Is it safe to book a holiday on the internet?

[saintshar]

After much searching and surfing, i have found the holiday i really want!
After looking on all the usual websites - first choice, airtours etc..
I found that if i book the holiday and flights seperate, ie rooms through alpharooms.com, and flights with easyjet, i can get the exact same holiday around £600 cheaper. Only difference is the transfers.
But it still a lot of money, and although i have bought some much cheaper items over the internet, i am a little worried about dealing with much larger sums of money.
So how do you know if it is safe to do it, or if a particular site is safe?
Any advice much appreciated.

We have booked a lot of holidays over the Internet, both as packages and as indivudual flights, ferrys, hotels, etc. So far nothing has gone wrong at all.

But do use a credit card - if anything goes wrong you have more chance of getting money back.

Mine is a visa connect card - does that make any difference?
(Sorry to be thick!)

Visa cConnect is a debit card. Only CREDIT cards have the protection IIRC.

We regularly book flights on the internet and as yet have had no problems.

tends to be a good sign if the site has a secure server for dealing with credit card details - i.e. when you pay it goes onto https rather than http

personally - i booked all my honeymoon in italy using my visa delta card on the net - easyjet flights, various hotel booking sites, and had nno problems.

I've booked all of my holidays for the last few years on the net. Never had any problems. I have been known to spend all night looking though until the sun comes up, thats the only problem.

One thought though is that by booking separately you may find that if one thing does go wrong then the airline/hotel are not liable for subsequent losses in the same way as if booked together - ie. if a flight delay causes you to lose a night's hotel accommodation - so check your travel insurance would cover any such eventualities.

I have booked several trips through expedia.com using a credit card and they have been excellent. There is a uk version too that would presumably be as good.