Cheap Asia Flights
Part Four

"Airline or Travel Agency
going out of business"

The Credit Card rule

cheap asia flights credit card backpacking-tips-asia.com

When you`re finally ready to buy a cheap ticket, pay with your credit card...

If the airline/travel agency goes out of business, dispute the charge to the credit company so you can recover your money. (The credit card rule doesn`t apply to debit cards!

If the airline/travel agency has declared bankruptcy, they`ll usually notify you via e-mail or phone.

If they do this, dispute the charge immediately. Like the day you were notified (if possible). If you wait too long, the credit company might use this against you. And you don`t want that!

For instance:

Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) in the United States protect consumers who don`t receive the goods they have paid for. In our case, the flight. But you have to pay with a credit card (Visa, Mastercard or American Express)...

On a side note, it`s unusual that large and international airlines (like KLM, Qatar, Cathay Pacific etc.) go out of business. Mom`s opinion is that despite the financial crisis, people still travel. She`s still running business, so that`s a proof.

She has explained why people still travel and mentioned many examples. But this one is the obvious reason, in my opinion:

There are millions of Thai, Indian and Cambodian immigrates who live outside their home country (like in the US, Canada, Europe etc).

Most of them visit their family and friends in Thailand, India and Cambodia for the holidays, emergencies, death, weddings etc. They do this because family is very important to them and that`s part of their Asian culture.

So, they pay the price to visit their family...

You`re probably thinking: Is it that simple?

Well, not simple, but logical!

Even business people still travel. Even if we`re going through the financial crisis, they still need to do business. Business requires travelling...

And let`s not forget that people still love travelling, either they are backpackers or tourists. British citizens are one of them.

The financial crisis doesn`t stop the Germans either.

Here`s an article about people still travelling despite the financial crisis.

So, let`s sum this up:

Immigrants + companies + backpackers/tourists = BOOKED FLIGHTS

Conclusion: People still want to travel. Some of them will just apply for an extra job to cover the expenses. Some will cut a trip shorter to afford it. And some spend less money during their vacation, to balance their budget.

This keeps the travel business running, and it will hopefully prevent bankruptcy...

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What if the travel agency goes out of business?

Because of the financial crisis, more and more tour operators have gone out of business.

Reliable and honest travel agencies will usually give back your money. It should be part of the customer's service (and common sense).

But let`s face it.. There are some bad guys out there. We`ve all read about it, or stumbled across it in the news. My mom told me about a Norwegian guy who ran a travel agency, but he got bankrupt 4 months ago. He just disappeared with his customers` money (they paid before they got their tickets), and moved out of the country…

So I strongly recommend that you check if the agency is a member of ATOL (UK), ABTA (UK) or AFTA (Australia). If the agency is a member and it gets bankrupt before you receive your tickets, you`ll usually get a full refund.

If you want to check if a travel agent is a member of ATOL, click here.
ABTA, click here. or AFTA, click here.

Another way of getting your money back is:

Pay with your credit card

The credit company is obliged to recover your money if the travel agent doesn`t.