The Montreal Convention:The new European Union regulations strengthen the protection available under a global agreement called the Montreal Convention.

Under this agreement, passengers are entitled to compensation in the event they are injured or killed as a result of an accident on board, embarking or disembarking the airplane.

Under the Montreal Convention, air passengers can demand up to 1,000 special drawing rights (SDRs) for loss, destruction or delay of baggage, which gave rise to the highest number of complaints about airlines made to the European Consumer Centre Dublin (ECC) over the past two years, making up a quarter of all complaints in 2004.

The value of an SDR is based on a basket of international currencies and calculated daily by the International Monetary Fund.

Passengers should make written complaints about damaged luggage within seven days of the date they receive their luggage, while in the case of a delay, the complaint must be made within 21 days.

However, since the Montreal Convention was reviewed last year, it has become more difficult to work out how much you may be entitled to, according to Mary Denise Fitzgerald, marketing manager at the ECC.

Package holiday rules:

If you have booked your flight through a travel agent or tour operator as part of a package holiday, you may be entitled to receive the compensation from the agent or tour operator instead of the airline.

The Package Holiday and Travel Trade Act 1995 gives consumers wide protection in cases where brochures are misleading, the organiser makes significant alterations to the terms of the package holiday or if something goes wrong after departure.

For example, consumers can be compensated for any disappointment caused by a poor quality holiday.

According to the ECC, if the holidaymaker has a complaint that is not resolved by the local representative, they should gather as much evidence as possible to support their case, including taking photographs, then submit a complaint in writing to the organiser within 28 days of their return home.

The organiser can only revise the price of the package as a result of currency fluctuations, variations in the cost of fuel or changes in Government tax or duty, and no price changes are allowed within 20 days of departure.

Organisers can cancel without forking out for compensation if the required number of bookings for the package is not reached or if the cancellation is due to an unusual or unforeseen event beyond its control. However, overbooking does not count as an unforeseen event.

Travel insurance:

Most travel insurance policies provide cover in the event of a travel delay. Some may compensate travellers for delays that occur as a result of the outbreak of industrial action or bad weather, neither of which are covered under the EU rules.

Under some policies, however, the delay has to be for longer than 12 hours for the cover to kick in. On others, the amount of compensation is relatively small, for example, €25 to €35 for each 12-hour period.

Travel insurance will also cover lost or delayed baggage up to a certain value, depending on the policy, although the excess - the first part of any claim that policyholders must pay themselves - may reduce the value of any payout.

Fitzgerald recommends that people purchase travel insurance to give them additional protection in the event a "holiday from hell" scenario emerges. Consumers should read the terms and conditions of their policy carefully.