ABTA
Avocet Travel Management is a member of ABTA (P6956), giving you financial protection for your money when you buy a package holiday from us. (Please note that this protection does not apply to other travel arrangements, such as accommodation only.) When you book with an ABTA Member you can expect high service standards, fair terms of trading and accurate information. ABTA’s strict joining criteria for Members, code of conduct, customer helpline and complaints resolution scheme are all there to give you confidence and peace of mind when booking your travel arrangements. For more information contact ABTA, 30 Park Street, London SE1 9EQ, telephone 020 3117 0500, http://www.abta.com/.
IATA
IATA (International Air Transport Association) is the trade association for the world’s airlines. It pulls together a reporting system to ensure airlines receive relevant money due from both other airlines and travel agents. Without IATA accreditation, any tickets purchased do not fall under the jurisdiction of IATA and are not necessarily covered by their rules and regulation which are enforced to protect the consumer. For more information, go to http://www.iata.org.
Advantage Travel Partnership
Avocet is a member of the Advantage Travel Partnership, the UK’s largest independent travel agent group. The leisure and business travel agents who are part of this group are each independently owned, but collectively (in the UK) produce over £3.2billon of travel sales per annum. Working closely with its members, Advantage not only offers the best tools to sell the best travel-related products, but also has the buying power of the largest travel agent. All clients are financially protected which, together with the ABTA, ATOL and IATA schemes, gives you total peace of mind when booking with Avocet Travel Management.
ATOL
Holidays purchased through Avocet Travel Management are covered by either the tour operators or our own ATOL Licence (number 12534).
The ATOL scheme (which stands for Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing) is financial protection that protects you when you book a package trip that includes a flight. It is separate to travel insurance.
It also includes some Flight-Only bookings sold by UK travel companies when they stop trading as an ATOL holder.
It was introduced in 1973, as the popularity of overseas trips grew and it is run by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
If your travel company stops trading when you are abroad, you will receive help to continue your trip by:
- Assisting you to stay in your holiday accommodation, if possible
- Reimbursing you for any money you spent to replace ATOL protected parts of your trip, e.g car hire, transfers
- Arranging flights home, depending on the circumstances.
ATOL protection covers you before and during your trip. When you purchase a trip that is ATOL protected, you will receive an ATOL Certificate.
It will show you who and what is covered, as well as provide guidance on what to do if your travel company stops trading as an ATOL holder.
It is recommend that you always keep a paper or digital copy of this certificate saved with you.
The scheme is designed to reassure you that your money is safe, and will provide assistance in the event of an ATOL holder failure
