Travel insurance companies will reportedly not reimburse Ryanair passengers forced to cancel hotel and car hire bookings due to the airline’s flight cancellations.
A BBC investigation found that none of the major travel insurance firms cover ‘knock-on’ losses as part of their standard polices.
The airline has been forced to ground more than 2,000 flights over the next six weeks because of the number of pilots taking holidays.
The low cost carrier has agreed to pay for alternative flights or offer refunds to 315,000 affected passengers.
But people who have had to cancel trips are complaining that they are unable to get their money back for non-refundable hotel bookings or car hire.
A Ryanair passenger told BBC Radio 4’s Money Box programme that she had been planning to fly from Leeds Bradford to Montpellier in France but the flight was cancelled, so she opted for another to Slovakia only to find that had been axed as well.
She said: “I had hotels booked in two different countries and I had paid for those two bookings on my credit card.”
Fiona Macrae, from Travel Insurance Explained, said customers should ensure policies cover claims for cancellations “beyond reasonable control”.
People may also be able to claim from credit card companies.