Leading travel insurance provider InsureandGo has claimed that thousands of holidays, costing millions of pounds in total, could be lost if the strike of British Airways’ cabin crew goes as announced by the unions.Cabin crew of the British Airways have voted in favour of a 12-day-long industrial action starting from December 22.
InsureandGo warns that the travel insurance industry will see a huge spike in claims with the industrial action taking place over the Christmas period. It estimates that, across the travel insurance industry in2008,over 20,000 claims per month were made for flight cancellations, costing£9.7m. With British Airways cabin crew threatening an 'unspecified' number of days of industrial action over Christmas, this figure could increase dramatically this December.
Most travel insurance providers cover trips booked before any strike action was known about, so anyone who booked a Christmas flight before this week could potentially get their money back. InsureandGo are covering trips made before the 4th November 2009, which was the first date that a notification was made of an intention to strike.
Perry Wilson, founder of InsureandGo, said: “Christmas isa huge traveling period as people fly away for winter sun or to visit friends and family around the world. The BA’s cabin crew’s strike will ruin the plans of thousands of people and cost the travel insurance industry millions of pounds. We expect to see a major increase in flight cancellation claims."
The travel association ABTA estimated around three million Britons traveled abroad last Christmas.
