The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has issued a consumer alert ahead of 3 January’s ‘Sunshine Saturday’ – traditionally the busiest day of the year for holiday bookings – predicting a **4 percent year-on-year jump in January sales**. The regulator is urging British consumers and corporate travel buyers to double-check that packages are covered by the Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (ATOL) scheme before parting with deposits.
The reminder follows several high-profile collapses of online travel agencies in late 2025, which left thousands of customers scrambling for refunds. Under the ATOL regime, travellers who book flight-inclusive packages with accredited providers are protected against supplier failure – a provision particularly valuable for SME business-traveller programmes that lack the leverage of large TMC contracts.
![CAA warns travellers to verify ATOL protection as ‘Sunshine Saturday’ booking surge begins]()
The CAA says it will run targeted social-media campaigns throughout January and will dispatch inspection teams to major high-street agencies to check compliance with updated ATOL wording that took effect on 1 December 2025. Fines for mis-selling ATOL-covered trips can exceed £20,000.
Travel managers should remind employees booking bleisure add-ons that separate, non-flight hotel reservations fall outside ATOL and may require additional insurance. Companies using self-booking tools can embed the ATOL logo API released last autumn to give real-time visibility of coverage.
While the CAA does not regulate dynamic-packaged corporate itineraries booked through GDS channels, experts expect the forthcoming UK Consumer Travel Reform Bill (second reading due March 2026) to extend ATOL-style safeguards to a wider range of arrangements – a development that could increase supplier costs by 0.5-1 percent but improve duty-of-care compliance.
The reminder follows several high-profile collapses of online travel agencies in late 2025, which left thousands of customers scrambling for refunds. Under the ATOL regime, travellers who book flight-inclusive packages with accredited providers are protected against supplier failure – a provision particularly valuable for SME business-traveller programmes that lack the leverage of large TMC contracts.
The CAA says it will run targeted social-media campaigns throughout January and will dispatch inspection teams to major high-street agencies to check compliance with updated ATOL wording that took effect on 1 December 2025. Fines for mis-selling ATOL-covered trips can exceed £20,000.
Travel managers should remind employees booking bleisure add-ons that separate, non-flight hotel reservations fall outside ATOL and may require additional insurance. Companies using self-booking tools can embed the ATOL logo API released last autumn to give real-time visibility of coverage.
While the CAA does not regulate dynamic-packaged corporate itineraries booked through GDS channels, experts expect the forthcoming UK Consumer Travel Reform Bill (second reading due March 2026) to extend ATOL-style safeguards to a wider range of arrangements – a development that could increase supplier costs by 0.5-1 percent but improve duty-of-care compliance.
