Would you insure yourself against a missed flight?
Ever missed a flight because your alarm clock didn’t go off or you simply didn’t leave the house in time? Is missing your flight a big enough concern to make you insure yourself against the prospect?
The idea of missing your flight may be enough to give you nightmares.
If you miss a flight and it’s your fault there’s every chance you will wave goodbye to the hundreds or thousands of pounds you’ve spent on the journey.
The airline has no legal obligation to help you, and the return leg of your trip will be cancelled if you miss the outbound one. The airline may put you on a later flight but you’re very likely to have to pay a penalty charge.
Some travel insurance companies will cover you for missed flights, but they are very unlikely to do so if there’s a chance it’s your fault. So even if you miss the flight because you hit unexpected traffic when you’re driving to the airport, some policies won’t pay out.
Missed Flight Cover policy
Well, a new insurance policy has been launched claiming to take that worry away.
The Missed Flight Cover policy was unveiled this week by a company called No Exclusions Ltd in partnership with EasyJet.
EasyJet customers will be given the option of taking out the insurance when they book a flight. At £7.50 for a single flight or £9.50 return, the policy promises to give you a refund or help you book another flight – whatever the reason for missing the original take off.
The only conditions are that you must arrive at the airport within four hours of the original take-off time, be fit to fly, and register your claim at the sales desk before leaving the airport.
So is this a useful new service, or just another extra for an airline to push on to you?
Never missed a flight
I’ve never worried about missing flights, and I’ve never missed one. I’ve come close a few times as I used to be so relaxed about it, I’d leave it very late and end up checking-in with minutes to spare. These days I just get up early and leave plenty of time.
I wonder if the product launch is timed to coincide with potential Olympic transport chaos around London during peak holiday season, which might make people more worried about missed flights.
Either way, do you think the concept is a good idea? Will it reassure you that your flight is covered or do you feel it’s an unnecessary holiday expense?
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nfh
This new insurance is open to abuse. If you want to fly on the last flight of the day to avoid taking time off work but it’s very expensive (often the case with conveniently-timed evening flights), you could book a cheaper earlier flight and then “miss” it on purpose. You could then turn up for the expensive evening flight and the policy would pay up for the extra cost. I wonder how long this insurance will last with this obvious potential for abuse.
Edy
I dream about the day when all airline companies go bankrupt!
Florence Buswell
The only reason I might consider the insurance is for connecting flights. When I flew to Australia, I had two flights and nearly missed my connecting one because my initial flight was running a couple of hours late. In retrospect, that should have been something I accommodated for time-wise though!
richard
To me it depends – Very expensive long journeys with plane changes – I might pay if the cost was low. But for a short cheap flight – No.
Peeny
Never having missed departure of a plane until this year I believe in the area in the insurance policy as that this idea would be most acceptable to most people.