HSBC add airspace closure cover to travel insurance

HSBC & first direct will make airspace closure cover a standard feature of all their travel insurance policies from 1 December 2010. This follows the two banks' decision to allow claims from travel insurance customers affected by April's volcanic ash cloud, which was in contrast to the majority of insurers.

The policy improvements will enable new and existing customers to claim on their insurance if they have to cancel their trip or are forced to remain abroad due to airspace, airport or even port closure.  This means travel disruption due to situations such as pandemics, prevention of terrorism or natural disasters could now be covered.

Brendan Cook, Head of HSBC Customer Propositions, said: "In April, we helped thousands of our customers who were stranded all over the world after the Icelandic volcano ash cloud brought European airspace to a standstill.  As The World's Local Bank we felt this was appropriate - despite this kind of event not being covered in the standard terms and conditions.  We've now gone a step further to help our customers in the future - and for more than what are hopefully extremely rare events."

For more information, visit hsbc.co.uk.