Britain’s travel agents are suggesting a tax on airline tickets that would be put aside in a fund to rescue or compensate stranded travelers when airlines collaps.
In the wake of the abrupt closing of Britain’s Monarch Airlines, which left 110,000 travelers stranded and another 700,000 with cancelled tickets, as well as the bankruptcy of Air Berlin and Alitalia, the Association of British Travel Agents wants the added protection.
Under existing British law, only travelers who got their tickets as part of a package holiday are protected. Those packages, purchased from an operator with an ‘Air Travel Organizer License’ are covered by insurance paid for by the operators. In the Monarch collapse, thousands who had just bought air tickets were not covered. The same applied to those who had not yet flown.
The travel agents say that the Monarch collapse proves a point they’ve made before: ATOL is not enough. In the Monarch case, thousands had to be flown home at taxpayer expense on chartered planes; the proposed tax would cover that in future.
No, we don’t need another tax. Air travel is taxed heavily enough.
Individual consumers can purchase travel insurance if they want.