Two in five travel insurance policies won’t protect holidaymakers from Flybmi failure

With the collapse of Flybmi over the weekend, independent financial information business Defaqto warns that over two-fifths of travel insurance policies offer no protection for airline failure leaving holidaymakers exposed.

Less than half (48%) of travel insurance policies offer cover for airline failure as standard, meaning that travellers could be left unprotected if the airline they’ve booked with gets into financial difficulty and they can’t travel. Cover for airline failure is offered as an optional extra in 7% of annual and single trip policies, but 45% offer no protection at all. 

Brian Brown, Head of Insight at Defaqto, comments: “With flights and holidays cancelled as a result of the Flybmi collapse, a lot of people’s holidays will be ruined over the coming months. Airline failure is not covered as standard on two fifths of travel insurance policies as the risk is usually relatively small.

“Anyone who has booked a package holiday with Flybmi, will be fully protected through the ATOL scheme and should not lose out. However, those who have booked flights directly and haven’t travelled yet, are at risk.

“If you paid for your flight with a credit card, you will be able to get a refund from the credit card company and should contact them directly for this. If you bought your flight with a debit card, you may be able to claim under your travel insurance policy if you have this cover.”