British Airways pilots have begun a two-day strike (9th – 10th Sept 2019) in an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions. Tens of thousands of passengers will be affected, with the airline cancelling some 1,700 flights due to the disruption. The pilot’s union BALPA and British Airways have both said they are willing to hold further talks, but no date has yet been set. The pilots are currently scheduled to stage another strike on the 27th September.
What to Do If Your Trip Is Affected by the British Airways Pilot Strike
Whether you’re due to travel soon or you’re abroad already, here’s how your travel insurance can help…
If your trip was booked before 24th August 2019 and your policy was purchased before 24th August 2019
- If your journey is delayed by 12 hours or more because of the strike, we’ll pay a fixed amount for each full 12-hour period of delay. Bear in mind that we only cover a delay to your departure, not your arrival at your destination. (We call this cover ‘Travel delay’ in our policy wording)
- If your journey from the UK is delayed for more than 12 hours because of the strike and you decide not to go, we’ll pay you for your unused travel and accommodation costs which you can’t get back from elsewhere. If you booked your holiday as a package, then you should ask your tour operator or travel agent first to try to move the dates or get a refund. (We call this cover ‘Travel delay – Abandonment’ in our policy wording)
Bear in mind
- You’ll need to check your policy terms and conditions to see exactly what cover your policy provides and how much you can claim for, as different policies vary
- We can only cover you for the scenarios above if you bought your policy or booked your trip before the strike became public knowledge. If you bought your policy or booked your trip after the 24th August 2019 (when the strike became publicly known in the news), we won’t be able to cover you
- The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has specific guidelines in relation to entitlement to compensation: CAA guidelines
What to do
- If you’re stuck overseas and you’re unable to return to the UK, your existing policy will automatically extend in line with the terms and conditions for up to 30 days to cover you until you’re reasonably able to return home.
- If you’re still in the UK and you haven’t travelled yet, the following rules apply:
- Where you can, you should try to get a full refund from your tour operator or travel agent. We’ll only consider non-refundable expenses on your travel insurance policy
- If you want to rearrange your trip dates, and provided you’re not making a claim, we can transfer your policy to cover the new trip as long as it’s within three months of your original departure date, is for the same or no longer duration, and is to the same geographical area
If you need to make a claim on AllClear branded policies, you can do so by contacting Reactive Claims Ltd.
Phone: 01420 383014
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.reactiveclaims.com
If you have any further questions, please get in touch.
