Simon Calder issues advice on Luton Airport fire chaos - from travel insurance to flight compensation

A fire at a car park at Luton Airport has caused major disruption for travellers - resulting in several questions around flight compensation, travel insurance and your rights amid the chaos.

More than 100 firefighters battled through the night to extinguish the car park inferno, which left tens of thousands of passengers facing cancelled or diverted flights.

The fire, which broke out at a terminal car park late on Tuesday, saw 23 incoming flights diverted overnight, with around 30,000 people impacted in total.

Inevitably there have been knock-on effects from the closure and many stranded travellers have been left wondering whether they can claim compensation and what airlines are required to do to help them.

Others are understandably concerned about the state of their vehicles that were in or near the burning car park.

During an “Ask Me Anything” session for The Independent, travel correspondent Simon Calder tackled a wide range of questions from readers worried about their holiday plans and how they would be impacted by the outage.

Q: My car is stuck on car park level 1. What do I do?

Clare

A: Clare, a worrying time for you and all other car owners.

Car Park 2 was the one that had the fire, but Car Park 1 is adjacent and its entrance/exit is blocked by the damage and recovery work.

But from first light this morning, the airport has been working to install a new, temporary ramp to Car Park 1. When I left that area 90 minutes ago they were well advanced and I hope vehicle movements will begin soon.

Q: We are flying from Luton tomorrow and haven’t heard anything about our flight - what do you think we should do?

SS7890

A: You are in a relatively strong position. The key airlines at Luton – easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air – are doing all they can to make sure they can operate full schedules to and from the airport from Thursday onwards. Having talked to airport and fire officials, it seems there will now be no safety or logistical reasons why that should not happen – though access will be constrained due to the fire-related work.

Anyone, like you, with a confirmed reservation for a Thursday is in a much stronger position than the tens of thousands of people whose Tuesday night/Wednesday flights were cancelled. They go to the back of the queue and must try to grab the few available seats on future flights.

Q: Why couldn’t they let the people who were already on board aircraft continue to fly away? It would have eased the burden of the displaced passengers on the airport staff and police.

Ken Walker

A: A really good question, Ken, and one on which I am seeking more information from the airport. My understanding is that the Airport Fire Service was actively involved in the blaze, as you would imagine it would be, and therefore the legal level of firefighter cover that every airport must have was not in operation.

Q: Our car has been damaged! Is this a claim on our travel or car insurance?

Adam679

A: Really sorry to hear it. You should certainly let your motor insurer know as soon as possible. They may say that you have a claim against the car park operator – or the insurer may pay out and then seek recompense from other insurers. One thing for certain: travel insurance will not be relevant.

Q: Does travel insurance cover for these situations. Like costs to get home from airport or diverted airport?

Christine

A: Travel insurance is very rarely relevant in these circumstances. The airline is responsible for covering costs. Some travel insurance policies may pay a nominal amount for each 12 hours of delay.

Q: We are currently at Split airport with our easyJet flight cancelled and booked onto a new flight with a different operator this evening. Whilst we have taken a refund from easyJet, the cost of this evening’s flight with another operator is far more costly. Are we able to claim compensation on the price difference - and if so would Luton Airport be liable?

BFegan

A: My advice is: never take a refund if your flight is cancelled, because the airline may use that as an excuse not to meet its obligation to cover the cost of another flight. But I don’t think the airline could reasonably dispute a claim, since clearly you need to get back from Split.

Q: Definitely no EU261 compensation for delays and compensation as it’s not the airlines fault. Good to see that our railways pay out compensation both for train operator faults (eg train beaks down), Network Rail (eg signal fault) or act of God (eg flood). Isn’t it time the airline treated it’s passengers the same?

Phil Richards

A: Good points. European air passengers’ rights rules are a mess. Post-Brexit the government has had the opportunity to rationalise them, but has chosen not to do so. At present the burden on the airlines is unlimited, while on the railway it is simply a matter of refunding up to 100% of the fare.

Q: Were there any policies around parking EVs together at the airport car parks?

Alan

That’s not a question I have asked the airport (or the fire service), but as far as I know there was no such policy.

The latest government advice says: “The car park owner/operator should carry out a fire risk assessment to determine whether the introduction of EVs or EVCPs [electric vehicle charging points] into their car park creates new or additional hazards.”

Some of the questions and answers have been edited for this article. You can read the full discussion in the comments section of the original article.

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