If you have been injured abroad or you have fallen ill on holiday, then it may be possible to make a claim for compensation. Here’s everything you need to know about doing so:
Package holidays
If you have suffered a personal injury or illness on holiday and your holiday was booked as part of a package holiday, then it may be possible to bring a claim forward with the relevant travel agent or company. To do so, any of the following needs to have happened:
- You must have injured yourself or fallen ill within the resort’s grounds;
- You must have injured yourself or fallen ill on an excursion booked through your travel agent or an excursion that was offered as part of your package holiday;
- You must have injured yourself or fallen ill on your inbound or outbound flight – however this only applies if the flight was operated by your travel agent.
Click here to find out more about making a claim for package holidays.
Non-package holidays
If you have suffered a personal injury or illness on holiday and your holiday was not booked as part of a package holiday, then you have less rights than if you did. However, you may still be able to bring a personal injury claim forward if:
- You were injured or fell in on your inbound or outbound flight;
- If you were injured or fell ill at the resort that you were staying at;
- If you were injured or fell ill during an excursion booked through a company that operates in the United Kingdom with relevant insurance in place.
Making a claim on your travel insurance
If you were wise enough to take out travel insurance before you went on holiday, then it may be possible to successfully bring forward a personal injury claim with them. However, in order to do so, your injury or illness must have happened within the terms and conditions set out by your travel insurance policy. So for example, if you were injured whilst water skiing but your travel insurance forbids water sports, then bringing a claim forward will not be possible according to the terms and conditions of your travel insurance.
Making a claim for flights outside the EU
If you have been injured on a flight whilst travelling outside the EU and not as part of a package holiday, then you may be able to make a personal injury claim for financial compensation using international law. However, your ability to do so depends on the circumstances surrounding your personal injury and also who the flight operator is. Under the circumstances, you should seek legal advice as soon as possible from a lawyer specialising in international personal injury claims to ascertain your ability to make a claim.