You’ve found a cheap deal, and you can’t believe your eyes! At first, you’re excited, but then you start to worry – what if it’s a con? What if you pay and never receive your tickets? What if you pay and get to the airport and find that your tickets aren’t valid?
These are all very real worries, but they can be easily side-stepped by checking out the accreditation of the company you’re planning on booking with.
Every single site you use should be checked first, and you can do that by reading reviews, Googling it, and taking note of any comment you see which alludes to a negative experience. Of course, everyone is going to have had a bad experience with one company from time to time, but if you see several coming up, it’s time to sit up and take notice.
Travel booking sites, however, have to fall into line with several formal accreditations, and in the UK these come as ABTA and ATOL. Different countries the world over may have different accreditations, but Googling what they are and then looking for them is the way go. In terms of ABTA and ATOL, you should check for the logo, and if you want to further put your mind at rest, head to the ATOL website and input the ATOL number of the site you’re planning on using, which should be displayed clearly.
ABTA is the body which ensures that customers receive quality, value, and choice, and they ensure that any breaches of their code of conduct is looked into and resolved accordingly. ATOL is a government body, and they offer protection from a financial point of view. You can also check online whether the site you’re looking at using is part of the Civil Aviation Authority.
Stick to big names if you can, such as Expedia for example, because you know for sure that you are getting quality, and you can rely on the experience.
Sometimes a deal really is too good to be true, so keep your eyes open, check everything twice, and look forward to that vacation.
