Warning Over Lack of ATOL Protection

A local travel company has launched its own protection scheme after an extension of the ATOL protection scheme was removed for island residents.

ATOL is a protection scheme for flights and air holidays, managed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

The scheme has never included the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, but the Association of British Travel Agents agreed a multi-year deal to cover people in the Crown Dependencies if their holiday began at a UK airport.

ABTA recently circulated a notice to members after the Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that ATOL regulations don’t apply to holidays sold to customers on the islands, meaning all previous ATOL agreements have ended and islanders would not be protected by the scheme no matter where they begin their holiday.

However, Amazing Vacations, run by Rikki Dunnage and Edward Cox, have found a solution for its customers, which offer the same safety net as ATOL protection.

Rikki said: ‘Essentially, it was up to us to find our own financial protection for customers. So we’ve managed to secure a supplier failure cover insurance, which covers the collapse of any tour operator in the same way, which will be added onto the customers’ holidays.’

The cost will be £3.68, compared to the £2.50 UK passengers are charged.

Rikki warned that while islanders will be able to book holidays on websites, for example Jet2Holidays and EasyJet, which will say they are ATOL protected, this is the default for anyone with a British Isles address and Manxies will not in fact be secured financially by the scheme.

He said: ‘We’ve been working for weeks to try and get some sort of a solution or workaround and we’ve managed to secure this, it’s an additional insurance basically to make sure everybody that we book is fully covered in the event of a tour operator collapse. So whether it’s flight only, we have airline failure cover in pace , or if it’s a package then it’s the supplier failure cover,  everything’s fully protected regardless.’

Edward added: ‘I’m sure in time that tour operators will more than likely say, if you live in the UK, your funds are protected, if you live in a Crown Dependency, you are not financially protected, it’s your choice if you book it or not.’

The duo, who have over 35 years experience between them in the industry and opened Amazing Vacations earlier this summer, said that whether people are insured against a potential operator failure would depend on the type of insurance they have taken out, so they advise customers that are due to travel, to check before travelling anywhere with their holiday provider.