Low premiums for Ryanair passengers?

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline today (Monday, 20th August 2007) wrote to ABI, the Association of British Insurers to urge them to introduce risk assessed consumer travel insurance policies based on airline performance, with discounts for passengers travelling with the more reliable airlines.

This week travel insurance companies confirmed that the number of claims made for bag losses in the first half of 2007 shot up by between 40% and 80%. The latest available airline statistics show that while the number of bags lost by Ryanair declined from 0.5 per 1,000 last year to 0.4 this year, the situation at British Airways has gone from bad to worse, from 21 bags per 1,000 last year to 28 per 1,000 this year.

Speaking today, Ryanair’s Peter Sherrard said:

“For years, the car insurance industry has provided discounts for low risk categories such as women drivers and the over thirties. The time has now come for passengers flying with airlines that deliver the best customer service to enjoy the same discounts.

“Ryanair calls on the insurance industry to take a new look at travel insurance. The statistics prove that airlines are far from equal, yet insurers do not differentiate. Not only does Ryanair offer the lowest fares. It also delivers the most punctual flights, the fewest delays and the lowest number of cancellations”.