Your travel rights when booking a holiday online

What about strikes?

Keep an eye on the news when you are due to travel. If your flight is affected by strikes, contact the airline. BA offered refunds for cancellations as a result of its strike, or passengers were able to rebook similar holidays outside the strike period.

Strikes are categorised under EU law as ‘extraordinary circumstances’ which means there is no obligation for the company to pay compensation over what is detailed above.

There are other circumstances in which you will be entitled to compensation, such as when the airline can be considered ‘at fault’ for the delay or cancellation.

What if a company goes out of business?

Operators of package holidays must hold an Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (Atol). This will cover you to complete your holiday and get home if the operator or airline goes bankrupt. Take a copy of the receipt from the travel company as it will show the Atol number and can be used to prove you are covered. If the company fails before your holiday starts you will get a refund.

If you book online, you may not be covered by Atol protection. If you book flights through Opodo and hotels through Expedia, for example, you would not be covered as this is not a single package. If you book a package through the same website you may be covered but check first.

Booking through the airline directly or on its website is not covered. For that reason, credit cards are the best way to book online. Some airlines charge a fee for credit cards but they offer protection for purchases over £100. If the airline goes bust you can recover the fare from the card company and any reasonable costs to get home.

Making a complaint

Complain to the staff in person first. If you are still not satisfied, write to the company with details of what went wrong, who you spoke to and when. If the company will not help, contact the Air Transport Users Council. If you were on a package holiday, find out whether the operator is a member of package trade associations Abta or Aito and contact the relevant one.

Make a note of all the relevant information for your trip, and keep a list of web addresses and phone numbers handy. If you have them in electronic form, it’s a good idea to keep your travel insurance documents, ticket details and other information in your email inbox so you can access them from anywhere.

It can be stressful trying to continue your holiday or get home when something has gone wrong but if you keep a note of what you have spent and who you have spoken to, and save the receipts, it will be easier to sort things out when you get home.