Supplier Failure Travel Insurance
How to Pay for a Replacement Flight if an Airline Goes Bankrupt
Sep 15, 2008
Frequent travelers often have an annual travel insurance policy, while others rely on buying travel insurance for each holiday or business trip. Very few policies cover travelers for the dire consequences of what happens when an airline or tour operator goes bankrupt. The recent financial problems of airlines like Zoom and a huge travel company like XL (third largest in Britain) shows that the credit crunch is hitting the travel industry, and is only likely to get worse.
The travel insurance specialist Insurefor.com has therefore come up with a travel policy which specifically protects travelers against financial loss from travel companies and airlines going bankrupt. They say that as far as they know, the policy is unique. It costs only £4 for a single trip or £8 for an annual policy, and offers compensation of up to £5,000.
The £5,000 protection covers the cost of booking new flights, regardless of the cost of the original flight. Even if the original flight was a free flight or a cheap flight booked through an offer on a budget airline, the new Supplier Failure policy will reimburse travelers for whatever it costs to fly home again.
ATOL Protection
Many travelers believe they are fully protected if they have their own travel insurance and book a holiday or flight with ATOL (Air Travel Organisers' Licensing) cover. However, ATOL does not offer protection if an airline goes bankrupt, but the Supplier Failure Insurance does that. ATOL does not offer protection for travelers taking a non-air holiday with an ATOL-bonded travel agent, but Insurefor.com's policy does that.
Many people who were overseas on their holiday when XL went bankrupt found that they were being asked to pay for their hotel accommodation, even though they had already paid in advance through one of XL's tour operations. Others were having to pay for extra nights while they waited for a replacement flight home. Under the Supplier Failure Insurance, those costs will be reimbursed.
Other benefits of the policy include access to a 24-hour helpline; coverage of the extra costs of any car hire or transfers caused by the airline or tour operator going bust; up to £5,000 in cover of an airline cancels a flight and is unable to provide an alternative within 12 hours, regardless of the cost of the original flight; coverage for lost deposits through a travel company's bankruptcy.
This travel insurance policy also provides coverage up to £5,000 if any of the third-party providers for a trip goes bust. In other words, if a package holiday is booked through a tour company and the airline they are planning to use goes bankrupt, the traveler is covered.
Although provided by Insurefor.com, the Supplier Failure travel insurance policy is backed by Europ Assistance, which has representation in over 200 countries worldwide. Details are available on the Insurefor.com website.
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