Jul/094
Travel insurance claims for Swineflu
For weeks no UK consumers excited about their summer holidays have been dampened by the news that their travel insurance might not cover Swine Flu. Of course, thois is a huge worry for the consumer especially as we see swine flu cases increase by 100% week on week. Travellers trying to make a claim on a travel insurance policy for swine flu will no longer need written documentation from a GP.
However, travel agencies and organisations are strongly urging the public to keep hold of their Tamiflu medication labels as proof that they have overcome the illness. Insurers will need to validate each individual claim concerning swine flu.
Individual airlines have different procedures for dealing with passengers too unwell to fly and most employ medical teams to make assessments. This is a completely different can of worms and one which Consumer Help will leave to the discretion of the airlines.
Those being quarantined whilst on holiday will need written proof of their illness to be able to claim compensation from their travel insurers.
Jul/090
House of Commons transport committee: Higher ticket fares on the way
The House of Commons transport committee has criticised privately owned rail franchises for increasing ticket prices, up to 11% in the recession. The consensus amongst the committee was that the current relationship between rail companies and commuters is unfair, with passengers being treated unfairly. The franchising system means companies bid to run trains on a particular route and those that bid the highest premium payments win the contracts. The rise in ticket costs on regulated rail fares including all season tickets rose on average 6% which is contrary to negative inflation and disproportionate to the real economy.
Lord Ardonis, Transport Secretary reiterated that the report backed a policy by the government to limit fares to no more than 1% above inflation. The consequence being lower fare rates by January 2010. In reply to the criticism the Association of Train Operating Companies stated that the existing system offers a punctual service and that passengers are satisfied.
Jun/090
Tragedy of Air France Flight 477 a Reminder to the Consumer
On the 1st June 2009 Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed into the Ocean with 228 men, woman and children tragically losing their lives. Over the last century sky travel, in particular aircraft travel has become near perfected safety-wise which is why this tragedy seems all the more shocking and preventable.
Even a seasoned sky traveller would be forgiven a twinge of nervousness and concern after reading about this. However, despite such incidents, sky travel is fantastically safe. The rate of fatality is about one fatality per 50 million passenger miles, making it 20 times safer than driving and to put it in perspective you’re more likely to die in your bathtub or by falling off a ladder than in an air crash.
Any time when a piece of technology is designed by humans there will obviously be flaws which, despite endless trying, can never really be ironed out completely and there will always be the risk of failure. This is exaggerated by the sheer scale of an aircraft and the dangers and unnaturalness of travelling through the sky thousands of feet from ’safety’.
The terrible accident of Flight 477 serves as a reminder to us all that technology is impressive, but it’s not invulnerable. As consumers we put our life in the hands of manufacturers and tour operators and it is a common opinion that a little more respect for mother nature wouldn’t go amiss.
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