Claim back the cost of travel chaos

After £4.3bn and a load of hype, we have a sleek new fifth terminal building at Heathrow airport. Shame it came complete with organisational chaos. Cancelled BA flights have averaged between 14% and 18% of daily scheduled departures – over 300 in total and rising at the last count. The Press Association reports that up to 28,000 bags have sat piled up at any one time waiting to be reunited with bewildered owners.

Unfortunately for anyone caught in this kind of travel nightmare, nothing will bring back your lost time or compensate for sheer frustration. But it’s well worth being aware of what you are entitled to both while you wait and after the event.
Under the rather obscure sounding EU Regulation 261/2004 you are entitled to up to e600 in compensation for delayed flights. That’s as long as it is deemed to be the fault of the airline, and unless they can invoke the “extraordinary circumstances” clause reserved largely for wildcat strikes, appalling weather, or political unrest.
The exact amount depends on how long the flight is delayed and its length. For the full e600, the flight must be over 3,500km and delayed by over four hours. Below this, the amount falls on a fixed scale; on a trip delayed by two hours, at a distance of 1,500km, you can still claim e125 (about £100). If you are delayed by five hours, or even overnight, you are entitled to accommodation on top. There is no set limit on the cost of this, as the Civil Airport Authority recently reminded BA after its offer of a fixed £100 to Terminal Five passengers.
If the delay is down to cancellation, you have extra entitlements while waiting at the airport. For a journey of up to 1,500km, a delay of two hours or more should get you a free meal, plus two phone calls, emails or faxes. This is also the case after three hours on flights between 1,500km and 3,500km; over that you can be kept waiting four hours before qualifying. For all cancellations and delays of five hours or more, you are entitled to a full refund or a rerouting of the original flight. This applies to all flights from an EU airport or on an EU airline – even, as The Guardian’s Susan Smillie reports, the budget “no-frills” carriers.
That’s the good news. On lost baggage the picture is murkier. Under non-binding guidance known as the “Montreal Convention”, BA will only pay for “emergency expenses” – fresh undies qualify – if luggage is delayed for 21 days or less. Over 21 days, the bag is deemed “lost” and you can pursue a claim with the airline (Which.co.uk have some useful templates).
For a full explanation of your rights and the complaints process, go to the Air Transport Users' Council. That aside, the best bet is decent travel insurance – or avoid flying altogether and holiday in the UK instead (see: An exotic holiday on our doorstep).

By Associate Editor Tim Bennett


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Important Whole Life Insurance Components

Not one of us is going to live forever. It’s a fact that many of us don’t want to think about; however, not thinking about it isn’t going to make it any less painful when the day does come that we leave our family members and loved ones behind. Not only are we going to leave them with sadness, but we may also leave them with accumulated bills, including medical bills, as well as funeral costs.

Purchasing a life insurance policy will help ensure that our families and loved ones won’t have to worry about any of the financial difficulties or strains that almost always arise in the even of death. Purchasing a whole life insurance policy will take care of three important concerns: costs, coverage duration, and cash value. Below you’ll find information and advice about these three whole life insurance components.
Most whole life insurance policies have permanent, level premiums, so the earlier you purchase your whole life insurance policy the better. Your rates won’t skyrocket as you get older.
Unlike term life insurance policies, whole life insurance policies cover you for life. Although term life insurance policies are ideal for people who only want coverage for a certain amount of time, with a whole life insurance policy you won’t need to worry about your coverage coming to an end.
Also unlike term life insurance policies, whole life insurance policies accumulate cash value. You can receive these cash values if you ever decide to surrender your policy. You may also take a policy loan against these cash values at your insurance’s current policy loan rate. It is important to remember that if you should surrender your policy or die while a loan is taken out, your cash value or death benefits will be decreased. The cash value accumulation component of whole life insurance policies might be the most popular feature as it acts as an investment component and can even provide you with financial security should you encounter an emergency.

