News : Travel Insurance UK

Frontier flier bolts over travel insurance

Airline adds $10.95 fee unless people opt out

Bill Wimsatt has long had an affinity for Frontier Airlines, choosing the carrier for most of his business trips because of its service, on-time performance and the fact that it's a Colorado-based company.

But the Littleton resident now avoids flying the hometown airline, and it has nothing to do with the company's precarious future as it fights through bankruptcy.

Wimsatt, who estimates he has flown upward of 200,000 miles over the past year, is irate over the carrier's new strategy of selling travel insurance. Frontier recently started adding the insurance - which costs $10.95 - to all the tickets it sells, making customers who don't want it opt out before the final purchase.

Wimsatt said he's overlooked it several times while buying tickets and then had to go through an arduous process to get a refund.

"When you fly a lot you get into a rhythm when booking tickets, so I didn't even know I was being charged until my wife noticed it on our credit-card statements," Wimsatt said. "It doesn't even show up on your receipt. It tripped me up again last week. I've had enough. I am so angry with them."

The insurance, offered by AIG, covers travelers in the event of illness, emergencies, worker strikes and other incidents.

Frontier concedes that it received some complaints after switching to the new method of selling the insurance, with customers saying it wasn't clear enough that they were being charged extra. So Frontier made it more prominent in an effort to ensure customers know they have the option to decline the insurance before booking.

The complaint levels dropped "significantly," said company spokesman Steve Snyder.

"We tried to make it very obvious that the box is checked and that if you don't want the insurance you need to uncheck it," Snyder said. "It would be one thing if we had it in fine print somewhere. But if you look at the Web site and the way it's presented, I don't think it's sneaky at all. It's very transparent."

Experts differ on whether it's a good business move to automatically charge customers for an additional product. Some say it's acceptable as long as it's clear, while others argue that it's a disingenuous way to generate more revenue.

Snyder said the company is simply trying to help customers, particularly as Frontier raises the fees it charges customers to change flights. The insurance can help passengers avoid those fees if something unexpected disrupts their travel plans, although the policy doesn't let them change flights for just any reason.

"We believe it's a value to our customers," Snyder said. "We think it's in their best interests to buy it."

Source : http://www.rockymountainnews.com