How far in advance do you all book your holidays?

[MariaAlice]

As I'm only a student, I don't have a credit card, only a debit. Thinking of asking my mum to pay on hers, so that we have protection. The best flights I have found so far are with Monarch.

[dragon]

Thanks for that Kneale. It goes to show that no matter how many times you read something you can still miss something important. Now that we know about it what is needed is to add on the ‘extras’ on one of the flights to reach the magic amount of £100 and so you’re then covered

Definitely a good idea MariaAlice to use your mother’s credit card, provided that she knows about it We always book for our daughters with our credit card, not only flights but anything that’s over £100. Luckily, as a few years ago they were in Icmeler when the company we had booked with went bust. It was sorted out within a few hours. We were also covered when Aegean went bust last year not only for the amount that we’d lost but also for the additional costs. We only found out about the additional costs claim that we could make from Sue on this forum.

Just noticed that you’ve only recently joined the forum so fire away with any questions. There is an abundance of information and help available and most of the time someone quickly comes along with a response.

[dksbbs]

As I'm only a student, I don't have a credit card, only a debit. Thinking of asking my mum to pay on hers, so that we have protection. The best flights I have found so far are with Monarch.

If you pay your mother back you may not be protected as she has become part of the contract.

Taken from Money Saving Expert

For example if you pay for a whole group of mates to go on holiday with your credit card, and they pay you back their portion, Section 75 protection becomes confused if the holiday company goes into administration as there is some argument over who is part of the credit card contract.

I was also shocked to find that as I am the primary account holder on our credit card which my wife has a card in her name, if she books a flight for the two of us on her card we are covered because I benefit, if she booked a flight for her and the kids and not me (eg I was working) she is not covered under section 75, this is based on a ruling (62/02) by the Financial Ombudsman in 2007.

So be careful thinking you are covered using someones elses CC when you may not be.

Dave

[Kneale]

Thanks for that Kneale. It goes to show that no matter how many times you read something you can still miss something important. Now that we know about it what is needed is to add on the ‘extras’ on one of the flights to reach the magic amount of £100 and so you’re then covered

To be fair, if you can find a flight for under £100 to Turkey nowadays then you're very lucky indeed!

[dragon]

These days I think we need a degree in tourism in order to be covered as it really is a minefield. This is one of the ways that this forum is excellent in spreading the word so we're all protected as much as possible.

If you pay your mother back you may not be protected as she has become part of the contract.

Why would you tell them that you've paid your mother back? In our case we paid for the flights and we made the claim and it was all sorted very quickly, the contract was with us, not our daughters. Come to think of it I don't think that they actually paid us back for those flights but if they had I wouldn't have told the credit card company. If anyone is worried about this, instead of actually repaying the credit card holder for the flight, you could reimburse them in other ways for the same amount so you aren't 'technically' repaying the flight money so you are still covered.

It's so important that we know how to be covered as many of us book our holidays a year in advance and so many companies could go under in that time.

[Kneale]

I generally leave things till the last minute as I don't know too far in advance when I can go. I paid £340 per person a few weeks' ago for daytime Easyjet flights, including baggage and speedy boarding. It was actually cheaper to buy flex tickets (the tickets that enable you to change dates an unlimited amount of times for free) for a date I didn't want and then change the booking straight after rather than buying the days I actually wanted.

Just had a quick check on skyscanner and there some bargains if you want to book flights in the next two weeks. Manchester to Dalaman on Thomas Cook Charter (not Thomas Cook, for some reason) on Sun 16th Sep, £42 per person!

Two weeks today and I'll be supping an Efes in the gorgeous heat.

[MARKCAV]

All booked for next year already. Package deals for us at 2 x tour operators 10 days july and 14days september less than £1400 nicker for both. Happy 2013 hols to all travellers and happy hols everybody.

[Sami]

I've just paid £349 pp for our flights in September which was a bit higher than expected. But at least they are done now!

Booked for May 2013 now for 7 nights, apartment only at the moment and as its just me, cheap as. Checked flights and I'm going to grab these when I can as they are under £200 for that time of year. So now I have May, June and July to look forward to. Lucky me!