If you’ve travelled recently, are travelling or are planning to travel, you could be forgiven for being a little confused.

The ash has been coming back in the last couple of weeks but only to the edge of Europe. Frustrating if you live in Belfast, Dublin or Gran Canaria, but it didn’t cause the same major problems as it did across the whole of Europe a month or so ago (and hey, if it means me staying a few more days in Gran Canaria, where’s the factor 50!). (more…)

I seem to have done nothing but write about volcanic ash recently. It caused unprecedented problems 3 weeks ago shutting airports in Northern Europe. People were stranded across the world unable to get back home and to work. International sports events were disrupted and the world’s leaders had to cancel plans to attend the recent funerals of the Polish presidential couple killed in an air crash in Russia. (more…)

With the ongoing problems relating from the fallout from the volcanic ash (pun intended), World First has set out how it intends to respond to the claims its policyholders will be making in the next few weeks here.

To summarise, if you are returning to the UK with an EU registered airline, they have a legal obligation to look after you – even if they might try to wriggle out of it. If you are leaving or were intending to leave from the UK, either World First or your airline will cover you. Read the policy for details on how to claim. This is not the case for all travel insurance companies, see here for more details.

It goes without saying that if you purchased your policy after the no fly policy started, you won’t be covered. However, if you had the foresight to purchase an annual policy, you will be covered when the next unforeseen crisis occurs!

No Iceland, we said cash…

Unless you’ve just come back from a stay on Mars, it won’t have escaped your notice that air traffic in large parts of Western Europe has ground to a halt because of large quantities of ash being spewed out by a volcano called Eyjafjallajokull (yes, that’s it’s name) in Iceland. (more…)