Jump to content

Trip Insurance and Flight Cancelled


Darcy03231
 Share

Recommended Posts

On our recent cruise we had a flight that was cancelled. We had to book a new flight at the airport at a premium price. I thought it would be covered under our trip insurance. According to the insurance carrier this is covered under "Trip Delay" and has a maximum reimbursement of $150/pp, which doesn't even come close to covering what we spent.

 

Has anyone had this happen and been able to get the full amount reimbursed? If so, what was it covered under?

 

According to the insurance carrier had the flight been cancelled and we had just gone home and missed the cruise the insurance would have kicked in and covered the entire cost of the trip, but because we rebooked on another flight and made it they won't cover the additional cost.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doesn't sound right at all to me. Situations like that are the reason to buy insurance in the first place.

 

I don't have any details of your policy or your claim, but I think something is very wrong here. You probably should have called your insurance company for instructions as soon as you learned that your flight was cancelled, but it defies logic that they would expect you to just go home. In fact, I have read posts here on Cruise Critic of people who did go home after a flight was cancelled, and insurance refused to pay for the missed cruise because the people did not make any effort to join the cruise on another flight.

 

 

I'd follow up with another phone to appeal the decision. Talk to a supervisor. If all else fails, check to see what coverage you have with your credit card.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately, not all insurance policies are the same. I noticed huge differences between different policies when I was shopping around.

That's quite true...you have to read the details of every aspect of what is covered...and there are some significant differences in plans when you drill down to the details.

 

Price doesn't necessarily expose them either. We've had some very great coverage plans that were actually cheaper than some others costing more with less coverage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm confused. If the airline cancelled your flight aren't they required to rebook you at their expense? Or did you choose to find a new flight on your own? If you cancelled your flight because your cruise was cancelled that is something else. RCI insurance no longer covers flights so we'll take out the airline insurance is purchasing an expensive flight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's quite true...you have to read the details of every aspect of what is covered...and there are some significant differences in plans when you drill down to the details.

 

Price doesn't necessarily expose them either. We've had some very great coverage plans that were actually cheaper than some others costing more with less coverage.

 

I know I would not have even looked at the coverage for rebooking a flight, and is just one more thing that makes it difficult for a new person to find the right coverage. I would hope that would be covered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you print off the info re your insurance...mine was over 25 pages... There is so much to read. One thing I always do is purchase "cancel for any reason" so that I don't have to worry about some of the loop holes. In terms of a cancelled flight, I guess I would check with the airline policy. It does make people angry when you purchase insurance and assume something like this is covered better than the trip delay $ amount. I'm going to pull my policy out and check it right now for my upcoming cruise just in case this happens to us.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you print off the info re your insurance...mine was over 25 pages... There is so much to read. One thing I always do is purchase "cancel for any reason" so that I don't have to worry about some of the loop holes. In terms of a cancelled flight, I guess I would check with the airline policy. It does make people angry when you purchase insurance and assume something like this is covered better than the trip delay $ amount. I'm going to pull my policy out and check it right now for my upcoming cruise just in case this happens to us.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

I just went and checked mine as well, cause I was wondering, ours is $1k per insured, so hopefully would cover us, at least it is much more than $150. It really does suck if the policy is that low, and unfortunately, most would not have thought to look at that, I assume.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm confused. If the airline cancelled your flight aren't they required to rebook you at their expense? Or did you choose to find a new flight on your own? If you cancelled your flight because your cruise was cancelled that is something else. RCI insurance no longer covers flights so we'll take out the airline insurance is purchasing an expensive flight.

 

I was also confused by that part. Even just changing the flight time by more than an hour and a half, has triggered the option to rebook, at no additional cost, on two of our recent trips. Can't imagine that a cancellation would not also have options. Obviously there were other flights available. Seems we're missing some important details.

 

Also, Royal's insurance does cover flights. If they are booked via Air2Sea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it is difficult for us to understand what happened to the OP because we don't have all the details.

 

Trip delay covers expenses incurred when departure is delayed for a specified amount of time. Depending on the policy, it could be a few hours or up to 24 hours. For instance, you may incur expenses for meals or even a hotel. Trip delay is not intended to pay for cancelled flights. A separate clause for cancellation/interruption will pay for flights if the original one is cancelled for a covered reason as defined in the policy.

 

 

My guess is that the OP purchased a new flight prematurely without the approval of the insurance company. We don't have enough information to know what happened, but I'm thinking the OP violated the terms of the policy by not calling for instructions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why didn't the airline book you on an alternate flight at no cost to you?

 

Flights were being cancelled due to weather (ours wasn't the only one) and the next available flight was on a Sunday, Cruise left on Saturday,

 

Here's more details. We were a party of 10 for a family cruise. 6 of the 10 were on a Southwest flight (my husband, niece, son, his fiance, daughter and her boyfriend). That flight was cancelled. Southwest was able to rebook 4 of the 6 on a later flight that day. The other two (son & fiance) couldn't be booked on a flight until Sunday, the day after the cruise left. Because of that I had to rebook them on a different airline that could get them in before the cruise left the next day. My son and I were already a JetBlue flight leaving later that night as he had to work day and couldn't leave earlier.

