Travel insurance protecting passengers against airline failures will be offered to the UK public this coming week.
Travel Insurance News - 08/09/2008
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International Passenger Protection, an insurer offering financial protection for consumers against travel operator failure, will offer cover for its customers via its online site, protectmyholiday.com, starting from £5 for 30-day coverage. The cost of the policyholder’s flight will be covered if their airline goes into administration before the start of the insured’s holiday, or the cost of an alternative flight with another carrier if their airline goes under while the holiday is underway.
Following the collapse of trans-Atlantic carrier Zoom recently, 40,000 passengers were out-of-pocket. Zoom’s founders, John and Hugh Boyle, said that most passengers would be compensated by making claims through their travel agents or credit card companies. Unfortunately, many travellers did not purchase their holiday packages from travel agents and as a result, were not protected. Also, only around 10 per cent had travel policies providing this type of protection.
When paying by credit card, some protection is usually offered, but only for the value of tickets exceeding £100, and additional costs, such as the replacement flight fares, hotels and ground transportation are not normally covered.
So far this year, twenty-four airlines have collapsed, and Zoom isn’t likely to be the last. Zoom’s founders cited the unprecedented rise in the cost of jet fuel and the poor economic climate as factors that affected not only Zoom, but the airline industry overall.
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