All flight-only sales other than those direct from an airline are likely to require Atol cover under proposals for a revised consumer protection scheme being drawn up by the Department for Transport.
A recent DfT consultation document outlined three options for flight-only sales – maintaining the current arrangements, excluding flight only entirely from the scheme or requiring all flight-only sales to be Atol-covered, which is the option favoured by the DfT.
Travel industry legal advisor Helen Mead told an Abta law seminar: “The DfT wants to remove the existing ticket-provider exemption [on flight-only sales].
“This means the agent would have the costs of making arrangements with the CAA, when we all know agency margins are small. The business model of many companies would not be able to sustain it. They would be selling at a higher cost than the airlines”
Mead added: “It would probably decrease the number of flights sold this way. But the DfT appears to believe it would be a small cost [for agents].
Industry accountant Chris Photi, senior partner at White Hart Associates, said inclusion of all flight-only sales in the Atol scheme would be “a disaster”. “The only option is all of them out,” he said.