Cancelled flight but no compensation from travel insurance

ifb-online

I have learned the hard way that my travel insurance doesn't cover for any of the consequences of a flight cancellation. I was in Cologne on Thursday evening expecting to fly home to Gatwick with EasyJet when the air traffic control failure in the UK caused my flight to be cancelled. EasyJet could not get us home until four days later as their flights were fully booked.

I ended up having to pay for myself and my colleague to travel to an airport hotel, book two rooms, and book two tickets on the train to get home the next day. Total cost: £600 and we got home 24 hour late.

We will get a refund of some of our flight ticket, but it amounts to only about £120, so I'm £480 and a day's delay out of pocket.

The message from insurance companies is that the responsibility lies with the airline, but they say they aren't responsible for anything beyond the ticket cost reimbursement.

Just how does one deal with a situation like this and how can I be better prepared in the future?

Ian

withabix

That's the risk you take flying with low-cost, low capacity carriers.

ifb-online

withabix wrote: »

That's the risk you take flying with low-cost, low capacity carriers.

I don't expect something for nothing. A low cost airline offers less comfort and less choice in departure locations and destinations and connections, so I'm willing to take that and pay less in return. But something like the consequences of a flight cancellation, especially when it's not the fault of the airline, should not be an issue concerning choice of airline.

I simply want to ensure that I haven't overlooked any rights that I may have and to gauge how, if possible, to be covered for next time.

In any case, if I had a full price ticket with BA, or Lufthansa, for example, what would have happened?

Ian

sturll

Your travel insurance should cover you. Id say in this instance they're pulling your pud and id get right back on the phone to them.

ifb-online

sturll wrote: »

Your travel insurance should cover you. Id say in this instance they're pulling your pud and id get right back on the phone to them.

I have been scnanning around and it does seem that all the policy details I have seen point the customer to the airline. In turn the airline, it seems quite legally, classifies air traffic control failure as a reason not to compensate or help its passengers, beyond refunding for the portion of the ticket affected.

So does that mean air traffic control problems are simply not covered by anyone? Can I not guard against this in the future? Are there any travel insurance policies that go above and beyond the call of duty?

Ian

sturll

ifb-online wrote: »

I have been scnanning around and it does seem that all the policy details I have seen point the customer to the airline. In turn the airline, it seems quite legally, classifies air traffic control failure as a reason not to compensate or help its passengers, beyond refunding for the portion of the ticket affected.

So does that mean air traffic control problems are simply not covered by anyone? Can I not guard against this in the future? Are there any travel insurance policies that go above and beyond the call of duty?

Ian

No, the airline will most likely rely on their 'force majure' clause.

I am convinced it should be your insurance.

ifb-online

sturll wrote: »

No, the airline will most likely rely on their 'force majure' clause.

I am convinced it should be your insurance.

If their policy specifically excludes flight cancellations, I can't really argue with that, can I? And I have looked at the policy exclusions on a number of other travel insurance offerings and they are pretty much the same.

I'm just trying to find out if a) there are any policies that do offer some help when flights are cancelled and b) if there is any other unexplored avenue for recovering the expenses and inconvenience that I have incurred through no fault of my own.

Ian

baileysbattlebus

ifb-online wrote: »

If their policy specifically excludes flight cancellations, I can't really argue with that, can I? And I have looked at the policy exclusions on a number of other travel insurance offerings and they are pretty much the same.

I'm just trying to find out if a) there are any policies that do offer some help when flights are cancelled and b) if there is any other unexplored avenue for recovering the expenses and inconvenience that I have incurred through no fault of my own.

Ian

Yes, there are companies who offer cover - you have to pay an additional premium for the
cover though.

I think it's quite new, introduced because of the change in the way people book their holidays now and the gaps in existing travel insurance - which seems to be geared towards package holiday makers.

AXA is one of them - its called independant traveller insurance - it's an add on to their normal travel insurance

Marks and Spencer do a similar scheme

There may be others.

We came home from Florida a week ago and we delayed 17 hours - flight only with Thomas Cook.
They bussed us to a hotel - dinner and breakfast provided. The flight was an hour late taking off - and we didn't get into Gatwick until 22.15, it was well after 23.00 by the time we had cleared immigration and collected the bags. Normally flights get in between 06:00 and 09:00.

My OH works in the Control Tower at Heathrow and they have an arrangement where by they can park their cars at Gatwick for free - but they have to be collected before 22:00 as the carparking area is locked after that.

So we had to hire a car to get us home (Reading) and drive back the next day to pick up ours.
I looked through our policy and we weren't covered for the car hire - it wasn't a lot of money - £65, but it's the principle. I will probably look at indepenent traveller insurance next time.
Interestingly, there was a woman on board the flight telling everyone that because we had been delayed over 5 hours we were entitled to a refund on the flight tickets - she even had the relevant EU documentation - but obviously she hadn't read it properly - you are entitled to a refund but only if don't go on your flight and get a different one.

RatBag_2

Withabix, I wouldn't say EasyJet are a low capacity airline... They served 37,200,000 passengers last year!

However, ifb-online, that is the difference with flying with a low cost carrier, and a more premium airline. An airline like BA will most likely look after you in a much better way when things go wrong as you experienced. Helping you with coaches, hotels, and connections, for instance.

The biggest fear at the moment though is low cost carriers (like zoom) which have gone bust. As happened here:
http://travel-insurance-insider.blogspot.com/2008/09/zoom-airlines-gone-bust.html

M4RKM

they are low capacity on the basis of it takes them 4 days to get you back home if a single flight is cancelled...

a few years ago i was flying with AA from JFK - LHR, and my flight was cancelled due to a storm, as the incoming flight was diverted elsewhere..

i got put back on the next flight, about 4 hours later...

4 hours, not 4 days.... hence the low capacity comment, as they can't handle anything going wrong...

now, of course you were free to sit in the airport for 4 days, and see if you could have got on standby...

ifb-online

RatBag wrote: »

Withabix, I wouldn't say EasyJet are a low capacity airline... They served 37,200,000 passengers last year!

However, ifb-online, that is the difference with flying with a low cost carrier, and a more premium airline. An airline like BA will most likely look after you in a much better way when things go wrong as you experienced. Helping you with coaches, hotels, and connections, for instance.

The biggest fear at the moment though is low cost carriers (like zoom) which have gone bust. As happened here:
http://travel-insurance-insider.blogspot.com/2008/09/zoom-airlines-gone-bust.html

Yep, I fully understand the general risks in buying a low cost airline ticket. I can't really fault easyjet too much as it wasn't their fault at all that the flight was cancelled and they met their legal requirements. The staff were very pleasant too.

But I'm less than pleased that my travel insurance (which I purchased specifically instead of relying on free credit card cover, etc.) insist they can't help out with some compensation. Flight cancellation seems to be a classic situation that insurance should offer cover for. As I do use low cost airlines frequently, I'd be happy to pay a little extra for travel insurance cover that is more relevant to my travel patterns. I've been on premium airlines like BA to destinations, like Morocco, for example, where finding an alternative flight home might have been just as problematic.

Ian