Opinion: Editor's comment

It's all about surprises this month. There I was trapped in France mulling over how on earth a little Icelandic volcano could cause so much disruption for so many people for so long. How I was going to get back to work and how much would it cost were at the forefront of my mind. What I didn't seriously consider at any point was that my travel insurance would pay out. But it seems, on that score, I was alone.

Newspapers have been full of stranded passengers bemoaning the fact that their insurers had told them they could not claim on their policy. They found this surprising. I found their disappointment surprising. I'm not suggesting insurers were 100% right to refuse claims but I was under the impression that most consumers viewed them as dodgy dealers anyway.

But surprised they were. The majority of consumers assumed that situations like the volcano were just what their policies were for but, as