The Travel Protection Trifecta

Insurance is one of those more Adulty Adult things that sort of sucks.

We all know we need it, but it is also something we sometimes want to ignore—and occasionally do ignore—while hoping we never need it. Then something happens, and that decision comes back to bite us in the butt.

If you own a home, you probably have buildings and contents insurance. If you drive a car, you need car insurance. Some insurance is a legal requirement, while some is simply the sensible choice. How much protection you choose often depends on your personal tolerance for risk.

Travel is much the same.

I am fairly conservative when it comes to protecting our holidays, particularly when travelling as a family. I want to be able to relax and reduce the continual “what ifs?” and hypervigilance that can come with being a mum of children with additional needs.

Quite honestly, I don’t want to spend my holiday worrying about everything that could go wrong—or how I would fix it if it did.

When I trained as a travel consultant, getting my head around the different types of travel protection made my brain hurt. Once I understood them, however, I felt far more relaxed. I knew how to minimise the financial impact if something went wrong and, just as importantly, where to find a more Adulty Adult to help sort it out.

For me, the Travel Protection Trifecta is:

• ATOL protection where applicable
• Booking with an ABTA member and having the protection of a properly arranged package holiday
• Personal travel insurance

They do different jobs, and none of them completely replaces the others.

Unless you have enough disposable income to deal with cancelled holidays, medical treatment abroad, emergency flights home or other unexpected expenses, I believe all three are important.

ATOL

ATOL stands for Air Travel Organiser’s Licence.

It provides financial protection for eligible flight-inclusive holidays sold by UK travel businesses. If the ATOL holder you booked through stops trading, ATOL protects the money you paid for the parts of the trip listed on your ATOL Certificate.

If the company fails before you travel, you should be able to claim back the money protected by the scheme. If it fails while you are already abroad, ATOL may help you continue your holiday and arrange for you to return home.

The important phrase here is “if the ATOL holder fails.”

ATOL is not general insurance against cancelled flights, bad weather, volcanic eruptions or changes to your holiday. It does not automatically cover every flight booking, either. Flights booked directly with an airline, for example, are not normally ATOL protected.

When you pay towards an ATOL-protected booking, you should receive an ATOL Certificate. Keep it somewhere accessible because it tells you exactly what is protected, who is covered and which company is providing that protection.

Put simply:

ATOL protects the money behind an eligible flight-inclusive booking if the ATOL holder stops trading.

ABTA and Package-Holiday Protection

This is the part people often call “ABTA protection,” but there are actually two connected things to understand.

ABTA is a travel trade association. Its members must follow ABTA’s Code of Conduct, which sets standards for how customers should be treated. ABTA can also provide advice and help with complaints or disputes involving one of its members.

Separate to this, a properly arranged package holiday gives you legal protection under the Package Travel Regulations.

A package normally combines at least two types of travel service—such as your flights and hotel, or your hotel and transfers—into one booking. The package organiser is responsible for providing the services included in that package, even when another company is physically providing them.

Imagine you book a TUI package containing your flights, overseas transfers and hotel.

If the included transfer is delayed because your flight arrives late, the organiser is responsible for dealing with the arrangements. If there is a serious problem with your hotel and it cannot provide the accommodation you booked, the organiser must try to put the problem right and may need to arrange a suitable alternative.

Cruises are another good example.

If you book an excursion through your cruise operator and it returns late, the cruise company knows where you are and is responsible for helping manage the consequences. Depending on the circumstances, the ship may wait or arrangements may be made to reunite you with it.

If you independently book your own excursion and return after the ship has departed, however, you may have to arrange and pay for your journey to the next port yourself—unless your travel insurance covers the particular circumstances.

The same principle applies to airport transfers. If a transfer included within your package breaks down and you miss your flight, the package organiser is responsible for helping resolve the problem. If you booked a private transfer separately, responsibility may sit with the transfer company, you or your insurer, depending on what happened and the terms of each booking.

This is one of the major advantages of booking a package: instead of having several separate companies pointing at one another, you have a package organiser responsible for the services it agreed to provide.

Put simply:

ABTA membership gives you standards, support and a route for resolving disputes. Package-holiday law makes the organiser responsible for the travel services included in your package.

Personal Travel Insurance

ATOL and package-holiday protection look after particular parts of the booking. Personal travel insurance protects you against the circumstances covered by your chosen policy.

Depending on the policy, this might include:

• Cancelling or cutting short your holiday
• Emergency medical treatment abroad
• Emergency transport or repatriation home
• Lost, stolen or delayed possessions
• Travel delays or missed departures
• Personal liability
• Certain activities, excursions or cruise-related problems

Every policy has different limits, exclusions and conditions, so the cheapest policy is not necessarily the best policy for you.

I have an annual policy because I am fortunate enough to travel regularly. For me, it is easier to manage and works out cheaper than arranging separate insurance for every trip.

If you choose single-trip insurance, my advice is to arrange it as soon as you book—not the day before you travel.

Cancellation cover usually begins when the policy starts. This means that if you become seriously ill, break your leg or experience another insured event before departure, you may be able to claim for the cancellation costs. If you wait until the last minute to buy insurance, you have no cover for anything that happens before then.

Remember that insurance only covers the events, people, destinations and activities included in your particular policy. You must declare relevant medical conditions and check whether you need additional cover for cruises, winter sports, gadgets or other activities.

Why I Chose My Policy

We work with an insurance provider called Rush Insurance. I personally chose Gold-level cover because I felt its benefits were worth paying a little more for.

When I selected my policy, two things were particularly important to me:

• I did not have an excess to pay on eligible claims covered by the policy.
• It provided up to £10 million of emergency medical and repatriation cover per person.

Ten million pounds sounds like a ridiculous amount of money—until you consider the possible cost of emergency surgery abroad, a prolonged hospital stay or being medically flown home.

Need to be evacuated from a cruise ship by helicopter? That is the sort of expense I never want to discover I have to pay myself.

Policy benefits and limits can change, so always read the current policy wording and check that the cover is suitable for your own circumstances. What works for me and my family will not necessarily be right for everyone.

The Simple Version

ATOL: Protects the money behind an eligible flight-inclusive booking if the ATOL holder stops trading.

ABTA: Gives customers booking through an ABTA member the reassurance of industry standards, support and a route for resolving disputes.

Package-holiday protection: Makes your package organiser responsible for providing the travel services included in your package and helping when those arrangements go wrong.

Travel insurance: Protects you, your family and your belongings against the specific circumstances included in your policy.

Together, these protections mean you are not relying upon one organisation or one insurance policy to solve every possible problem.

They each have a different job—and understanding those jobs makes it much easier to relax and enjoy the holiday.