Last Updated on November 13, 2023 by Henry @ The Getaway Lounge
This post is reviewed on a regular basis to ensure a high level of accuracy.
Are you thinking about booking your flights and accommodation separately?
Or should you book a package holiday…
Well, both methods have their advantages and disadvantages, and both come with an element of risk.
So, what’s best for you depends on a number of different factors.
So long as you’ve considered the various circumstances we’re going to discover in this post, you’ll be better placed to make that decision for yourself.
Especially when it comes to short – medium haul flights with the budget airlines, it can sometimes be cheaper to book your flights and accommodation separately, so long as you’re happy with a relatively cheap hotel.
These low-cost carriers such as easyJet, Jet2 and Ryanair for instance do not offer discounted fares to travel agents.
And in terms of accommodation costs, competition is so vast these days that prices are generally kept low as long as you’re flexible.
Once you’ve found a flight deal and booked directly with the airline, your next step is probably to find some appropriate accommodation.
And with platforms such as Booking.com and Airbnb – your choices are endless these days!
Simply type in your destination, dates, number of people and apply some filters depending on your preferences.
For instance, you could filter your search by lowest price first, or proximity to the city centre – simply browse through until you find something that fits the bill.
As long as you know where to search and do so in good time, you shouldn’t have any problems in finding a suitable option within your budget.
As travel agents often have partnerships with a limited number of hotels and accommodation, this same level of flexibility and control is something they are unable to offer.
Booking your flights and accommodation separately also gives you greater flexibility in terms of how many nights you stay.
And whilst you can sometimes find good value cheap package holidays, these dates are often fixed or for longer durations only, and not very flexible.
What’s more, you have more control over the times in which you fly.
This is especially important if you’re going away for a short break – you don’t want to lose a day or two of your holiday due to bad flight times!
There are also plenty of times where you might actually be better off booking a package holiday.
It’s normal for package holidays to offer a genuine discount, especially for durations of 1 week or more.
This is because many of the major international carriers offer incentives to third parties in order to sell more tickets.
And because the travel agents are able to acquire seats on a bulk basis from the airline, and secure rooms on a bulk basis from their hotel partners, they can sometimes grab some considerable savings.
So, if the package holiday happens to fall into place in terms of discount, dates, accommodation, flight times, and so on – booking a package may in fact be your best value option.
Not everyone wants to browse through booking sites, choose their accommodation and organise their own itinerary.
So, if you prefer to take a back seat and have most of your holiday organised for you, then booking through a travel agent certainly has its place and more often than not they will make a good job of that.
Given that flight-only bookings are not usually covered by ATOL, another argument for booking a package holiday via a travel agent would be for protection.
ATOL stands for Air Travel Organiser’s License, and every travel agent is legally required to hold a certificate.
Put simply, the scheme ensures you will be looked after in the event the travel company you booked with goes out of business.
Arranging travel insurance is essential when going on holiday, whether you’re ATOL protected or not.
So rather than relying on a third-party for protection, you could pay a little extra for a more comprehensive product which covers an airline going bust.
Look for “scheduled airline failure” in the policy wording – it’s fairly common for policies to include it as standard, but you might have to pay a little extra for a more premium product depending on your provider.
And the same goes for “consequential loss”, as it might already be included in some standard policies but should be for the premium products.
Consequential loss should cover any other related expenses such as accommodation and car rental.
In a lot of cases travel insurance will offer better value than ATOL, and you could be paid out a lot sooner with less hassle!
As with all insurance however, they all differ slightly and so you should read each section carefully to ensure your holiday will be covered sufficiently in the unlikely event your airline goes out of business.
You can also protect your holiday by booking through your credit card.
If the flights cost between £100 and £30,000, you will be eligible thanks to section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, which states your credit card provider will accept liability if the airline let you down.
A chargeback is a process whereby your bank disputes a transaction made on your non-credit card.
They’ll raise this on your behalf with the airline, and you should get your money back, although it is not guaranteed.
Booking flights and accommodation separately is a growing trend thanks to better flexibility, control and it often results in making significant savings.
There is still a market for packaged holidays, and in certain situations outlined above it makes sense to book via a travel agent.
If you’re worried that your flight-only booking is not ATOL protected, the best course of action would be to take out some comprehensive travel insurance, including airline failure and consequential loss.
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