Do you usually add scheduled airline failure cover for European holidays?

[lurchersforever]

I'm buying travel insurance today as have finally got my flights and accommodation all sorted. I've never thought about it before but with Trump's war in Iran I thought about scheduled airline failure perhaps being a necessity due to risk of lack of fuel - I'm not going to risky area. However, even on the most expensive policy that came up on Money Supermarket it wasn't included and I couldn't see how to add it.

Do others normally get this? I rarely go on package holidays but have never considered it previously, perhaps wrongly and just get mid-range insurance without thinking about this specific issue. All my accommodation is free to cancel within a few days of travel and flights weren't crazy expensive. I suppose the biggest nightmare would be the flight home being cancelled due to lack of fuel. Is this something I should worry about or would airlines be responsible somehow for our costs - we'll be within Europe.

No. A scheduled airline has better customer care. They are less liking to go bust.

When easyjet couldn't fly us back because air traffic control was down in the UK they paid for our accommodation and new flights. Insurance won't pay for things that they consider the airlines responsible for.

Easy Jet isn’t scheduled airline, and they rarely pay for hotel accommodation if not flying is not down to them.

If not booking a package I would have things set up to rely on insurance as little as possible as they often have clauses for not paying out. War is normally not covered. Covid was also not covered initially pre lockdown.

So hotels I book with free cancellation even if slightly more (sometimes changing a few days before to lower rate) and trips with free cancellation. This worked for us when our Sri Lanka holiday needed to be cancelled due to flights via Dubai. Insurance would not cover that scenario as due to war. Flights its worth checking CAA rules, flights out are always covered if flying from Europe and all flights in same booking are linked so get things in one booking. Some cheaper airlines like Ryanair don't make this possible to have connecting flights - then its on you and insurance may help but read small print as some exclude flights. If out there flight back is only covered if European airline. Our Emirates flights were fully refunded including seat bookings but that was them offering above what they had to as the flights did run. If they had not helped insurance would not have covered. Packages have different rules and normally more protection. Buying with a credit card can help in some circumstances.

Of course easyjet is a scheduled airline! If the delay is not down to them, then they don't pay - travellers should use the "delays" cover included in their own travel insurance. As a frequent easyjet traveller (for work) I can also confirm that they have on two occasions paid for overnight accommodation when a flight has been cancelled, or rather, they organised the hotel and then refunded what I had paid to stay at the hotel.

Regarding protection/insurance in the unlikely event of an airline going bust, which is the OP's question, the best protection that a UK traveller has is the Section 75 protection that is a key feature of paying using a credit card, so always pay with a credit card.

Regarding protection/insurance in the unlikely event of an airline going bust, which is the OP's question, the best protection that a UK traveller has is the Section 75 protection that is a key feature of paying using a credit card, so always pay with a credit card

This. We were booked to fly with Monarch 2 days after they went bust.

My credit card refunded the cost of the lost flights and the extra cost of the short notice, incredibly expensive replacement flights because prices had rocketed due to hundreds of people also needing new flights.

@Havanananana No. That’s not correct, they are low cost airline. They have legal responsibilities that they snd Ryanair try to ignore, but they are not a scheduled airline so you don’t get the same level of service. No business class for example. They are not Emirates or similar and don’t have a world wide presence.

Just to help out. Please read the attached.

But they're still a scheduled airline. Any operator that sells plane tickets to members of the public is a scheduled airline. How could they not be?

But it looks like there's a lot of misunderstanding on this thread and not only about what a scheduled airline is but also what scheduled airline failure insurance actually covers, which I'm not sure is the same as what the OP thinks it is....

But anyway, no-one needs to worry about SAF cover unless they're one of those Mumsnetters who 'doesn't need a credit card'.

Any operator that sells plane tickets to members of the public is a scheduled airline. How could they not be?

I think the usual definition is that they have to sell to the general public and run to a regular timetable to be considered scheduled.

If operator sells to the general public but doesn't have a regular schedule, e.g. only does trips such as to/from football matches, Hajj associated flights or Northern lights trips, then they are charter..

There aren't many in the second category these days but they do exist.

Easyjet is a scheduled airline. They fly to 39 countries and have 142 international destinations as well as 20 UK destinations. The fact that Easyjet (and Ryanair, WizzAir, or Spirit and Frontier in the USA) are one-class, low-cost airlines does not disqualify them from being classed as scheduled airlines. Ryanair is by far the largest airline in Europe in terms of number of passengers.

Easyjet flights fly according to a schedule - a published timetable of regular flights - the very definition of a scheduled airline and consistent with the (American) FAA description that you've posted. There are other types of airlines; e.g. some that only fly chartered flights under contract to package holiday companies (e.g. the charter carriers that fly holidaymakers to Spain or Greece for their package holidays where the flight is part of the overall package) or those that fly ad hoc departures (again usually under contract to third parties) for events such as European football matches, Hajj and so on.

@Bjorkdidit They are low cost with no hun connections. They don’t fly to all continents. You can believe what you want, but EJ operate to different standards - the reason I don’t use them.