Bike insurance whilst bike is in hands of Ryanair

markmod

Hi all,

Quick question to those in the know. I am off to Mallorca soon, and after speaking to m and s insurance apparently my bike isn't insured by them (on my home contents policy) whilst in the hands of the 'air operator, in this case Ryanair... Whilst I have good case/ bag (evoc) and will pad and pack the life out of it do you (the bikeradar knowledgeisti) have any info about what extra insurance I can purchase that will protect for the 'flight bits' of my holiday.

Any help, info, guidance etc would be a real help, I just don't want to trust chance that nothing will happen to my expensive bike in this part of my trip, and if the worst does happen I have some recourse to compensation for my loss.

markmod

No one has any experience of insuring a bike for flight?

I was going to look in to using E and L insurance but online reviews are less than favourable... So if any one could recommend an insurance company who will insure for the flight (flying on Friday) that would be a great help.

mouth

erm do ryanair offer insurance for sports stuff? that'd be a great place to start.

markmod

On Ryanairs insurance policy for baggage as part of thier travel insurance-


Baggage (maximum) £1500
- Single Item Limit. £150
- Valuables Limit in Total £250
Lost or stolen Passport, £400 identity card or visa £75


So no Ryanair does not offer viable insurance for expensive sporting items carried in thier baggage!

Crankbrother

Doesn't travel insurance cover this? When we went to Switzerland we got cover for 2 for about £15 and it covered bikes, snowboards etc up to £20k ...

markmod

Crankbrother, Who did you buy your travel insurance with... Tell me tell me I will have some of that!... Most insure ski equipment, snowboards, jet skis and golf bag/ clubs up to a zillion pound but except bikes in the sports items insured?

mouth

markmod wrote:

On Ryanairs insurance policy for baggage as part of thier travel insurance-


Baggage (maximum) £1500
- Single Item Limit. £150
- Valuables Limit in Total £250
Lost or stolen Passport, £400 identity card or visa £75


So no Ryanair does not offer viable insurance for expensive sporting items carried in thier baggage!

I was under the impression that you could upgrade to cover a bike.

markmod

Where is a link please. Can't find anything but the info as above... It appears they changed insurance underwriters at some point away from Axa. Maybe the option to insure your bike went with it?

sungod

hmm, i'm with m&s, nothing in my policy documents says bikes are not covered while while in the hands of the airline (i have the premier contents cover with the "away from home" cover option)

but i did see postings saying newer m&s policies had some changes

tbh, i'd never ask an insurer this type of question, their policy document is all that counts, if they do not explictly exclude a situation then it's covered

if they've verbally told you something that's not in your policy document, challenge them, because one way or another they have misled you

coverage of baggage on international flights is subject to treaty, the per-passenger amount is capped at around 1100 quid (it's defined as 1131 sdr, so it depends on exchange rate at the time), this is not much cover to start with, and in the event of loss/damage any payment will be based on depreciated value, so it's pretty poor

some airlines will let you pay for excess valuation to increase cover, but imho it's better to get proper insurance and not rely on an airline where you are at the mercy of complex terms of cover

markmod

I think you must be right sungod, I will follow it up tomorrow, thanks for your thoughts.