linked travel arrangement if your travel company sells it to you by:

Arranging the separate selection and separate payment of each of your travel services - such as a flight and accommodation - during a single visit (either to their shop, website or other point of sale). This means you will have separate contracts with the individual travel service providers. 

Arranging for you to make a booking for one travel service (for example a flight) and then arranged for you to then be offered, in a targeted manner – such as through an email – another travel service from another trader (such as a car hire firm) which you then book less than 24 hours later. 

A linked travel arrangement is not a package and doesn’t offer the same protection as a package.

A package offers both legal and financial protection, a linked travel arrangement just offers a level of financial protection, which will vary depending on how you bought your services  (please see below for more information on what protection each arrangement has).

A package holiday has both financial and legal protection.

Legal protection means your travel company is responsible for making sure that you get the holiday you paid for. If something isn’t provided or isn’t as expected, and your travel company or its suppliers is at fault, they will need to sort this out for you – either resolving the issue, offering an alternative or providing a full or partial refund. In some instances you may be able to claim compensation.

Financial protection means that if the company you have booked with goes out of business, you will receive a refund if you are yet to travel, or be brought home if you are already on holiday and your package includes return transport.

All package holidays sold to you in the European Economic Area (EEA) by ABTA Members are financially protected.

A linked travel arrangement only has financial protection – and this is at a lower level than if you bought a package holiday. The financial protection covers if the company that arranged it goes out of business, but only in respect of any money that company is holding; not if the actual travel service provider goes out of business, unless that company itself was the one that arranged the linked travel arrangement. 

As there is no legal protection, under a linked travel arrangement, any complaints about the provision of the services must be directed to the service providers themselves.

If you book all of your travel arrangements separately these are unlikely to have any financial or legal protection under the 2018 package travel regulations. However, you might have certain protection for the individual services in other ways – either through travel insurance or through booking with your debit or credit card. Please check with your providers as levels of protection vary. 

Some ABTA Members do protect their non-package sales such as accommodation-only sales so when booking with an ABTA Member you should check this.

At the time of booking, your travel company must tell you whether your holiday is a package or a linked travel arrangement. However, please also refer to the above tell-tale signs earlier in the ‘overview’ section on what counts as a package holiday and a linked travel arrangement if you would like to understand their remits better.

No – you won’t be covered if your trip is less than 24 hours, unless you have overnight accommodation included in your package. However, where the trip includes an international flight, your money will be protected under the ATOL scheme. 

Additionally some ABTA Members protect other services such as accommodation-only sales, so when booking with an ABTA Member you should check this.

You should receive a contract with the specific booking information about what you’ve been sold – such as your holiday dates, hotel accommodation, flight times, transfer details and the payment schedule. 

You should also receive more general information – such as information on visas, travel insurance, passports, cancellation provisions and the booking conditions. Further to this, within the general information a list of the key rights under the Package Travel Regulations and a link or website address to the Package Travel Regulations should be provided. 

If your package holiday includes a flight you should also be provided with an ATOL (Air Travel Organisers’ Licence) Certificate as soon as you have paid for your holiday. 

Companies should also provide information about whether the holiday is generally suitable for persons with reduced mobility and, if you request it, precise information on the suitability of the holiday for you (which should take into account any of your required needs).

You must be given the following information: 

• You will not benefit from any of the rights that apply exclusively to package holidays 
• That each service provider will be responsible for the proper contractual performance of that particular service (this information will vary dependent on the agreement your travel company has with the suppliers it works with – such as airlines and hotels)
• That there is insolvency protection for the failure of the linked travel arrangement facilitator (again this information will vary depending on who is facilitating the sale of the linked travel arrangement).

You should be given information on where you can read the full Package Travel Regulations too. This will likely be via a link on the company website or through the Ts&Cs.

A company should only make a significant change to any part of your package for reasons beyond their control, e.g. the airline changes the flight to a day later or the hotel is closed due to hurricane damage.  

In this case they will need to do the following:

• Tell you about the change and give you a reasonable period of time to decide if you want to accept it or cancel with a full refund. You have the right to accept the change or to cancel the package and receive a full refund within 14 days. The travel company will also offer you alternative holidays if they’re able to do so.
• Inform you that if you do not respond they will treat that as acceptance of the alteration or treat the booking as cancelled and return your money. If you do not respond within the time period given, they must contact you again and ask a second time for your decision. 

If the significant change is made for reasons that are not beyond the travel company’s control they may need to offer you compensation.

They can do so if they include this caveat in their booking conditions, but they can only increase the price to negate certain costs, for example changes in the price of transport resulting from the cost of fuel; changes in taxes or fees imposed by third parties; or changes to exchange rates. This is known as a surcharge and they have to follow strict rules to see if they can ask you to pay the surcharge.

Unlike other travel companies, ABTA Members won’t pass on small price increases to you, as the Code of Conduct obliges them to absorb an amount equal to 2% of your holiday cost.

You must tell the holiday organiser as soon as you can if there is a problem, otherwise this will affects your rights if you don’t. They need to attempt to fix the problem within a reasonable time unless it’s impossible or it’ll entail a disproportionate cost to them. 

If the problem is urgent and they refuse to help you can pay to fix the issue yourself and try to claim this cost back from your holiday organiser. However we would strongly recommend that you only do this in an emergency, and prioritise asking for help from your holiday organiser.

Where an ABTA Member and its customer are unable to resolve their differences through the company’s complaints process, ABTA provides an opportunity for the parties to have their dispute considered and managed through its arbitration or conciliation scheme. Both schemes are administered independently and are only available if your complaint is regarding an ABTA Member. 
 

If you only do this occasionally, it is for a limited group of travellers and you aren’t making any profit from it the regulations do not apply to you but, of course, your friends’ money will be at risk.

The new regulations give customers the right to cancel where the incident significantly affects the performance of your holiday, so you can cancel your package holiday and receive a refund. Such situations will usually arise where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) issues advice against travel to the destination.

However, please note, the mere existence of something, such as political unrest, doesn’t automatically significantly affect the package and therefore you won’t get an automatic refund if you cancel.

If you have booked your travel arrangements separately, or have a linked travel arrangement, and want to cancel you will be subject to the individual companies’ terms and conditions.