What the Package Travel Regulations are

The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 are the UK law that decides when a trip counts as a package, what the business selling it must tell the traveller, who is responsible if something goes wrong and how the traveller’s money must be protected. Most of the trade calls them the PTRs.

They came into force on 1 July 2018 and apply across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They replaced the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 and put the 2015 EU Package Travel Directive into UK law. Since Brexit they have stayed in force as what is now called assimilated law, with a few amendments. A bigger set of changes has been made and starts on 6 April 2027, which we cover at the end of this guide.

What counts as a package

A package is a combination of at least two different types of travel service for the same trip or holiday. The Regulations recognise four types of travel service:

• carrying passengers, such as flights, trains and coaches

• accommodation that is not part of the transport and is not for residential purposes

• car hire, and the hire of certain other motor vehicles and motorcycles

• other tourist services, such as tickets for concerts or sports events, excursions, guided tours, ski passes and spa treatments

Two or more of these become a package if any of the following applies:

• one business puts them together before a single contract is made, including when the traveller picks the parts

• they are bought from a single point of sale (such as a shop, website or phone line) and chosen before the traveller agrees to pay

• they are offered, sold or charged at an inclusive or total price

• they are advertised or sold as a “package” or under a similar term

• the traveller chooses them after buying something, such as a gift box, that lets them pick from a selection of travel services

• they are booked through linked online booking processes, where the first business passes the traveller’s name, payment details and email address to another business and the second booking is made within 24 hours of the first being confirmed

It is still a package even if the traveller ends up with separate contracts with each supplier. Government guidance adds that, unlike under the 1992 rules, a package does not have to be pre-arranged, and that paying for the parts in separate transactions does not stop it being a package if they were chosen before the traveller agreed to pay.

Extras that do not create a package

Where only one of transport, accommodation or car hire is combined with other tourist services, such as a theatre ticket, it is not a package if those extras are not a significant proportion of the total value and are neither advertised as nor in fact an essential feature of the trip. The same applies if the extras are bought after the trip has started. Government guidance also says that selling an extra, such as an airport hotel, alongside a package that is already booked does not create a new package unless the combination meets one of the tests above.

Government guidance suggests 25% of the value as a rule of thumb for “significant”, but that figure is not in the UK Regulations, and in December 2025 the government decided not to write it into law. Travel insurance is not a travel service. Government guidance adds that services which are intrinsically part of another service, such as luggage carried on a flight or a transfer between the airport and the hotel, do not count as separate travel services.

Trips the Regulations do not cover

The Regulations do not apply to trips of less than 24 hours without an overnight stay, to occasional not-for-profit trips for a limited group or to business travel booked under a general agreement between businesses.

Organisers and retailers

The Regulations put most of the responsibility on the organiser: the business that combines and sells the package or, in a linked online booking, the business that passed on the traveller’s details. A retailer is any other business that sells a package an organiser has put together.

Calling yourself an agent does not change this. Government guidance says that whoever combines the package is the organiser, and the Regulations stop a business avoiding its duties by describing itself as an intermediary. Travellers cannot sign away their rights either.

The organiser is responsible for every travel service in the package, whoever actually provides it. If something is not provided as agreed, the organiser must put it right unless that is impossible or the cost would be out of proportion. Where a significant part cannot be provided, it must offer suitable alternatives at no extra cost. Travellers can also be entitled to a price reduction and compensation. Where an international convention, such as the Montreal Convention for flights, limits what a carrier must pay, the same limit applies to the organiser. Otherwise a contract can limit compensation, but not to less than three times the total price of the package, and never for personal injury or for damage caused intentionally or through negligence. The organiser can then seek redress from the supplier that caused the problem.

Organisers must also help travellers in difficulty without undue delay. That includes giving information on health services, local authorities and consular assistance. It also includes helping them find other travel arrangements.

Retailers have duties of their own. A retailer must pass any complaint or request it receives to the organiser without undue delay. A UK retailer that sells packages from an organiser based outside the UK takes on the organiser’s duties for performance and insolvency protection, unless it can show the organiser meets them. And any business is liable for errors caused by technical defects in its own booking system.

What you must tell travellers

Before the traveller is bound by the contract, they must be given the following. Where a retailer sells the package, it and the organiser can agree which of them provides the information, but both commit an offence if it is not given:

• the information listed in Schedule 1 to the Regulations, including the main features of the trip, the organiser’s trading name and contact details, the total price with all taxes and fees, the payment arrangements, any minimum number of travellers, passport, visa and health formalities, insurance information and the right to cancel, with any cancellation charges (the Regulations call them termination fees)

• the right standard information form, using the wording set out in the Regulations: Schedule 2 where hyperlinks can be used, Schedule 3 where they cannot (for example in a phone sale) and Schedule 4 for click-through packages made through linked online booking processes

Most of this information becomes part of the contract and cannot be changed without the traveller’s express agreement. If a traveller was not told about a fee or charge before they booked, they do not have to pay it.

The contract itself must be in plain language and set out the full content of the package, with the extra information in Schedule 5, such as the traveller’s special requirements, the insolvency protection provider’s details, an emergency contact point and how complaints are handled. A copy or confirmation must be given on a durable medium, such as paper or an email, meaning a form addressed to the traveller that they can store, refer back to and reproduce unchanged. Tickets, vouchers and timings must be provided in good time before departure.

