With airline companies going bust and holiday-makers either stranded abroad or left with no holiday to go on, is it worth protecting your holiday against airline insolvency? We take a look.
Once you’ve booked your holiday to somewhere sunny, the last thing you want is to find out that the airline you were going to fly with has gone bust.
If this happens before you fly it means your holiday could well be cancelled altogether, and if it happens while you’re abroad you’re likely to have a difficult and expensive journey home.
Unfortunately this is the reality for those who have booked flights with airlines that have since collapsed, and who do not have the proper insurance in place to cover this. Nowadays protecting your holiday against airline failure is becoming an all-too-important part of making sure your time away turns out to be the relaxing break you intended.
Why do I need flight protection?
Protecting your holiday against airline failure will ensure that should the worst happen, you’ll be able to recover the cost of your flights whether the airline collapses while you’re abroad or before you travel. This means that even if your holiday does have to be called off or postponed, at least you won’t be out of pocket.
In an economic climate that has seen a number of airlines struggle, and some fold without warning in recent months, protecting your holiday in this way could be worthwhile if you are worried about this happening to an airline you have booked with. Taking out flight protection may be even more worthwhile if you have booked with an airline that is relatively small, rather than a well-known name.
Many think that airline failures will be covered by their existing travel insurance policy but in many cases this isn’t so – only a select few travel insurance providers offer flight protection as standard. Therefore it’s important to look at the small print of any policy you are considering if this is something you are concerned about.
ATOL(Air Travel Organiser’s License) is an airline authority that protects the cost of air holiday packages or flight. Many mistakenly think that ATOL will protect any event of airline failure, but this protection in fact is only in place to cover flights booked as part of a holiday package. So if you have booked your flight and accommodation separately, your flights won’t be covered by ATOL.
If you buy your flights with your credit card you will benefit from some protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, but only if your flights cost more than £100. Therefore if you are booking bargain flights at less than £100, you won’t be protected under this either.
How do I make sure my holiday is protected?
If you have already bought travel insurance in anticipation of your holiday, it’s worth checking your policy documents to see if flights are protected against airline closure. Some travel insurance companies offer this as standard in their policies, such as the Post Office, but many will require you to take it out separately.
If you are going to take out flight protection in addition to the insurance you already have, it may be worth going through a dedicated provider such as ProtectMyHoliday.com. You can get cover from as little as £5 for 30 day protection, and will have the reassurance of knowing that if your airline does let you down, you’ll be protected.
If you buy flight insurance from ProtectMyHoliday, for example, they will cover the cost of a flight if your airline goes bust before you go on holiday, or the cost of return flights if the collapse happens after you’ve left the country.
If you do decide to insure your holiday against airline closure, make sure to compare the cost of travel insurance that includes this as standard with travel insurance plus stand-alone flight protection, to see which will offer you the better price and still provide you with all the cover you need.
