Check ATOL

What is ATOL?

ATOL is a UK scheme that protects your money and your trip home when you book a holiday that includes a flight, and the travel company goes out of business.

ATOL stands for Air Travel Organiser's Licence. UK travel companies that sell trips including flights must hold one, or sell under another company's licence. The scheme is run by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and it is backed by a fund that pays out when a licensed company fails.

What ATOL does for you

If an ATOL-protected travel company stops trading:

  • before you travel, you can claim a refund for the protected parts of your booking
  • while you're away, you can carry on with your trip as planned, and you'll be helped to get home if your flight is affected

You don't have to pay anything extra for this. ATOL protection is built into the price of a protected booking.

What ATOL covers

  • package holidays that include a flight, such as flight and hotel, or flight and car hire
  • trips put together from several travel services, including a flight, on the same visit or booking
  • some flight-only bookings from a UK travel company, when you don't get your ticket straight away

What ATOL doesn't cover

  • flights booked directly with an airline
  • holidays with no flight, such as coach trips, cruises without flights, rail or ferry travel
  • hotels or other travel services booked on their own
  • bookings made with a company that isn't based in the UK and doesn't sell under a UK licence

Not covered by ATOL doesn't always mean unprotected. Other schemes, such as trust accounts, bonds or travel insurance with supplier failure cover, may protect non-flight holidays. Ask the company how your money is protected.

ATOL holders and Accredited Bodies

Some companies hold their own ATOL. Others are approved members of an Accredited Body, a larger ATOL holder that lets its member agents sell protected trips under its licence.

Bookings sold this way are fully protected. The ATOL number you'll see will be the Accredited Body's number, and your ATOL Certificate will say who is protecting the booking. Our search shows which Accredited Body each member sells under.

How to tell if you're protected

  1. The company is on the registerSearch its name or ATOL number on our check page.
  2. Your trip is the kind ATOL coversIt includes a flight and was sold by a UK travel company.
  3. You get an ATOL CertificateThis is the proof. Read what it should say.