Failing to give the required information is a criminal offence. In a civil dispute about whether the information was given, it is for the business to show it complied, not for the traveller to prove it did not.

Price changes, cancellations and transfers

Price increases. You can only increase the price after booking if the contract allows it, and only because of changes in fuel or other power costs for transport, in taxes or fees charged by third parties (such as tourist taxes, landing taxes or port and airport embarkation fees) or in exchange rates. The contract must also give the traveller the right to a reduction if those costs fall. Any increase must be explained, with a calculation, on a durable medium at least 20 days before the package starts. If it is more than 8% of the total price, the traveller can accept it or cancel without paying a cancellation charge.

Cancellation by the traveller. A traveller can cancel at any time before the package starts, but you can make an appropriate and justifiable cancellation charge. If unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances at or near the destination significantly affect the package, or the journey there, the traveller can cancel without a fee and get a full refund. Government guidance treats Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office travel advice as a critical consideration in deciding this, but not the only one.

Cancellation by the organiser. An organiser can cancel because of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, or because fewer people have booked than the minimum stated in the contract. For low numbers, the traveller must be told at least 20 days before the start for trips of more than 6 days, 7 days before for trips of 2 to 6 days and 48 hours before for trips of less than 2 days.

Refunds. When a package contract is cancelled in these ways, any refund is due within 14 days.

Name changes. A traveller can pass their package to someone else who meets all its conditions, if they give the organiser reasonable notice on a durable medium, such as an email or a letter. Notice given 7 days or more before the package starts is always reasonable. Any transfer costs must be reasonable and no more than the costs you actually incur.

Protecting travellers’ money

Every organiser established in the UK must have effective security in place so that, if it becomes insolvent, travellers get back the money they paid for services that are not provided and, where transport is included, are brought home. The same duty applies to organisers based elsewhere that sell to travellers in the UK.

For packages that include a flight, this protection comes through ATOL, the scheme run by the Civil Aviation Authority. For other packages, the Regulations allow four methods:

• a bond from an authorised institution, such as a bank or insurer, payable to an approved body you belong to. It must be big enough to refund the money you are likely to hold, and never less than the lower of 25% of the payments you expect in the bond’s first 12 months and the most you expect to hold at any one time. The approved body can require more.

• a similar bond payable to an approved body that has its own reserve fund or insurance. The approved body sets the amount, which can be as low as 10% of the payments you expect in the bond’s first 12 months, or the most you expect to hold at any one time if that is lower.

• insurance with an insurer authorised in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, under which travellers are the insured people

• a trust account, where travellers’ money is held in the UK by an independent trustee until the holiday is provided, with separate insurance for repatriation if transport is included

Trading Standards guidance lists three approved bodies for bonding: ABTA, ABTOT (jointly with Bonded Coach Holidays) and AITO Financial Protection Services.

Enforcement and penalties

In Great Britain, Trading Standards and the Civil Aviation Authority enforce the criminal offences in the Regulations. In Northern Ireland the Department for the Economy does so alongside the Civil Aviation Authority. The offences include failing to give the required information, failing to put insolvency protection in place and breaking the rules on linked travel arrangements. The penalty is a fine, with no upper limit in England and Wales. Directors and managers can also be prosecuted where an offence happens with their consent or through their neglect, and there is a defence for a business that took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence.

Since 6 April 2025 the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has also let the Competition and Markets Authority enforce consumer law, including these Regulations, directly. It can impose fines of up to £300,000 or 10% of a business’s turnover, whichever is higher. Travellers can also enforce their rights through the civil courts.

Linked travel arrangements and the April 2027 changes

A linked travel arrangement is a lighter category that sits alongside packages. It covers two or more different types of travel service for the same trip, bought under separate contracts, that are not a package, where a business either:

• lets the traveller select and pay for each service separately during a single visit or contact, which government guidance calls Type A

• points the traveller to another business in a targeted way, and the traveller books with that business within 24 hours of the first booking being confirmed, which the guidance calls Type B

The business that facilitates a linked travel arrangement must protect the payments it receives against its own insolvency and, if it is responsible for the transport, cover the cost of getting the traveller home. It must also tell the traveller clearly, using the prescribed form, that package rights do not apply.

The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements (Amendment) Regulations 2026 abolish linked travel arrangements for bookings made on or after 6 April 2027. From that date:

• Type A arrangements become packages, with all the duties that brings

• Type B arrangements are removed, with no replacement

• a supplier that cancels or fails to provide a service must refund the organiser within 14 days

These changes do not apply to contracts made before 6 April 2027. The government said it would publish updated guidance before they take effect. On 2 October 2026 the business guidance on GOV.UK was still the version last updated in July 2022, so check for a newer version before relying on it.

Questions to ask about your own business

• Do you combine travel services yourself, or let customers combine them on your website, before they pay? If so, you are likely to be the organiser of a package.

• Do your pre-booking information, terms and confirmations cover everything in Schedules 1 and 5, with the right standard information form?

• How are your customers’ payments protected: through ATOL, a bond, insurance or a trust account?

• Do any of your sales rely on the linked travel arrangement rules? If so, plan for how they will work from 6 April 2027.

If the answer to any of these is unclear, your trade body, Trading Standards or a travel law specialist can help you check.