How to avoid a holiday nightmare

MONEY TALK By Bruce Treloar Trading Standards Institute

Bruce Treloar monitors the travel industry for the TSI

How do you stop your summer break from turning into a holiday horror? Bruce Treloar, the Trading Standards Institute's senior officer on the holiday and travel industry, offers some advice.

No more holiday nightmares... you must be kidding!!

From brochures to websites, from tour operators to no-frills airlines, from agents to TV, and from pricing to insurance, the consumer has never had it so bad.

Let us take you on a journey of holiday selection, holiday booking, parting with your money, enjoying the break - and then returning, hopefully with little or no complaint! (Unlikely with a 12% increase last year... and that's only concerning pricing!).

Bait and trap

Consumers looking for a bargain late break are still unsure whether it is legal for travel agents to keep those special offers in their windows for long periods of time.

Well, unless they are still available at the advertised price, it is illegal.

Never be seduced by cheap holiday offers before checking the extras you'll have to pay Bruce Treloar

If we get complaints we can prosecute travel agents for advertising outdated offers, or if the holiday is only being made available at a higher price.

So, point number one: Be careful of the 'bait and trap' scenario.

You can be drawn into a shop or website by an advertised cheap offer, 'the bait', only to find yourself 'trapped' when you are offered the same holiday but at a higher price.

What about holiday brochures? The first point to make is that whether they are traditional holiday brochures or websites, the same rules apply.

They must show prices and these must be accurate - the same goes for descriptions.

Watch the price

Fluid or flexible pricing is a huge issue, which consumers are often unaware of until they are charged more than the brochure price.

Will your holiday match the brochure description?

This is known as fluid pricing - and it is illegal.

Consumers tell us they still want to sit with their families and view a selection of brochures and compare prices, but this can be impossible because the prices are often changing.

Also, we've found consumers are seduced by the claim from some operators that they can guarantee all prices in the brochure will be discounted.

In our view this makes some prices artificially high and inaccurate.

Extra charges for the infamous "insurance and security" levies are another way of illegally increasing the price of holidays.

If the price in the brochure says �200 it should mean that, not �200 plus a levy of �12.

'Seduction' techniques

So, point two: Never be seduced by cheap holiday offers before checking the extras you'll have to pay and if you don't like it, complain to Trading Standards.

Always shop around for travel insurance - and make sure you understand the policy's exclusions

So, you've chosen the holiday. Do you need travel insurance? In our view you do. But travel insurance from tour operators and agents is often much more expensive, so resist the hard sell on insurance from travel agents or tour operators.

Travel insurance can be bought from websites, from supermarkets and from a range of other household names, so it's worth looking around.

It is important to check the small print. We have found some insurers refusing to cover consumers from catching Sars or even for the increased risks during the Iraq conflict.

Now we do have sympathy with the latter, but if the consumer booked before the epidemic and there is cover in the policy then consumers should be protected.

So, point three: Always shop around for travel insurance - and make sure you understand the policy's exclusions for medical cover, for example.

Booking on the internet

So, what's the fuss about 'No-frills' airlines? No-frills is just what it says: No in-flight meals and no transfers when you arrive at the airport, which may not be in a central location.

Take care when booking trips on the internet

No-frills airlines have provided consumers with real choice. They've certainly made the big airlines sit up, I think, and this is excellent news for the consumer.

What we don't like is the problems which occur when you buy directly over the internet. If you are a consumer you are not protected if the airline goes bust - you will have no way of changing the flight or getting your money back.

Unfortunately, the law says you are not required to hold a consumer protection licence, such as an "Atol", if you sell scheduled or no-frills flights over the net.

We are trying to get the law changed, so that all companies have some form of licensing to protect the customer.

Another practice, which is equally confusing, is where a flight is bought on one screen and a link is offered to another screen to buy hotels or car hire.

The law protects consumers in package deals of this nature but the no-frills airlines often insist the consumer pays separately, and this means there is no protection if you buy through a linked website deal.

The problem is that people assume they are buying a packaged deal. In reality, though, they are making payments to separate companies.

If one part of the booking goes wrong or you are unable to take the holiday, you could lose all your money.

So, point four: Always check the site to see what it is offering and look for some kind of protection, such as whether the company is a member of the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA).

Always complain to Trading Standards if you have any doubt about the holiday you have bought... or if you've suffered a holiday nightmare.

The views expressed are solely those of Bruce Treloar's and not the BBC's. Any guidance is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice.

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