Airlines adding travel cover despite EU ban

Airline passengers are automatically being charged a fee for travel insurance

Travel Insurance News - 02/07/2009

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According to a report published by Which? Holiday magazine, easyJet, Jet2.com and Monarch all add a travel insurance fee when passengers book online – and in order to opt out of the cover, a box needs to be un-ticked.

In November 2008, the EU banned this automatic addition of extra fees to airfares.

Online customers that do not notice the added fee end up paying £7-10.49 per passenger for the insurance coverage.

The report in the magazine added that the insurance easyJet offers was the only policy that meets the Which? Holiday minimum travel insurance criteria – of the 11 carriers in the study.

In the study it was also found that policy restrictions or exclusions were explained only in small print and not made clear to customers at the point of sale.

BA and Flybe policies only cover passengers under 65 years of age; and all travel cover offered by airlines contains restrictions on pre-existing medical conditions.

Lorna Cowan, Which? Holiday magazine’s editor, said: “With airlines still opting people into insurance, consumers could unwittingly buy a product which is of no use to them, and at up to £10 per person this can add up.”

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