Government warns holidaymakers to check travel insurance

Many passengers are unsure whether their travel insurance covers them against the collapse of their airline, according to a new government survey.

The survey carried out by YouGov on behalf of the Department of Transport found that at least 34% of holidaymakers fail to check if their insurance will pay out if their airline goes bust before or during their trip.

Even though almost a third of the 2,000 adults surveyed who were planning holidays would not be booking packages, many were unaware the money they paid might not be protected.

Many wrongly assumed that flights were protected by the ATOL scheme, but this only covers package holidays and charter flights; others assumed they would be covered by their holiday insurance.

In fact, most travel insurance policies exclude scheduled airline failure, but this is available as an optional extra from Insurewithease for a small additional fee. Its Scheduled Airline Failure Insurance can be bolted on to any holiday insurance policy.

Booking flights with a credit card is an alternative form of protection. By law, credit card issuers must refund passengers, but only if their tickets cost £100 or more. Also, some airlines charge a fee for credit card payments, which is sometimes higher than the cost of Scheduled Airlines Failure Insurance.

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