Meteobonus, a new online service to reward travellers during holiday wash-outs or an abundance of dark clouds, has its first industry partner in SmartWings.
The Prague-based low cost airline, which is a subsidiary of the IcelandAir Group, has integrated a white label version of the Meteobonus system into its existing booking engine, allowing passengers to effectively insure themselves against poor weather.
The system works by calculating a flat fee (or premium) for each passenger based on length of trip and likelihood of bad weather based on historical data.
For example, a six-day trip from the UK to the Spanish island of Ibiza will cost around Euro 15 per person. In the event of rain or a lack of sun, Meteobonus pays out Euro 30 per day or rain.
AirSavings-owned Meteobonus says if more rain than average falls in a destination during a traveller's trip (or if less sunshine is recorded), the dividend is automatically paid.
Meteorological data is based on the nearest weather station to the destination, and corroborated by the World Meteorological Association.
Unsurprisingly, Meteobonus is touting the service as the "next big revenue generator" for airlines hungry to develop more ancillary products.
It has bold plans to roll out the service to other airlines across the world, having secured data agreements with 250 weather stations in Canada and Australia and a further 450 in the US.
The company plans to also extend the service to include ski holiday later this year.