Travel insurance vital as complaints against airlines soar

The air passenger watchdog dealt with 11% more complaints last year, most of which concerned flight cancellations, delays and lost luggage, which shows that travel insurance is now more important than ever.

Airlines are notoriously tight-fisted when compensating passengers but flight delays and lost and delayed luggage are all covered by good travel insurance policies.

In total, the Air Transport Users Council (AUC) received 12 307 complaints and queries from passengers in the 12 months to the end of March a period which saw the collapse of a number of airlines including Silverjet and XL Airways.

Following an airline failure, passengers have very little hope of gaining a refund unless they have bought scheduled airline failure insurance, which is available from insurewithease as a bolt on to standard travel insurance.

Passengers who pay for failed flights with a credit card may be able to claim a refund from their card company, but this is usually only the case for tickets that cost £100 or more.

Complaints to the AUC regarding problems with online check-in and additional charges for items and services previously included in the fare also increased year on year.

The AUC secured financial compensation for 120 passengers who were affected by flight cancellations, which was up 50% on the previous year.

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