Airlines dragging their feet over ash cloud insurance payout

The Icelandic volcanic ash cloud that swept across UK airspace earlier this year caused havoc for many travellers, leaving many stranded abroad and many others unable to set off on their travels. UK airspace had to be closed towards the end of April this year for around a week, and many people that were stranded abroad had to pay for food, accommodation, and to contact people at home.

Thousands of travellers had to put in claims as a result of the chaos and the money that they had to pay out to stay abroad until UK airspace was opened again. However, it has emerged that eight months later many are still waiting for their claims to be sorted out, with some airlines dragging their feet over payment on claims.

A number of unscrupulous practices are said to be going on amongst some airlines, which includes capping payouts to consumers, only paying a fraction of the amount being claimed by consumers, delaying claims until early next year or beyond in some cases, making consumers contact foreign compensation schemes and pay for translators, failing to respond to emails forcing consumers to contact them via expensive phone numbers.

Industry official have expressed concern that many consumers with travel insurance who were trying to claim for the disaster are being directed to foreign complaints bodies that do not provide translation services.

One official said: ‘This has meant travellers have had to pay for translators to get their complaint put in to the local language. They would not have to do this if the airlines just met their obligations. For example, they cannot limit claims, and we have seen that happening. We are in constant discussions with the airlines about their responsibilities.’

Tags: Volcanic ash, food, compensation schemes, Financial services, phone numbers, year

Beware bogus bank

Consumers are being warned to avoid the Northern Offshore Trust Bank.

The ‘bank’, which claims to be based in Guernsey, has been highlighted as featuring as part of an international scam, reports the BBC.

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission has warned that the bank is bogus and consumers are warned to avoid any contact with it.

It became apparent that something was wrong when it was realised that the names of directors of Norwegian telecoms firm Telenor were being illegally used to front the bank.

Jon Fredrik Baksaas, chief executive of Telenor, and his colleagues were listed as being employed within the fake bank, but they knew nothing of it.

The scam worked by persuading customers to invest £5 million via the bank.

Tags: bbc, Reuters, contact, bogus bank, telecoms firm telenor, colleagues, telenor, financial