AA Travel Insurance has confirmed that travellers affected by the BAA strike action, which could lead to UK airport closures over the peak August Bank Holiday, are covered on their AA travel insurance policies for abandonment or delay, provided the cover was taken out and the holiday booked before the strike action was announced.

This applies to both single trip and annual travel insurance policies.

Christian Young, director of AA Travel Insurance says: “Once again thousands of families are being held to ransom in an industrial dispute, the timing of which is designed to cause the greatest misery and inconvenience to the greatest number of people.

“The recession has led to many people changing their holiday plans – a recent AA/Populus survey of over 16,000 AA members shows that more than half (56%) of respondents have changed or are changing their holiday plans because of economic concerns.  This means that many families may well have sunk what cash they have available into just a single holiday this year, only to now have their dreams completely shattered.”

Says Young: “Travel insurance can and does help people in such situations although no insurer will meet a claim if the cover is taken out after the strike action is confirmed.

“The first step should always be to talk to your airline and / or travel agent to attempt to find alternative travel arrangements or re-arrange the holiday for a later date, in which case the insurance can be transferred to the new date or destination.  Delay and cancellation will be covered up to specified amounts.

“We have staff ready to offer help and advice to customers unsure of what they should do and each claim will be handled individually.”

On top of this, the recent collapse of Sun4U left many travellers with little hope of taking their planned holidays.

Young adds that in this case and in the event of collapse of other travel businesses, the financial failure element of the policy, which is automatically included, should provide cover if no ABTA or other compensation is available.