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Auto Insurance Quote

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Determining How Much Auto Insurance Coverage You Need

The Three Basic parts to an Auto insurance Policy
1: Other Party:
Auto Insurance Bodily Injury (BI) Liability and Property Damage (PD) coverage is Legally required in most states today. (BI & PD) Most people understand that they need BI & PD, but they have no idea how to determine how much coverage they need.
Try this simple question: What if your car was involved in an auto accident tonight where heaven forbid,

someone else was injured or killed? Remember, everything you own is in the back seat of the car with you and is at risk in a lawsuit! So, what do you think their family would sue you for? $15,000? $25,000? $100,000 or even maybe a Million dollars! Where would you get the money to pay them?
Perhaps the Equity in your Home would help? How about your Savings and/or Investments? You could even have up to 25% of your wages attached to pay the award in most states! Are you prepared to sacrifice everything you own to pay an award due to this accident? If not, read on for how to choose the auto insurance coverage you need.
2: You and Your Family:
Now let’s turn the above accident around. For some unfortunate reason, you or a loved one is the one who is injured or killed in an auto accident. Where would you get the money if the person who hit you did not have auto insurance or not enough auto insurance? Medical bills can be covered if you have health insurance. But health insurance doesn’t cover loss of life, pain & suffering or permanent disability.
Maybe you have a life insurance policy through your employer or your own individual life policy. Is the benefit amount sufficient to cover your family if your loved one is killed? But even if you have life insurance, what pays for the misery, the pain & suffering, maybe the fact you or a loved one can’t walk or use their arms again?
You might have a disability insurance policy through your work if you’re lucky or had good financial advice. But disability insurance doesn’t pay for loss of life, pain & suffering, permanent loss of your legs, arm or hand.
The only coverage that pays for these things is a part of an auto insurance policy known as Un/Under-insured motorist coverage. You can only buy as much coverage here as you have in Liability coverage. Your auto insurance agent should be able to help you determine the exact amount you need.
3: Your Car
Comprehensive and Collision Coverage are the third part of an auto insurance policy and are sometimes referred to as “Full coverage.” Basically the difference is this: If you run into the tree you are covered by Collision coverage. If the tree runs into you (hypothetically of course), then you are covered by comprehensive coverage. Comprehensive also covers broken windshields, fire, theft and vandalism. The higher deductible (risk) you take here, the lower the premium. Use the savings here to purchase higher limits in the coverages that protect your assets and your family.
The bottom line to determining proper auto insurance coverage is, of course, the money available in your household budget. An excellent place to start in determining the proper auto insurance coverage for your family is to meet with your local auto insurance agent.
Most cut-rate companies concern themselves with one thing only: Price. Tell them what coverage you have and they’ll see if they can give you the same coverage for less. You become the insurance professional. If this is the only need you have then that is ok. If not, you need to seek the advice of a professional to help you determine the proper amount of coverage you need and how best to accomplish it.
Review these tips for auto insurance coverage to make sure you have enough to protect your family.


About the Author
BIO: Matt McWilliams is one of the co-founders of hometownquotes

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Trying To Decide If You Should Get Pet Insurance ?

Trying to decide if you should get insurance on your pet? Even if you haven’t had a run-in involving your late pet , pet insurance has probably crossed your mind. If so, do you have pet insurance? If not, you may well want to read on if you want to save yourself thousands of dollars.
With pet accident and illness insurance you

