Addressing the ITT conference on Wednesday (15 June) Paul Smith, CAA group director consumers and markets, told delegates the CAA "wanted to return to the concept" of having verified data on Atol certificates publicly available, subject – Smith stressed – to thorough and in-depth consultation with the industry.
This work, Smith revealed, got under way prior to the pandemic, but was paused owing to the operational challenges the industry was facing. The CAA has previously operated in this way, but Smith said efforts to reform and further digitise the scheme had brought the concept back to the fore.
"It’s something we did a lot of work on pre-pandemic, which we have paused," Smith told TTG. "It will require some IT investment by providers and we are very conscious of that. But it is something we want to pick up looking at. We’ve not decided it’s what we are going to do, or how, but we want to pick up our engagement with the industry on this."
Smith said the system would have a number of benefits both for consumers and Atol holders. It would, for instance, allow travellers to check the validity of their Atol certificates quickly and easily, and ensure certificates are being issued correctly.
Another benefit highlighted by Smith was the access the CAA would have in the event of a failure. During his address, Smith referenced the collapse of Thomas Cook in September 2019 as a key example, which saw 140,000 passengers repatriated. He told ITT delegates the scheme had, over the past five years, processed 350,000 claims relating to about one million consumers.
"When there is a failure, it would immediately give us access to good quality data in terms of how many bookings are affected, what they are for and what they are worth," Smith continued. "We want to put some momentum back into this. It’s at an early stage, and it will need a lot of work."
When asked what the key motivation was for returning to this issue, Smith said it was two-fold – quality of data, and the speed at which it can be accessed. "People keep their data in very different ways," he said. "For the CAA, it’s about how easy it is for us to use that data quickly."
Smith also acknowledged there would be data privacy and cybersecurity challenges to overcome too. It comes amid a concerted effort to reform the Atol scheme, which is being led by the CAA. The authority last month issued its response to a first round of consultation, with a second expected to follow later this year.
Key aims include realigning the protection provided by different models with the level of risk they, or the licensee, are perceived to pose. One way the CAA is looking at doing this is through a variable Atol protection contribution (APC). The APC is currently fixed at £2.50.
