INSURANCE companies have been busy dealing with calls from passengers caught up in the Heathrow Terminal 5 baggage crisis. Go Travel Insurance said travellers were turning to insurance firms for advice rather than airport or airline staff.
Christian Young, the company's chief executive, said: "Since things started to go wrong at T5, we've seen a steady increase in the number of calls and queries coming through to our call centre.
"This reached a peak at the end of last week as patie
nce wore out with the continuing delays and confusion."
The debacle is expected to cost British Airways about £16 million, the airline said at the end of last week. But it added that the amount was far less than the cost of earlier fog-caused disruption at Heathrow and that T5 was now running "very well".
The delays have highlighted a growing market for travel insurance that covers passengers for delays caused by security alerts or terrorism-related incidents. Totally Insured Travel is offering a new Security Delay Insurance package, which includes additional travel, overnight accommodation, subsistence, alternative reticketing, and excess car parking charges as long as the delay is for more than six hours. The cost for this additional cover starts from as little as £5.
Andrew Norman, director of Totally Insured Travel, said: "We think the extra cover will be appreciated not just by business travellers who absolutely have to be at a meeting but also those on holiday who want to know they won't be out of pocket if they need to make alternative arrangements."
Go Travel Insurance said that last year, 23 per cent of its claims related to luggage issues. Mr Young said people affected should check their travel policies carefully to see what is and is not covered. Those who have lost bags on the outbound leg of their journeys and need to buy replacement items should keep all receipts to claim on their return to the UK.
Many companies, including Go Travel Insurance, insist claimants have to be without their luggage for 24 hours before they are covered for emergency purchases of essential items. They must also provide evidence of when they were reunited with their luggage and keep check tags and flight tickets, if applicable.
However, when it comes to valuables, such as jewellery, there is no cover in most travel policies if the luggage is unaccompanied – that is, if the items were packed in checked-in luggage. Most insurers make it very clear that all valuables should be carried in hand luggage.
If the worst happens and you never see your luggage again, passengers must wait for a period determined by the airline, not the insurer, before the bag is deemed a total loss,
typically 14 days.
Once the property is considered by the airline to be irretrievably lost, then the passenger can claim from their travel insurer for the value of the property up to the limit of £1,500 per person. Limits for single items and for non-receipted items may also apply, so check your policy carefully.
If the value of the luggage exceeds the value of £1,500, then you can claim directly from the airline or from household insurers, if applicable, for any shortfall.
Even those with big travel budgets have been caught up in the T5 debacle: supermodel Naomi Campbell's dispute over missing bags ended in her arrest at Heathrow last week, while chart star and DJ Calvin Harris has been separated from seven months of work on his new album because a bag containing his laptop is still among the thousands of pieces of luggage British Airways is endeavouring to reunite with owners.
Harris, who had a hit with his album I Created Disco, was on a flight from the United States to Heathrow. He wrote on his website: "This is not good news for me. I have been walking in circles for a couple of days."
A spokeswoman for his record company, Columbia, said the laptop contained the only copy of the work .
She said: "You can't really put a price on something like a new record. He has lost the only copy of the new album. It is a big cause for concern; months of work have gone into that."
She said it would not affect his live performances, but it could set back work on the new album for some time.
BA said: "As with all bags that have been delayed, we are working hard to get them back to their owners."
Traffic figures for BA show that passenger numbers totalled just under 2.72 million last month – a 2.8 per cent dip on the March 2007 figures.
BA's UK and European passenger levels fell 2.8 per cent last month, while passenger numbers to North and South America were 0.6 per cent down, with Asia Pacific down 6 per cent and Africa and the Middle East down 5.7 per cent.
Premium traffic – passengers travelling in first and business class seats – was down 5 per cent last month, while non-premium (i.e. economy) traffic fell 2.3 per cent.
BA said: "The figures also reflect the events which surrounded the opening of Terminal 5 on 27 March. The impact was borne by the short-haul schedule, where there were 300 cancelled flights, equating to 0.2 per cent of capacity.
"The financial impact of these events is estimated to be around £16 million, reflecting all costs associated with the disruption and lost revenue opportunities."
BA is due to move much of its long-haul operation into T5 at the end of this month. A spokesman said: "Now we need to look at whether meeting the timetable (of 30 April] is a sensible thing to do. We will review that. It's a very big move."
The full article contains 978 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
