Travel insurance for a flight + hotel "package"

jd87

I have booked a holiday to Gran Canaria with a cheap website. It is Abta registered and i paid on credit card so I didn't worry about anything at the time of booking, but now I realise I have been sold a "DIY" package that seems not to be Atol protected. The flights are with Ryanair.

Now with the new volcano situation I'm worrying about what might happen if our flight gets cancelled and I lose all the money on the hotel. Will section 75 cover this situation?

We are travelling in July and haven't purchased insurance yet. Can anyone recommend insurance that will give us the required cover? What policy terms should I be looking for?

Humphreyshalfmoon

You are right to be worried, section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act will not help you at all if you cannot get to the accommodation because of ash. As of now, it is too late to buy cover against ash as it is a known event and insurers, even if they were providing cover last week will no longer insure against it. I know Martin has said many times you should buy insurance at the time of booking, usually in case you need to cancel but this is another good reason to do so. Ryanair won't go bust but whether they will be able to fly is anyone's guess, if they don't you can claim a refund of the ticket price but your accommodatuion owner has no obligation at all to refund you, after all the accommodation will be available even if you can't use it. At this stage you should ask the agent what happens to your money for the hotel if you can't fly and see what they have to say. Of course the likelihood is that everything will be OK, but if its not no insurer is going to offer you a policy against it now. Just make sure you take out the usual travel policy against cancellation charges, baggage and medical expenses ASAP

jd87

Thanks Alan. I suppose it's not the ash I'm mainly worried about - that's just what got me thinking. I'm mainly concerned about the issue of cancelled flights (for whatever reason) causing loss of the hotel money. What specifically do I need from a policy to make sure I'm covered for this? Most policies just talk about "cancellation cover" without going into any detail.

If my flights were cancelled and I couldn't get to the hotel, what's stopping the insurer from just saying "we won't pay for the hotel, the hotel didn't get cancelled"?

Humphreyshalfmoon

Ryanair won't cancel flights unless the have to at peak season, so ash is the only issue to be concerned about in that respect. There is a policy called 'protect my holiday' which you can find on line that sells insurance against part of the holiday disappearing and if you were flying with someone else I might recommend it, to avoid all the problems we saw last year when Goldtrail and Kiss went bust. That isn't the case here, you really need insurance against closure of air space and that is no longer available so I would just buy an ordinary policy of travel insurance and ask your agent what the accommodation provider will charge if you can't get there