Complaints about travel insurance rose almost a third in the first three months of this year.
Disgruntled holidaymakers lodged more than 500 cases with industry referee, the Financial Ombudsman Service, 28% up on last year.
Officials were at a loss to explain the jump, which doesn't include gripes triggered by the ash cloud chaos earlier this year.
And the numbers are just the tip of the iceberg, with many more customers either resolving the dispute with their insurer or giving up because they don't know about the FOS.
Yet it's worth pressing ahead, with the ombudsman finding in customers' favour in more than half the cases.
Examples of providers forced to cough up include a woman who had to fly home after injuring her ankle abroad and a holidaymaker who had to take a flight after a French rail strike disrupted her plans.
They were among 40,000 total total complaints to the FOS in the first three months - a similar number to last year - with the biggest issues being payment pro-tection insurance, current accounts and credit cards.
Click here to view original article by Clinton Manning. Mirror, Wednesday 28th July, 2010
