Travel Counsellors has been named as the first agency to meet the criteria for the CAA’s new Flight-Plus scheme.
The CAA said while no organisation can formally achieve accredited body status until the new regulations come into force on 30 April, Travel Counsellors has satisfied the necessary criteria following extensive joint-working with the CAA.
The independent agency, which has over 700 agents operating their own travel businesses from home throughout the UK and a further 400 plus overseas, is first to meet the demands.
Under the reforms, members of accredited dodies can sell ATOL protected holidays without having their own licence, so membership may be a suitable option for some travel organisers.
Travel Counsellors chairman David Speakman said "We launched our customer trust in 2004 in order to ensure that our agents could provide a full financial guarantee to their customers, which meant that we were best placed to meet all the requirements for full accreditation when the Flight-Plus scheme was introduced.
"The new Flight-Plus initiative still leaves a vast amount of travel outside of its scope. Our Trust covers these components but the industry should realise that in the new world of technology, booking will become easy, so what we have to offer is validation, reputation and trust."
