Everybody's favourite no-frills airline, Ryanair, came under fire earlier this month when it decided to add an unwanted frill to its internet booking procedure: travel insurance.
Under the booking system, which Ryanair has now abandoned, the "purchase insurance" box was ticked. If passengers did not untick the box, they were automatically charged for Ryanair's single-trip travel insurance policy. The website reticked the box when customers tried to fill in their country of residence.
It seems inevitable that if the practice had continued, consumers would have ended up paying for insurance they neither wanted nor needed.
Ryanair specialises in short-haul flights to popular European city-break destinations, or to airports within two hours' coach distance of these. Many passengers flying with only carry-on baggage and knowing that emergency healthcare costs will be covered to a degree by their private health insurance will take the risk that no insurable disaster will befall them over the course of a long weekend, and go without cover.
Frequent travellers may already have an annual multi-trip insurance policy: if they weren't alert to the problem on Ryanair's website, they would have paid twice for the same cover.
Ryanair itself sells multi-trip policies, charging €69 for an individual aged 18 to 64. The airline is far from being the most expensive source of multi-trip travel insurance, but there is cheaper annual cover available for anyone who has a private health insurance policy from VHI or BUPA.
Multi-trip travel policies tumbled in price following VHI Healthcare's entry into the market a year ago. Over 150,000 VHI members have now taken out its travel policy.
The VHI policies were attractive because they covered people with pre-existing medical conditions at no extra cost. The insurer was able to price the cover at a lower level because it was already insuring people for emergency overseas medical expenses under its main hospital plans.
But since its launch, other companies have listened to VHI's "why pay twice?" marketing message and imitated the idea, offering cover that only kicks in once the VHI or BUPA emergency overseas medical cover runs out. This cover has an upper limit of €55,000 to €100,000, compared to the €2 million plus on travel policies.
One of these providers, a new company called Blue Insurances, distributes its multi-trip policy through 250 travel agents and operators, including Budget Travel, Sunway, Abbey Travel and Joe Walsh Tours.
Blue Insurances, Justcover.ie and Simply Mortgages all offer cheaper cover than the rest of the market (see table), but only if the policyholder is a member of VHI or BUPA. Simply Mortgages is the cheapest for multi-trip policies and, like Justcover.ie, even manages to undercut VHI.
VHI claims that the "copycat" policies apply additional terms that could see its members facing a huge bill or, at worst, a discontinuation of treatment by a hospital. Blue Insurances rejects this, saying it will step in to cover the expenses of policyholders automatically once the VHI or BUPA threshold has been crossed.
Justcover.ie also sells single-trip cover at a discount for VHI/BUPA members, charging €12.99 for 14 nights in Europe compared to its standard price of €17.20. Prices shown in the table are based on adults aged 18 to 64. Most insurers charge people aged 65 and older extra.
The prices exclude the cost of winter sports cover, although this is included automatically under the Aer Lingus and Getcover.com Silver policies. In addition to the providers shown, members of some unions may be able to buy competitive multi-trip policies through special affiliate deals.
