Booking.com sells Connected Trips as Linked Travel Arrangements

Leading Atol holder Booking.com is selling large numbers of Linked Travel Arrangements (LTAs) which offer financial protection only if the licence holder fails and no tour operator liability if things go wrong for the holidaymaker.

 

Booking.com is the UK’s seventh-largest licence holder with an Atol for 1,114,151. But it uses the licence exclusively to cover some flight-only bookings, such as when a customer pays a deposit but receives a ticket on paying the balance.

 

The platform sells packages under the Atol of partners such as lastminute.com.

 

Booking’s terms and conditions only refer to packages when explaining LTA bookings.

 

These note LTAs are created when “after selecting and paying for one travel service, you book additional travel services for your trip or holiday during the same visit to the platform. Or you book additional travel services . . . via a link provided to you by us not later than 24 hours after receiving confirmation of your initial booking.”

 

In these circumstances, Booking explains: “You will NOT benefit from rights applying to packages [and] we will not be responsible for the proper performance of those travel services.”

 

It notes, an LTA “does not provide a refund in the event of the insolvency of the relevant service provider”.

 

The terms and conditions make no reference to “connected trips” despite these featuring prominently in the results statements of parent Booking Holdings.

 

Chief executive Glenn Fogel reported “more customers choosing to book multiple travel elements with us through the Connected Trip” in results for the three months to September.

 

He noted: “Connected Trip transactions grew mid-20% year over year and now represent a low double-digit percentage of transactions.”

 

Chief financial officer Ewout Steenbergen added: “Customers like to bring elements together because it’s peace of mind.”

 

Booking.com has more than halved its Atol capacity from 2,387,509 in March 2024 when the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) granted it an exemption for certain flight-only bookings.

 

A Booking.com spokesperson said: “Atol exemptions are recognised by the UK CAA where certain flight-only bookings do not require Atol protection. Due to such exemptions, we experienced a reduction in authorised passengers under our Atol licence.”

 

The UK government and European Commission are considering redefining or removing LTAs from the package travel regulations due to confusion over the protection they offer.