no holiday and no cash,1,000s of £ lost. atol sucks

[G1zm0]

yesdarday just got news that xl.com went bust, me and 6 friends were going away in october to florida for a wel deserved break.

we all mostly payed cash to the group, and some cash (700) on cc.

spoke to atol who says the airline was atol protected and also sayed that if we payed cash or debit card you dont get any cash back.

with the cc, they said you would only get cash back for flight, so from 700 you get 300 (if that).

i emaild universal in florida to see about getting refunds for tickets and toldt hem teh circumstances, the reply was that tickets arent resellable and was stuckwith them, and cant use them any other year(that was for the hellnight ones)

the flexi pass from xl, we wont get refunds for them either as the only cash they will give out is for flights only, so if we all payed by cc we would get £2,100 and loose £3,700. so at end of day they take cash dont give it back and say screw the public.

[ark_ader]

I travel a lot, and one thing I always do is book with a secured airline like Virgin or BA.

I use BMI for flights to the US, and their fares are real cheap if bought directly from the airline.  I always buy my tickets on my CC, and never use the debit card except for cash.  The same goes for tickets to Disneyland, as the park can close due to weather conditions.

If anything this will teach people how to shop with security in mind, than risking it to save a few quid. Once bitten twice shy, but you cannot dismiss the grief from unhappy XL holiday makers wanting a break from all this lousy weather.

I saw the people on the TV, and I hope the government will step in and help these people.   

[patrickl]

Yeah you really need to make sure that wherever you buy your tickets from is insured (covered).

When I was on my honeymoon in Australia, Ansett Australia went bankrupt. I had booked several flights and hotel rooms for a tour of Australia. The travel agency covered all the costs.

Not sure if this is internationally valid, but in the Netherlands the cheap tickets retailers actually can cancel or delay your flight if they give at least 72 hours notice.

[ChadTower]

Damn... I've always wanted to to go Universal for Halloween... so I definitely feel that pain.

[mameotron]

I'm not sure if I want to go back to Universal Studios.  I went there on vacation about 10 years ago and got screwed.  After I bought my tickets and went into the place, there was a guy handing out free tickets to come back.  It seems most of the rides weren't working that day.  I was going home the next day, the free passes weren't going to help me at all.  I immediately complained to the ticket office, and a manager came over to see me.  But I got no refund and ended up giving my tickets to another family on my way out.

Why didn't they post a sign BEFORE you pay saying the rides were not working?  I guess they only care about getting your money.

[Singapura]

Not sure if this is internationally valid, but in the Netherlands the cheap tickets retailers actually can cancel or delay your flight if they give at least 72 hours notice.

If it's a EU based carrier they have to pay you damages. At the moment I'm getting KLM to pay me 2 times 600 Euro because they delayed our flight from Singapore to Amsterdam more then 10 hours. KLM denied that they had to pay that because we were flying from Asia to Europe and not the other way around.  KLM didn't even acknowledge my emails and thought that with ignoring me they could get rid of me. So I sent the file to a specialised law firm who is now sueing them. Holidays booked with Dutch organisers are most of the time insured through the SGR, a foundation that guarantees you get your money back if the organiser goes bankrupt.