Travel agents tell all

Traveller feared feeding the bears

Insurance against polar bear attacks and male models worried that cabin pressure would cause dry hair are just two memorable enquiries fielded by Britain's army of travel agents.

A thousand UK travel agents were asked to name memorable customer queries.

One agent was asked if Monday 3 March was a Monday in Australia as well as in the UK.

Another passenger wanted a higher baggage allowance as they did not weigh very much.

"As a nation the Brits love to travel and are generally quite clued up.

"But it's easy to forget that there are a lot of people out there who don't travel so much," said Carol Dray, marketing director for Flight Centre, which carried out the survey.

Enquiries ranged from the bizarre to the downright morbid.

A London-based agent was astonished when a male model asked if the air quality was better in first class as he didn't want his hair to dry out in economy.

One nervous traveller to northern climes asked a UK agent if the travel insurance on offer would cover them if a polar bear attack led to loss of limb.

The same client asked the agent if the insurance would cover the repatriation of their frozen corpse in the event of an icy death.