A new travel insurance policy is offering air passengers greater cover against flight-related blood clots, offering to pay out £10,000 in cases of death up to 72 hours after flying home.
Providers 24/7 say they are the first insurers to cover fatalities from deep vein thrombosis (DVT), claiming that other policies only cover "medical emergencies" related to blood clots, and pay out nothing if the passenger dies.
"As far as we know we're the first in the market to offer a policy with a DVT death policy," said 24/7 marketing manager Andrew Williams. "If a passengers dies during the insured trip or within 72 hours of returning home, they are covered."
According to medical author and director of the Aviation Heath charity Farrol Kahn this is a step in the right direction for consumers. "I think it's a valuable contribution," he said. "Otherwise there is no comeback in terms of airlines - they have no responsibility. If you take this policy then at least you have some comeback."
However Mr Kahn warns that deaths from DVTs often occur as much as two weeks after air travel, meaning that many victims could fall outside the insurance cover. "It's the really acute cases when deaths can occur post-flight. In general it takes a little longer for the symptoms to manifest themselves."
In such cases clots form in the legs and then become dislodged, travelling to the lungs within one to two weeks, causing breathing difficulties as a result. Kahn recommends preventative measures such as wearing flight socks and taking a low dose of aspirin or soya-based nattokinase the day before departure, the day of travel and then two days later. A general practitioner's advice can also be sought and passengers should contact their doctor if they notice sustained swelling and aching in the legs following a journey of more than four hours.
According to Khan there are between 500 and 1,000 UK deaths per year as a result of DVTs relating to air travel, while the Department of Health estimates that a DVT occurs in 1-3 per 1000 people in the general population and that they are fatal in one in every hundred cases.
But Which? researcher Mike Naylor is sceptical about the need for this kind of travel insurance policy. "I'd question whether you actually need that kind of cover. It's not really what travel insurance is supposed to do. It's not a life insurance policy and if you have dependants you're better off with a life insurance policy."
What do you think - an advance for consumer protection or a marketing gimmick?
