Green light for split contracts

THE Civil Aviation Authority’s new definition of what constitutes a package will leave the way clear for agents to continue split contracting, Travel Weekly can reveal.

The long-awaited guidelines, developed over the last year in consultation with the trade, legal experts and the Department of Trade and Industry, had been expected to clear up a loophole that allows unbonded packages to be sold if a client requests a specific flight and accommodation.

Instead, the guidance will leave the current two-tier system in place. CAA bosses are believed to have privately admitted they cannot go further without a change in the law.

Travel Weekly has obtained an early draft of the guidance notes to be unveiled next week. While setting out in plain English existing rules on when arrangements do and do not require an ATOL, the CAA has not found a way around the problem that has dogged the industry. As before, the CAA has ruled a package has not been created when the agent offers ‘no advice’ to the client; when a customer books both flights and accommodation through an agent but pays for the hotel direct at the end of the stay; and when flight and accommodation are bought at separate times.

A CAA spokesman said the guidance ‘may change’ before its publication, and urged the trade to suspend judgement until it sees the final version.