With the sudden collapse of Thomas Cook just recently — and with some travelers stuck on their vacations and unable to get home as they’d originally planned — many travelers are wondering if something similar could happen to them in the future. If it does, what do you do? How can you protect yourself if your travel provider collapses mid-trip?

Likelihood Of This Happening

The good thing is this kind of scenario, according to experts who have spoken up in the aftermath, is very unlikely to occur in the United States. Thomas Cook as a brand would create travel experiences that included everything — your hotel, your air travel, tours, etc. All of it was under the Thomas Cook name.

However, most travelers aren’t using a service like this. Even if they do bundle travel, it’s likely they’re still working with different, separate brands. If one of them does, unfortunately, happen to go under while you’re abroad, you won’t be entirely out of luck.

Plan Ahead

One of the things you can do to protect yourself from this type of situation occurs way before you actually leave on a trip. It happens when you book.

When booking, use a credit card that offers some sort of travel protection. There are many credit cards, both travel-branded cards and otherwise, that offer insurance for your travel. They’ll help you take care of business in the event that a provider cancels on you.

Depending on the card you get (and do note that typically cards with the best travel protection often come with a hefty annual fee), you could benefit from coverage such as refunds for flights, hotel stays, lost baggage and more. You might even be able to get the cost of a new flight home covered, in the event that an airline suddenly goes belly-up.

Stand Up For Yourself

If you’re in the poor situation of being mid-travel when your travel provider closes shop, don’t take it lying down. Stand up for yourself. While they may not be able to get you a ride home on a different airline, you can at least dispute any charges that they’ve made for services that they’re not providing.

See How Other Airlines Might Help You Out

While it may make better business sense financially for an airline to jack up prices when demand is highest (such as when thousands of stranded travelers need to get home), it doesn’t make good sense from a PR perspective. So, if your original travel provider lets you down, see how other airlines might help you out.

It’s happened before. Airlines have been known to offer what are called “rescue fares” to help travelers get home at the least amount of money possible.

Buy The Insurance

Yes, it’s extra money and sometimes it can seem silly to pay extra for a trip that you know you’ll be taking, but get the insurance anyway. While you might have the best intentions to take your trip, you never know what life will throw at you, such as your travel provider closing down. Make sure you read the fine print so you know your rights and what you’re paying for.

EU Travel 

If you’re traveling in the European Union, or just to or from the EU, you might be able to take advantage of the Union’s flight compensation regulation rules. While filing a complaint and seeing any results might take a while (if you get a positive result at all), it could at least get you something as compensation and is worth looking into. The regulations state that airlines who cancel on a passenger must compensate you.

I Think My Travel Provider Might Shutter

It’s not an uncommon scenario. Rumors swirl ahead of most travel providers closing up shop, whether they’re a full-scale travel provider like Thomas Cook or just an airline. So what do you do if you’re thinking your upcoming travel might be in jeopardy?

For one, look at your rights. Did you buy the insurance? Do you have travel protection on your credit card?

In instances like this, a travel credit card might not be able to help you, as most do limit their coverage to actual instances where you might need it. In other words, they won’t help you out if you’re just jittery due to some hearsay. But, if you bought full coverage insurance for your trip, you may be able to cancel and get your money back.

No credit card protection and no insurance? Then you’ll likely need to just ride out the storm and wait to see what happens. If you go ahead and cancel your travel regardless, you’ll probably lose most or all of your money invested in the trip.