Concern about the new flight-plus Atol for retailers is growing amid fears a budget airline failure could bankrupt many businesses not currently required to hold a licence.
Details of the Atol, which would cover separate sales of a flight and accommodation, are about to be unveiled by the Department for Transport (DfT).
The proposals mean retailers who sell dynamically packaged holidays would have to hold an Atol for the first time. Companies would remain outside the Package Travel Regulations, but be responsible for rebooking or refunding clients if an airline they sold failed.
Gary Lewis, operations director at agency consortium TTA/Worldchoice, said: “There are lots of agents doing DIY and flight plus is going to put more liability on them. There will be real exposure for agents.”
Lewis was speaking at a round-table debate hosted by the On Holiday Group, whose chief executive Steve Endacott warned: “If an airline fails and agents don’t have supplier failure insurance, where would they get the money from to rebook customers? Half the agents would go bust.”
Endacott suggested: “We should refuse to accept flight plus, it’s such a mess.”
The DfT proposals, originally backed wholeheartedly by Abta, are currently awaiting clearance by the Cabinet after being formally signed off by transport secretary Philip Hammond last month.
The BBC’s new comedy series parodying the world of budget airlines, Come Fly With Me, proved the big TV Christmas hit. But a budget carrier failure under a revised Atol scheme would be no laughing matter for agents.
Travel Weekly will publish the full debate on Atol reform next week.