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AAC launches urgent review of agency relationships following Thomas Cook collapse
The Association of ATOL Companies has embarked on a full review of members’ relationships with travel agents following issues that came to light following the collapse of Thomas Cook.
It says the failure uncovered a ‘systemic’ policy of collecting final balances months in advance – and in some cases more than a year in advance – causing losses to its members many times greater than expected.
"It appears staff were incentivised to give customers discounts or promises of money cards to extract funds far in advance of the due date," said Alan Bowen, the AAC’s legal adviser.
He said members that sell through agents want to continue to do so, but not at the expense of putting their own business at risk.
"We are looking at alternative ways of working, some of which would adversely affect agents and this is an issue we want to avoid," he said.
"We could insist on funds being held in trust in a similar fashion to IATA, or require customers to pay direct to operators with commission being refunded, a policy chosen by a number of cruise lines at present. Had there been online ATOL Certificates, and had they identified the funds collected, a lot of the pain our members are suffering could have been avoided."
Lindsay Ingram, AAC chair and general manager/CEO of Newmont Travel, added: "We would welcome discussion with travel agents and other ATOL holders with the urgent aim of finding a mutually acceptable solution because we cannot continue with the current clear lack of trust which the recent failure of Thomas Cook has left us with."
The AAC, formed in 1994, represents the interests of businesses selling scheduled flights and packages. The value of sales by its members in 2018 exceeded £4 billion.
Its members include Gold Medal Travel Group, JTA, Lastminute, Loveholidays, Southall Travel, STA Travel and Trailfinders.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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