Travel insurance help needed

[digger_R]

My parents are about to go off to Nepal on a tour organised by a fairly ropey looking travel agent in london. The particular package they have 'booked' is not covered under the ATOL scheme.

My father being quite old school paid by a 50% deposit by cheque, my query is whether he is covered for any losses incurred (if for whatever reason they can't travel) if he gets his travel insurance now?

One alternative is to stop the cheque and then pay by credit card - I'm assuming the credit card would cover it then?


I'm a little confused as to the best course of action, I've told him to get insurance tomorow and then cancel the cheque or get the money refunded by the travel agent before paying by credit card.
Am I over reacting or is this a reasonable course of action?



MODS: can you leave this in here for a while, I need to know before the evening out, thanks

Edited by digger_R on Wednesday 29th April 21:36

[digger_R]

Can anyone give me some advice on this? I need to get in touch with my father before the evenings out ideally

[dave_s13]

I've posted here after the flu thread.

Don't know to be honest but what you're saying re paying by credit card makes sense to me.

I thought the whole point of ATOL protection is to ensure you're insured against loss of your holiday.

I would suggest you'd be wise to advice the old man cancels the cheque and pays by CC......don't know for sure though.

Try posting this in The Lounge, it'll get some coverage then.

[mechsympathy]

ATOL is a bond scheme. As it is your dad has no comebacks if the firm goes bust. The fact that the firm isn't ATOL registered would worry me. Cancel the cheque pronto IMO.

[digger_R]

dave_s13 said:

Try posting this in The Lounge, it'll get some coverage then.

I tried that but ended being moved to his backwater


They know of several people that have with this company in the past without problems , some of thier packages are ATOL registered but this one isn't

Edited by digger_R on Wednesday 29th April 22:06

[BigAlinEmbra]

Unless you know of a cancellation before taking out cover then you should be ok.
Check the T&Cs on the policy to see what it does and doesn't cover in terms of cancellation though.

[mechsympathy]

digger_R said:

They know of several people that have with this company in the past without problems , some of thier packages are ATOL registered but this one isn't

That's more reassuring, but given the financial issues at the moment it'd be wise to be sure. We were on a package that had XL as the airline and were very glad it was ATOL covered when they went bust.

[Fezant Pluckah]

Taking out insurance after booking a holiday shouldn't be a problem, it's when you take out insurance after an "event" that things will unwind.

Anyway, I am 99.9% certain that it would be impossible to find insurance that would cover for the financial collapse of a travel firm. It usually covers for cancellation due to ilness etc, not insolvency on the part of the company. I'm not even sure using a credit card would cover you either.

Hence the need to book with a company with ATOL/AITO etc bonding. ATOL only covers for flight inclusive bookings. If this is flight inclusive then it should be covered by an ATOL. If it is ground only it should be covered under the AITO, ABTA, Travel Trade Trust etc schemes. If it is not covered at all then quite frankly the company shoudn't be trading in my opinion. Or people shouldn't be booking with them.

[digger_R]

Thanks for the additional info, I haven't had a chance to talk to the travel agent myself but the package they have is for all flights and all tours/hotels etc.

I believe they've now taken out single trip insurance for this so hopefully that should be that - I'm no expecting any compications but it's obviously better to have some of the angles covered.

thanks for the advice