Hand over hand luggage
UK consumer organisation Which? has found that a quarter of all passengers boarding short-haul flights are being asked to give up their hand luggage at the stairs to the aircraft, due to there not being sufficient space in the overhead lockers for their belongings. The problem with this practice, as far as the insurance industry (and their customers) is concerned, is that once expensive items are placed in the hold, they are not covered under the vast majority of travel insurance policies. Not only that, but according to Which?, small print in airline contracts also means that the company will not accept liability for any damage that occurs to checked-in bags during the flight, so passengers are left high and dry.
Which? asked more than 7,000 passengers about their experiences with hand luggage on short-haul flights on airlines including easyJet, Ryanair, Aer Lingus, KLM, Monarch and Jet2, and overall found that 25 per cent of passengers had been blocked from carrying their hand luggage onto their flight.