The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
TRUSTED ADVICE TELEGRAPH TRAVEL COLLECTIVE
phones and gadgets whether you are at home or travelling. It’s not cheap. To cover the laptop I’m typing on (worth about £1,200), against “theft, liquid damage, cracked screens and more” would cost me £12.50 per month; my iPhone 7 would be another £7.99. So that’s nearly £250 a year to cover £2,000 worth of gadgets. Frankly, I think I’ll live with the risks and use hotel safes.
This week’s second issue involved accidental damage to a rented cottage in the UK. I won’t go into details, but there was a demand for a repair bill in four figures. Is a guest liable to make good the damage in such cases? Certainly, if they caused it.
Wouldn’t the cottage owner’s insurance cover it? Possibly, but the insurer would probably want to try to recover the cost from the perpetrator. Of course, many rentals demand a deposit against such damage, but if that was insufficient, you might well be sued for the difference if you refused to pay.
But all is not lost in such cases. Cover for thirdparty liability – when you accidentally cause damage or injury – is included in most general travel policies. As an example, I checked with the Co-op (coopinsurance.co.uk), and it confirmed that its travel policy would cover such a scenario. Anyone with one of its Europe or Worldwide annual multitrip policies would also be covered, even for damage in the UK.
Not everyone has an annual policy, and most people don’t buy insurance for UK holidays. However, most do have home insurance and it typically has third-party liability cover, so it may be the best bet in such situations.
Of course, just because travel
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JANE ARCHER
TRAVEL EXPERT
Dear Faiz
The Danube is the most popular river cruise after the Rhine, and September is a great time to go. The bad news is, it’s so good that many sailings are sold out.
River cruise lines with pockets of space include Uniworld River Cruises (uniworld.com), AmaWaterways (amawaterways.co.uk), Avalon Waterways (avaloncruises.co. uk) and Shearings (shearings. com). Prices vary from £1,371 per person for seven days with Shearings to £4,099 per person for eight days with Uniworld. When making comparisons, check what is included in the price – for example, all-day drinks, a choice of excursions
British Airways offered me a £75 voucher after I was bumped out of my premium seat from India
QIn January I flew to Hyderabad with British Airways for a conference. The return economy fare would have been £555, but I paid £1,102 for a more spacious premium economy seat.
My reason for upgrading to World Traveller Plus was the possibility of my suffering a deep venous embolism. I have very long legs and two years ago I suffered a DVT and subsequent pulmonary embolism after a flight.
On checking in at Hyderabad airport for the return flight, I was handed a boarding pass with the aisle seat I had requested. However, on boarding the aircraft I found I had been given a standard economy seat.
A flight attendant asked me to sign a disclaimer in return for a voucher of £75 towards another BA flight. I declined and on my return called BA to ask for a larger refund. An automated reply said I should hear back in “10 days or a little longer”, but I have heard nothing since.
IAN EPERON
AGILL CHARLTON
CONSUMER CHAMPION
When a passenger is downgraded on an EU airline, or an airline flying out of an EU airport, on a flight of more than 2,187 miles (3,500km), there is a set way of calculating compensation. This is a refund of 75 per cent of the base fare for the affected sector. This amount excludes all taxes and charges – unless a higher rate of tax was paid originally.
I was surprised that BA would try to palm you off with a voucher. BA says it was offered as a goodwill gesture and not to deter you from pursuing your legal rights.
Excluding taxes, fees and travel agent commission, the base fare for your return flight was £179.50, so you are due a refund of £153.70.
The desk clerk should have told you about the downgrade at check-in and you should have been given the choice to fly in the class you had booked on the next available BA flight.
You wrote that you were unable to check in online because the Wi-Fi was down at your accommodation. It is becoming essential to do this, as the premium economy cabin is small and popular, so the chances of it being overbooked have increased. As a backup I would download the British Airways App to your smartphone which can be accessed using mobile data. There may be a cost (around £6 a day in India), but it’s better than being bumped.
I have yet to find a travel policy which insures gadgets adequately
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