Advantage Travel Centres will not be ready to act as a Flight-Plus approved body providing Atol cover for members from the government deadline of January 1, and the Advantage Atol will not apply to all Flight-Plus sales.
The Department for Transport has insisted on January 1 as the start date for Flight-Plus and other changes to the Atol scheme that will see licensing extended to retailers selling dynamically packaged holidays. The DfT is poised to respond to industry concerns raised in the consultation that ended last month.
Approved bodies such as consortia could remove much of the headache of compliance from individual retailers.
However, Advantage chief executive John McEwan confirmed: “We can’t set up an Approved Body by January 1.”
McEwan said: “We are quite advanced on the technology, and our Gateway [booking and settlement system] is in place. But the earliest Advantage could have it in place would be April.
“We need approved body status. We need a bond and we need supplier failure insurance. These are practicalities. It is not reasonable to expect it can happen [by January 1].”
McEwan also confirmed approved-body protection will only apply to Advantage-approved suppliers. Members will still require a Flight-Plus licence for sales of other suppliers.
So an Advantage member selling a Ryanair flight with accommodation will need a Flight-Plus Atol.
McEwan said: “The Flight-Plus approved body will only apply to approved suppliers. If an agent wants to work with Ryanair, they will need a Flight-Plus licence. We are not going to work with Ryanair.”