get full coverage insurance; namely, your insurance company will agree to pay for all the costs and expenses incurred as a result of your family pet having suffered any illness or accident. Then, in the unfortunate instance that your pet is missing and never recovered, the insurance company will pay a percentage for the value of your dog, provided that the animal has been missing for 30 to 90 days. Depending on the vip pet insurance policy.
When purchasing pet insurance online or requesting a quote, you will have to fill out a form that asks for standard information such as the breed of your pet, etc. It depends on the age and breed of your dog, but you can find pet insurance premiums as low as $10-$15 per month. Insurance premiums are affected by the age, health and breed of your pet, as well as the type of animal.
On the other hand, if you have special breed dogs that pose no threat, then you may want to consider a different type of pet insurance. At the end of the day, however, having pet insurance is like having any other type if insurance. Pet insurance is like other forms of insurance and has the general liability, bodily injury, and property damage.
There are various types of pet insurance available, including third party liability coverage, which will protect you if you pet harms, destroys property, causes an accident, and so forth. There are various levels of pet insurance to choose from, including Senior and Standard Pet Coverage plans. In addition, pet insurance plans also allow you to choose the veterinarian you would like your dog to see.
As with human health care insurance, pet insurance pays the health care provider, in this case the veterinarian, according to a schedule worked out by the insurance company. You might have wondered why people have health insurance and most pets don’t, when the medical costs seem practically the same! And yet, navigating through the underbrush of fine print involved in pet insurance may have put you off. Is it worth the money?
Included in many vpi pet insurance policies are the covering costs of advertising in your area and local newspapers for your lost pets safe return. With the rising costs of pet healthcare and with the extremes that many of us would go to for our pets, pet insurance is becoming very popular with pet owners. To prepare for such an occurrence, many owners are taking out insurance for their pet, to offset any costs that may be incurred and to ensure their pet gets the best treatment.
Most pet insurance policies carry an excess which means that you have to pay a small amount towards the cost of any treatment claimed for under the policy. If an insurance policy doesn't seem like the answer for you and your pet, there are other options, which should be discussed with your veterinarian. Absolutely free non committal pet insurance quotes are there to assist you in finding the best deals, and applications are very user friendly for your convenience.
One thing you do need to keep in mind when arranging your family pet insurance is the excess amount. Also, make sure you shop around, there are loads of different pet insurance policies available and you can half the cost if you do your homework. Brokers Online provide you with a huge amount of information on pet insurance and cheap life insurance.
The cost of these different pet care pet insurance plans ranges from $99 to $200 for every policy term year depending on the type of policy. Moreover, as with human travel insurance policies, pet travel insurance can be purchased either as annual policy or as a one-off travel policy.
Pet insurance covers all kinds of emergencies, injuries and illnesses, as well as visits to the vet's office, prescription fees, tests to diagnose ailments, x-rays, etc. Pet insurance plan can give you peace of mind as it takes away all the financial tensions that come first to our mind, when our pets get ill.

About the Author
Michelle Johnson is known for her knowledge about dogs. For more great articles visit: rustydogblog

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Mortgage Life Insurance

When taking out a mortgage it is likely that the mortgage lender will offer a package of insurance products to go with your mortgage. This may include buildings insurance, household contents insurance and life insurance. If you are taking out an interest and capital repayment style mortgage then you are under no obligation to opt for this insurance with your mortgage provider. Instead, you have the opportunity to look around for...

more competitive insurance quotes that could end up saving you hundreds of pounds in insurance premiums each year.
It's an open market
As far as life insurance goes, mortgage companies are quite happy to provide you with a quote to go alongside your mortgage. If it's convenience you're after then by all means take up the life insurance cover with the mortgage provider. However, the life insurance market is extremely competitive at this time - and is certainly a great deal more cut-throat than it was just five years ago. This has meant that for life companies to compete for business they must offer lower insurance premiums or risk losing out on customers. These days a mid-twenties non-smoker can obtain life insurance for as little as £5 per month!
Of course, the question you might be asking at this point is 'do I need life insurance coverage?' The answer to this question is quite simply 'yes'. Should you die during the term of your mortgage the debt will be passed on to those that inherit your estate. If your mortgage application is a joint application with your partner, then it is your partner that will bear full responsibility for that debt and for finding those monthly repayments.
Life insurance minimises the risk of a mortgage debt being left behind in the event of your death. It basically means that whoever the mortgage debt passes to, whether it be your spouse or children, they will have a lump sum payment with which to clear the mortgage debt.
Life insurance options
When searching for life insurance you will have a choice of insurance policy types - mortgage life insurance (reducing term) or term life insurance. Mortgage life insurance is typically a short-term insurance policy where the pay out reduces in line with the mortgage debt. Term life insurance is a longer term life insurance policy that pays out independent of the mortgage debt.
Mortgage life insurance is typically cheaper than term life insurance. Both mortgage life insurance and term life insurance pay out a lump sum and both require constant monthly insurance premiums to be paid in. Do bear in mind though that if you take out mortgage life insurance, the pay out upon death will only be enough to cover the outstanding mortgage balance. Your loved ones will therefore still need to find the money to live from day to day and to pay the relentless flow of other household bills.

About the Author
This article was brought to you by Life Insurance Policy.co.uk providing life insurance and mortgage protection policies at industry leading prices.

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