 

 

Because the airports were such a mess with so many flights being cancelled, the flights that were still available were charging premium prices. The original Southwest flights were $167/pp one way to Ft. Lauderdale. I ultimately ended up getting them on my JetBlue flight which was now $651/pp one way to Ft. L:auderdale (it was $117 when I booked my son & I). I originally rebooked them on an American flight at $330/pp, but that flight was ultimately cancelled and rebooked to a later American flight, which also ended up being cancelled and American couldn't get them in to Ft. Lauderdale until Monday.

 

 

We weren't the only ones caught in this mess. There were a lot of people who met the ship in St. Maarten who were from both the Boston and New York areas that couldn't get out to make the ship in time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, cancelled for weather is different from just cancelled.

 

If cancelled for weather, the only thing the airline is required to do, is to get you a seat at some point in time. They do not need to cover any lodging or meals or any other expenses incurred.

 

If cancelled for other reasons (maintenance, crew, etc), the airline is bound by their contract of carriage, so you need to look to that document for the specific airline you were flying. And yes, those contracts are written for the AIRLINE.

 

Federal regulations only require that the airline notify you of delays or cancellations within 30 minutes of them finding out, if less than 7 days before the flight. NOTHING ELSE.

 

Article on cancelled flights:

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2016/04/14/airline-passenger-rights-canceled-flight/82985344/

 

BTW, if you remember the group of passengers that was stuck on the plane for many hours? And Congress passed a law with draconian penalties for any airline that did that again? Guess what, if it looks like the flight may be delayed for weather, the airline will just cancel the flight. There are no penalties for that. And you are stuck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for giving more information, but I still don't understand why your claim was denied on the basis of trip delay.

 

What was the specified time for delay in your policy? Did they expect you to wait until the next day and miss the cruise before coverage would kick in?

 

Did your policy cover cancellations for weather?

 

Did you call the company for instructions once the flight was cancelled? Seems to me the new flight would still be cheaper for the insurance company than cancelling the entire cruise.

 

Something doesn't make sense here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I get the situation, and insurance will always try not to pay. I'm a big believer in not getting the so called trip insurance. Think of this. You made it to the cruise it sounds like? So everyone made it, all 10 of you, but you bought trip insurance for all 10? So how much did the insurance cost vs how much did the extra flight cost?

 

What I have is an "annual" policy that covers medical and medical transport along with some minor other benefits for $125.00 per person per year. We travel at least 3 times a year. The policy is secondary to my regular insurance that does pay medical outside of the country as a reimbursement, and the travel insurance pays the difference.

 

Sounds like you paid a ton of money for insurance, tried to use it to fit your situation, but the insurance is saying, that the airlines made an effort per policy to get you to your destination but late, and you made other arrangements which was not covered by the insurance. Makes no sense, but the insurance company says your secondary flight is not part of the trip that you paid for, so it can't be covered.

 

Insurance always will determine a way not to pay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for giving more information, but I still don't understand why your claim was denied on the basis of trip delay.

 

What was the specified time for delay in your policy? Did they expect you to wait until the next day and miss the cruise before coverage would kick in?

 

Did your policy cover cancellations for weather?

 

Did you call the company for instructions once the flight was cancelled? Seems to me the new flight would still be cheaper for the insurance company than cancelling the entire cruise.

 

Something doesn't make sense here.

 

What was the specified time for delay in your policy? Did they expect you to wait until the next day and miss the cruise before coverage would kick in?

 

6+ hours for travel delay and covered up to $150/pp. This is what we're being reimbursed under.

 

Did your policy cover cancellations for weather?

 

There's nothing specific about weather.

 

Did you call the company for instructions once the flight was cancelled?

 

Yes, I did. I was told that for trip interruption/cancellation to kick in they had to just go home and miss the cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I get the situation, and insurance will always try not to pay. I'm a big believer in not getting the so called trip insurance. Think of this. You made it to the cruise it sounds like? So everyone made it, all 10 of you, but you bought trip insurance for all 10? So how much did the insurance cost vs how much did the extra flight cost?

 

What I have is an "annual" policy that covers medical and medical transport along with some minor other benefits for $125.00 per person per year. We travel at least 3 times a year. The policy is secondary to my regular insurance that does pay medical outside of the country as a reimbursement, and the travel insurance pays the difference.

 

Sounds like you paid a ton of money for insurance, tried to use it to fit your situation, but the insurance is saying, that the airlines made an effort per policy to get you to your destination but late, and you made other arrangements which was not covered by the insurance. Makes no sense, but the insurance company says your secondary flight is not part of the trip that you paid for, so it can't be covered.

 

Insurance always will determine a way not to pay.

 

Actually I didn't think the cost of the insurance was too bad. It was around $450 for all of us. I mainly get it for medical evacuation.

