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Bunce: ‘Some of what the CAA is proposing goes beyond what is required by the PTD’


Abta urges CAA to review proposals for Atol reform


Association fears a series of rushed changes to financial protection regime. Ian Taylor reports


Abta has urged the CAA to rein in reforms to the Atol scheme as businesses grapple with new Package Travel Regulations to come into force from July.


Consultations by the CAA


on ‘Modernising Atol’ and Department for Transport (DfT) on ‘Updating Atol consumer protection for package travel’ – each lasting a month – ended last week with Abta insisting: “Anything in the draft Atol standard terms additional to the Package Travel Directive (PTD) should not be brought in by July 1.”


64 travelweekly.co.uk 29 March 2018


Abta demanded the CAA “come back with fully worked-up proposals” and allow: “Further consultation to flesh out the detail and give businesses time to adapt.” Director of legal affairs Simon


Bunce told Travel Weekly: “Some of what the CAA is proposing goes beyond what is required by the PTD. The government has left very little time. It’s not the time to rush through other issues.” The regulations extend package-


holiday consumer financial protection and legal liabilities to bookings now categorised


as ‘Flight-Plus’. A new category of Linked Travel Arrangements (LTAs) to cover ‘click-though’ sales between websites with limited commercial links will offer partial financial protection, but not through Atol – unless a flight-only Atol is part of the booking – and with no package liabilities. Abta warned of confusion


over the protection for LTAs which is “significantly lower than reasonably expected by travellers [and] will be exacerbated by the inclusion within Atol in some circumstances of the flight element of these sales”. Bunce said: “The solution they


have come up with for flight LTAs should be reviewed.”


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