How will travel insurance and the claims sector be affected by the change in flight delay compansation rules?
Over the next few weeks IRN Research will be undertaking consumer and business research into how aware the public is of the change in compensation rules for flight delays and what this may mean for the travel insurance and legal sectors.
EC legislation extended passenger rights for air travel in 2005. The law, which applies to EU regulated airlines, provides for compensatory payments for flights delays and other infringements. Recent UK court rulings now mean that airlines have to pay compensation where they did not before and some lawyers are suggesting that this will open the floodgates for thousands of consumers to claim for flight delays.
Against this background, many delayed air travellers have sought to claim retrospective compensation back as far as 2005 by claiming directly with airlines, through internet intermediaries and lawyers. According to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) it received 23,440 claims for compensation in the 12 months to March 2014, nearly a four-fold increase on the previous 12 months. As public awareness grows, retrospective compensation will continue but what will happen when the dust settles? Will the public have an increased willingness to claim compensation and how will this affect the travel insurance market? Is there a new claims market segment emerging for flight delays?
A consumer survey at click for consumer survey will test public awareness of the issue and will seek to determine the willingness to claim compensation. A business survey at click for business survey will seek the views of travel companies, insurance companies and lawyers. The results of the surveys, with a full analysis of the results, will be published with a summary given to any of the participants that would like one.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
