Airlines are ignoring EU laws by automatically adding travel insurance when customers book flights, a watchdog has found.

According to a new report by the consumer magazine Which? Holiday, four airlines are ignoring an EU directive issued last November which forbids them from automatically adding extras such as insurance at the time of booking.

Of 11 sites checked by researchers, over a third had flouted the rules. Easyjet, Jet2 and Monarch all automatically add travel insurance policies at the time of booking, costing between £7 and £10.49 per passenger, while Air Berlin automatically adds cancellation insurance for flights that return the same day that they fly out, costing £10.63. To opt out of the insurance consumers must tick a box.

Although the single-trip insurance policies offered at the time of booking on BA, Ryanair and Wizz’s websites comply with standards, they do not meet Which? Best Buy criteria in terms of cover for cancellation or curtailment of the trip, or for lost or stolen baggage. Only Easyjet met criteria set out by Which? for travel insurance in terms of the cover offered, with Flybe and Monarch falling just slightly short.

In many cases Which? found that restrictions or exclusions on insurance policies offered by airlines were not set out clearly at the checkout, and were only explained in the small print. For example, BA, Flybe and Wizz’s single-trip insurance only covers travellers under 65 years old, whilst every airline insurance policy imposed restrictions on pre-existing medical conditions.

Lorna Cowan, Which? Holiday editor, said: “With airlines still opting people into insurance, consumers could unwittingly buy a product which is of no use to them, and at up to £10 per person this can add up.

“Buying insurance at the same time as your flights may seem like an easy and convenient option. But if you’ve already got an insurance policy, or it doesn’t provide the right amount of cover for you, it’s as useless as no cover at all.”

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 3:08 pm and is filed under Insurance, Travel Insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.