Important to book holidays with bonded agent

Trips booked with a bonded and licensed travel agent ensures protection against company failure.

Travel Insurance News - 31/08/2009

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The protection involves the agent being part of a scheme that is operated by the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR).

In the scheme, consumers are ensure that there are sufficient funds in reserve to repatriate them if they are stranded abroad while on holiday – or to refund their payment for a holiday that has not yet been taken.

So far this year, nine travel agents in the Irish Republic are listed on the CAR website as having failed, meaning that the protection is more important than ever.

For holidaymakers who organize their own trips, booking their flights and accommodation separately, no protection plan is available, however.

Many feel that this lack of protection isn’t fair, and the European Commissioner for Consumen Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, Meglena Kuneva, who was on a two-day trip to Ireland last week, agreed.

The commissioner was asked whether holiday protection should be dependent on how the various elements of a trip are booked.

Kuneva said: “The answer for my part is very clear -- that is not the kind of fair European market we are building together.”

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