By Chris Torney
Following the confusion about flights delayed or cancelled by volcanic ash in April and May, Confused.com hosted a live travel webcast earlier this month, which you can view now by following the link above. This allowed our readers to quiz three industry experts about issues such as insurance, compensation and future travel plans.
We had a great response to the event and between them, Sean Tipton from ABTA, Graeme Trudgill from the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA), and Confused.com’s own head of travel, Steve Williams, managed to clear up a lot of your most pressing issues.
Many of you wanted to know whether you would be protected if the Icelandic volcano erupted again this summer and disrupted flights and travel plans again.
Others were still battling to get compensation from airlines, insurers, and holiday companies for delays suffered in the spring.
Here is a round-up of some of the most common queries that were put to our panel.
Q: Are there any travel insurance companies that will cover holiday disruption – paying out for additional flights and/or accommodation costs – due to the ongoing volcanic ash problem?
A: If you don't already have travel insurance, there are not many products available at the moment that will cover for ash-related problems, although some providers including Aviva are offering add-on policies specifically to cover ash delays.
However, there are some policies that cover irrecoverable loss of deposits that you have made on any accommodation that you can't use.
Insurance policies are available which offer delay benefits that help with your costs while stranded abroad.
But bear in mind that airlines which are based in the EU must refund you if your flight is cancelled, or cover reasonable day-to-day expenses if you are stranded abroad.
If you are on a package holiday, tour operators will refund you in full or let you rebook with them and cover you for costs if you are stranded.
A tour operator is the company that actually provides your travel arrangements and who you have your main contract with – they generally provide packages but not exclusively.
Q: If the airline or tour operator is supposed to cover costs for delays due to ash, what is the point of buying insurance?
A: While most reasonable costs will be picked up by the airline or tour operator, there will be some instances where other costs won’t be covered and this is when you need to contact your travel insurance provider.
There are many benefits to having travel insurance and flight delays are not the only thing that can go wrong with a holiday.
In addition to that, only about 45 per cent of customers book package deals, so the other 55 per cent would need to consider insurance for cancellation charges for accommodation or car hire.
Airlines are only liable to cover your day-to-day expenses if you are stranded in the EU (or outside of the EU if your airline is EU-based).
Q: Could the ash-cloud scenario happen again later this year?
A: Due to the greatly improved Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) guidelines for ash detection it is much less likely that we will see airports shut for as long as occurred in April. If the volcano did erupt again on the scale seen two months ago, it is expected to lead to hours rather than days of disruption.
Q: I have booked a holiday, though not a package deal, for the end of July. I have also taken out a more expensive insurance policy, which states that natural occurrences are covered. Will this cover me for any problems with the ash cloud?
A: Every travel policy is different, and some will cover loss of irrecoverable deposits such as your villa and car hire. However, different insurers have different attitudes towards the volcanic ash claims: some consider it not a natural event but in fact a man-made event, as it was the CAA which closed the airports.
Other insurers believe the volcano is a geological event that is not insured. It is very important to check this with your specific insurance provider before you travel. In general, this volcanic eruption is no longer an unexpected event and insurance is intended for the ‘unexpected’. Therefore your insurer may not provide cover for you.
Q: I was caught in the disruption in April and but I am still waiting for my airline to refund expenses incurred while having to stay two extra days in Gran Canaria. Will it pay up?
A: It is the airline’s responsibility to cover reasonable day-to-day expenses including accommodation if it is EU-based or you were stranded in the EU: this would apply to Gran Canaria. You need to submit a formal claim with receipts, but most are taking quite a long time due to the sheer volume of claims.
Q: In May I flew from Miami to Newark in the US and was scheduled to complete my onward journey to Manchester later that evening, both flights being with Continental.
On arrival at Newark I was told the flight was cancelled due to the ash cloud. I booked on the next available flight three days later, but had to stay in Newark in the meantime. Could I claim out-of-pocket expenses from Continental?
A: Unfortunately, as Continental is an American airline and you were delayed in the US, they do not have to cover your expenses: this is a good example of why you need the relevant insurance.
Q: I booked a holiday for July back in January – it was not a package but I do have an existing annual travel insurance policy. Will I be covered if the ash cloud prevents me travelling?
A: If the renewal of the annual insurance policy was before the 15 April eruption then you will not have the problem of it no longer being an unexpected event.
However the question of cover depends on your insurer’s interpretation of the policy cover, that is whether it classes it as a valid claim or not.
Speak to them directly to clarify, as different companies have taken different views on this.
Thanks again to everyone who joined us and sent questions over. Due to the sheer number of people getting in touch, we were unfortunately unable to answer everyone’s questions on the day of the webcast.
However, we’re doing our best to deal with all unresolved queries – if yours has not been dealt with already, please be patient with us and we’ll try to get you a response as soon as possible.