 

We are getting $300 back under the flight delay. One of our party also had a medical emergency that's in the process of being reimbursed (her insurance doesn't cover her outside the country), so I still think it was worth it to buy the insurance. I was just hoping that someone else had run into this and I'm just not reading the fine print right.

 

I will, however, make sure that any future policies have a much higher travel delay cap!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sorry that this happened, maybe you can check with the credit card you paid with to see if there is any coverage there. It's unfortunate that the insurance you did buy had such low coverage for flight delays. Others have purchased coverage from other insurers and been told that their cruise dare would not be refunded simoly because their flight was canceled, so you were not wrong to think that your policy wouldn't cover that either. So now you have two things to look for when you buy your next policy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The reimbursement for the difference in airfare would be covered under trip interruption if your policy states weather is a covered event and if it allows coverage for you to re-join your trip.

 

Trip delay would only be triggered if you did take the later flight offered. Then the $150pp per day would kick in to the max set in your policy limits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't mean to be intrusive, but it would be helpful to me to know what policy this was.

 

Did you buy cruise line insurance or was it a third-party policy like Travel Guard Basic? Just wondering what kind of policy does not address weather in its covered reasons for cancellation.

 

 

$450 for ten people seems like a bargain. Even if it did not pay for new airfare, you are still getting most of the cost back when you consider $300 for trip delay plus the value of the medical claim.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't mean to be intrusive, but it would be helpful to me to know what policy this was.

 

Did you buy cruise line insurance or was it a third-party policy like Travel Guard Basic? Just wondering what kind of policy does not address weather in its covered reasons for cancellation.

 

 

$450 for ten people seems like a bargain. Even if it did not pay for new airfare, you are still getting most of the cost back when you consider $300 for trip delay plus the value of the medical claim.

 

Not intrusive at all. It was Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company Essential. I bought it through insuremytrip. Policy was $423.31 for 10 people.

 

I'm not upset with the company or the coverage. I just thought since I bought trip insurance and the flight was cancelled and couldn't be rebooked to make it in time with the initial carrier and I had to rebook with a different carrier I'd be refunded the difference between the old the flight and the new one. It never occurred to me that it wouldn't be covered. I was trying to see if this happened to anyone else and if so, if they were covered in full and under what clause. In all of our years of travel this is the first time I've had to make a claim, so I guess we've been lucky.

 

In the big scheme of things we all made it to the cruise and had a great time. While it stinks to be out $700 ($1300 - less cost of original flights and $300 reimbursement), it would have been worse to have 8 of us on the cruise and 2 at home. No one would have had fun!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Flights were being cancelled due to weather (ours wasn't the only one) and the next available flight was on a Sunday, Cruise left on Saturday,

 

Here's more details. We were a party of 10 for a family cruise. 6 of the 10 were on a Southwest flight (my husband, niece, son, his fiance, daughter and her boyfriend). That flight was cancelled. Southwest was able to rebook 4 of the 6 on a later flight that day. The other two (son & fiance) couldn't be booked on a flight until Sunday, the day after the cruise left. Because of that I had to rebook them on a different airline that could get them in before the cruise left the next day. My son and I were already a JetBlue flight leaving later that night as he had to work day and couldn't leave earlier.

 

And what was Southwest supposed to do? Magically make sure you had 6 seats for your party - when there were only four available? Kick someone else out because YOU had to make your cruise? Once you choose to travel via someone other than WN, you are now making new travel arrangments outside your original ticket.

 

Because the airports were such a mess with so many flights being cancelled, the flights that were still available were charging premium prices.
Incorrect. Prices were not raised to "premium" levels because of weather. What happened is that demand for operating flights increased, lower fare bucket seats sold out, and the remaining higher priced seats were what was left. It's the usual case of revenue managment - last minute tickets are almost always the highest priced. So it wasn't taking advantage of travellers and charging "premium prices".

 

I'm not upset with the company or the coverage. I just thought since I bought trip insurance and the flight was cancelled and couldn't be rebooked to make it in time with the initial carrier and I had to rebook with a different carrier I'd be refunded the difference between the old the flight and the new one. It never occurred to me that it wouldn't be covered.

 

Assumptions. The fine print governs.

 

I was trying to see if this happened to anyone else and if so, if they were covered in full and under what clause.
Since policies, coverages and circumstances vary so widely, what happened to anyone else in the past has no bearing on your situation or claim.

 

In the big scheme of things we all made it to the cruise and had a great time. While it stinks to be out $700 ($1300 - less cost of original flights and $300 reimbursement), it would have been worse to have 8 of us on the cruise and 2 at home. No one would have had fun!
So let's see...you bought tickets on Southwest that are not endorsable over to another carrier, you bought an insurance policy without checking the specifics of the coverage, you had not one, but two flight cancellations, you managed to get everyone to the cruise for sailing, and now we're complaining about the $700 in uncovered expenses. Got it.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...