Name and Shame - Airlines refusing options to passengers affected by Spain quarantine

bagand96

Streaky_Bacon said:

bagand96 said:

I keep seeing the "I cannot travel because the FCO advice means my insurance would be invalidated"

Why not just claim on the insurance for cancellation? Is that not the point of it?

It should be as simple as that, but it depends upon whether the policy provides cover for cancellation in that situation.

It is possible to have a policy which is invalidated by traveling against FCO advice, but does not provide for cancellation on that basis.

Depends upon the policy.

Whilst that's true, perhaps people should take some more responsibility in what policy they buy, rather than just the one that costs £6.99 on GoCompare.  

Streaky_Bacon

bagand96 said:

Whilst that's true, perhaps people should take some more responsibility in what policy they buy, rather than just the one that costs £6.99 on GoCompare.  

I personally think that we expect too much of consumers, in terms of understanding what they are signing up for.

It is very common to find people posting on here, who still don't understand their coverage even if they do read the policy.

It is well understood, by companies and the courts, that most people will not scour through every word of what they sign for, and won't understand much of it even if they do.

I spent a long time trying to compare the actual coverage offered by competing policies, when I bough one back in February, and it was incredibly difficult to do so, even though I am no slouch at such tasks.

It hard to expect too much, when a very large number of adults are effectively illiterate.

The National Literacy Trust estimates that 5.1 million adults in England are functionally illiterate, meaning that they have a reading age of 11 or below and can understand only the most straightforward, short texts on familiar topics.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/05/millions-british-adults-functionally-illiterate-problem-ignored/

bagand96

Streaky_Bacon said:

bagand96 said:

Whilst that's true, perhaps people should take some more responsibility in what policy they buy, rather than just the one that costs £6.99 on GoCompare.  

I personally think that we expect too much of consumers, in terms of understanding what they are signing up for.

It is very common to find people posting on here, who still don't understand their coverage even if they do read the policy.

It is well understood, by companies and the courts, that most people will not scour through every word of what they sign for, and won't understand much of it even if they do.

I don't disagree with you when you say we expect too much of consumers.

But likewise, consumers expect too much too.  As has been demonstrated on the forums in the last few months, consumers expectations seem to be that in any event they will get their money back from someone.  The airline should sort it, the travel agent or tour operator should sort it, the credit card or bank should sort it, the insurance should sort it.  The expectation is their money should be refunded, doesn't matter who from, but someone should cough up because Covid isn't their fault.

Unfortunately it doesn't always work like that.  But I think it's more indicative of society today as a whole, where there must always be someone at fault.

There are of course airlines that have dealt pretty well with the Covid disruption.  There's some who have been very mediocre, and some who have been awful.  Will consumers remember this next year, or will they just book with who's cheapest?

bradders1983

bagand96 said:

Streaky_Bacon said:

bagand96 said:

I keep seeing the "I cannot travel because the FCO advice means my insurance would be invalidated"

Why not just claim on the insurance for cancellation? Is that not the point of it?

It should be as simple as that, but it depends upon whether the policy provides cover for cancellation in that situation.

It is possible to have a policy which is invalidated by traveling against FCO advice, but does not provide for cancellation on that basis.

Depends upon the policy.

Whilst that's true, perhaps people should take some more responsibility in what policy they buy, rather than just the one that costs £6.99 on GoCompare.  

Or uses a Swedish third party to buy flights to save a fiver, instead of booking direct.

Streaky_Bacon

bagand96 said:

I don't disagree with you when you say we expect too much of consumers.

But likewise, consumers expect too much too.  As has been demonstrated on the forums in the last few months, consumers expectations seem to be that in any event they will get their money back from someone.  The airline should sort it, the travel agent or tour operator should sort it, the credit card or bank should sort it, the insurance should sort it.  The expectation is their money should be refunded, doesn't matter who from, but someone should cough up because Covid isn't their fault.

Unfortunately it doesn't always work like that.  But I think it's more indicative of society today as a whole, where there must always be someone at fault.

It certainly is the case that people expect that they must have some recourse.

Is that just some inherent sense of entitlement, or are there other factors at play?

I think that the lack of ability to properly understand their position and risk comes into play, but I also think that there is a significant amount of trust placed in companies and governments, and much of that is deliberately cultivated.

It may not stem completely from the idea that "there must be someone at fault", and may perhaps come more from the idea that "it must be OK because I can trust the system".