A survey by the Air Transport Users Council has found less than one in 10 passengers would refuse to pay for protection from an airline failure.
The survey of over 2,000 people, by Ipsos MORI, found that only 8% said they would definitely not pay to be protected.
But when they were asked for their main considerations when booking a ticket, only five respondents in total mentioned the risk of an airline going bust.
“We have previously called for government to introduce a universal protection scheme against the failure of scheduled airlines,†said AUC chairman Tina Tietjen.
“The benefits of the ATOL scheme have been highlighted during the recent failure of Goldtrail Holidays. Goldtrail customers will be repatriated and those who were yet to travel will receive a full refund.
“In contrast, calls to our advice line suggest that recent scheduled airline failures have left large numbers of passengers stranded abroad and significantly out of pocket.â€
The survey also quizzed passengers about their experience of booking online.
It found:
17% said that they had made a mistake
13% said they had had a technical issue.
16% of respondents had mistakenly paid for optional services that they did not want.
By Bev Fearis
