Many of us scour flight comparison websites in order to find the cheapest way of getting to our destination. However, while these sites can save us a good deal of money, many users may not be aware that they often won’t get the same level of consumer protection as if they booked a package flight or directly with the airline.
First, check whether your planned booking is covered by the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (Atol) scheme. This offers protection when holidays are booked through a travel agent or third-party website. Atol protection means you will get your money back if your travel operator goes bust before you travel, or ensures you’ll be able to get home if the company collapses while you’re away. You don’t get Atol protection if you book directly with an airline, or if you book flights via a third-party site, such as Expedia or LastMinute.com, and then book accommodation or car hire more than one calendar day later, or via a different agent entirely.
Another option is to pay with a credit card in order to benefit from Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. This means if something goes wrong with what you’ve purchased – and it cost between £100 and £30,000 – your credit-card provider is jointly responsible with the retailer for refunding you. Just note that for Section 75 cover to come in there has to be a direct chain between you, the credit-card payment and the service or product you bought. The website you buy the flights from has to be a principal agent selling tickets for the airline – something that it can be difficult to ascertain. The other catch with Section 75 is that each booking must come to more than £100 – it won’t count if you buy two single flights for £60 and £85.
If you are booking particularly expensive flights, you may find the only way to have real peace of mind about getting your money back if things go wrong is by booking direct with the airline using your credit card, or via a travel agent (preferably a member of the Association of British Travel Agents). Alternatively, make sure your insurance covers you for end supplier failure, which should cover your airline or travel operator going bust.
Which are the best flight comparison sites?
There is a huge number of flight comparison and travel booking sites. The best one to use depends on what you want to achieve.
Best for finding bargains: Skyscanner. You can compare prices for your journey over every day for a month, or every month for a year. If you don’t have fixed dates for your trip, this could save you hundreds of pounds.
Best for seeing the all-in price: Kayak. The site allows you to filter your comparison based on whether or not you will be checking luggage and by credit and debit-card fee. This means you can be sure you are getting the best deal, even when all the hidden extras are factored in.
Best for flights and hotels: Expedia. This booking firm provides a slightly clunkier search experience than others. But if you are looking to book flights and accommodation, do so via Expedia on the same day and you should get the benefit of Atol protection.
Best for route planning: Momondo. This site’s strength is that it will show you the cheapest flight, the quickest flight and the best flight you could take. It will also show you if you could save money on dates either side of your intended travel date, plus alert you if you could save money by flying to a different airport nearby.
Best for choosing your seat: SeatGuru. Once you’ve booked your flight, check SeatGuru before you reserve your seat. It has seating plans for just about every airline and plane you could be flying on, plus verdicts on the seats to avoid and the ones to grab. This includes reviews from passengers so you can research exactly where to sit.
In the news this week…
• Are you one of those parents who has left your childs’ savings languishing in a Child Trust Fund (CTF)? If so, they could be losing out on thousands of pounds, says Emma Simon in The Sunday Times. It is two years since parents were able to switch their childs’ savings from CTFs to junior individual savings accounts (Jisas), but millions of accounts still haven’t been switched. Both offer tax-free savings, but Jisas have lower charges and provide a wider choice of investments. Over the years this can really add up.
For instance, a £10,000 investment in a CTF charging 1.5% to track the FTSE 100 would be worth £16,959 in 12 years’ time, assuming 5% annual returns. In a comparable Charles Stanley Direct Jisa with charges of 0.31%, the fund would have risen to £19,427 – £2,468 more.
• A Daily Telegraph report about an Orange customer who received a bill for nearly £18,000 after a four-day trip to Dubai is a timely reminder to check your mobile roaming charges before you head off on your summer holiday. Although EU rules coming into force on 15 June mean that roaming within the EU should cost no more than using your phone at home, travel further afield and you need to take care, says Rosie Murray-West in The Independent. If your provider isn’t offering a good deal, consider a specialist sim.
Sims from local providers can be extremely good value: pick one up in South Africa, for instance, and 2GB of data will cost you around £29 (compared with £10,000 with Virgin Mobile roaming). Alternatively, 3Mobile offers a free pay-as-you go sim card; once you activate it, you will be eligible for their Feel At Home tariff which costs 1p per MB.
• Thousands of expatriates with undeclared savings may be at risk of penalties as a “stash of financial data” has been transferred to HMRC as part of a “global transparency drive”, says Vanessa Houlder in the Financial Times. Although some British expatriates may not realise that they have to declare their income in the countries where they live, in most countries, “people are taxed on their worldwide income, gains and, in some cases, wealth”. Anyone with undisclosed assets should seek advice about coming forward voluntarily as this generally results in reduced penalties, and some countries impose hefty fines that can exceed the value of the assets.