Ryanair is in crisis after announcing the cancellation of 40-50 flights per day over 6 weeks, leaving thousands of travellers’ plans in chaos. The issue has raised an important aspect about travel insurance cover which the public seem to be unaware of.
- Nearly 7 in 10 (69%) of Brits expect their travel insurance to cover the cost of rebooking the missed flight, and all connected travel and accommodation expenses
- Half of Brits (50%) believe their standard travel policy will cover them if they miss the departure of their flight due to late arrival at the airport or increased security at check-in
- Travel Insurance Explained (TIE) has launched its informative animation featuring characters Joe and Ellie that uses real life claims experiences to highlight the importance of appropriate travel insurance
- New research from Travel Insurance Explained (TIE)* shows 9 out of 10 UK travellers expect their travel insurance policy to cover any additional costs for connecting flights to their final destination, should they miss their original connections because of flight delays.
And nearly 7 in 10 (69%) of holidaymakers would expect their travel insurance policy to cover any additional accommodations cost as well.
The reality is that the majority of standard travel insurance policies will not cover the cost of rebooking a missed connecting flight or any of the costs relating to this holiday hiccup. Or help with the additional expenses should your airline cancel your flight and you have booked your accommodation separately.
Half of those polled (50%) thought they would be covered by their standard travel policy if they missed their flight due to late arrival at the airport and/or increased security at check-in. Whilst some, travel insurance policies would foot the bill for missed departure due to late arrival at an airport, they will only cover very specific reasons. Hardly any would pay for a missed flight because of long queues at passport control or security.
UK travellers heading abroad should make sure that they know what a travel insurance policy will and won’t pay out for.
Travel Insurance Explained wants to help inform the travelling public and as part of this initiative it has launched a new entertaining and amusing animated video, based on these exact scenarios, featuring characters Joe and Ellie.
Watch Travel Insurance Explained’s video below:
Fiona Macrae of Travel Insurance Explained (TIE) said: ‘This latest aviation fiasco with Ryanair has highlighted how UK travellers suddenly find themselves out of luck, and out of pocket. Our research highlights consumer behaviour where travellers look at the headline limits on their policies and assume they can claim up to that amount for that incident. For example, if the travel insurance policy shows £500 cover for missed departure, they believe that regardless of the circumstances, they will be able to claim up to the £500 limit. However this is not the case.
‘We urge travellers to check that the policy they are buying does have the wider cover so you’re not left out of pocket should your airline cancel your flight, or heightened security causes longer than expected queues at passport control. These policies may be slightly more expensive than standard policies, but that would be a couple of pounds well spent if you needed to make a claim should you miss your departure due to increased security, missed a connecting flight or your airline cancelled your flight.’