Travel Ins Warning

stickman

My son took out travel ins for 3 days for his one way journey to NZ,or so he thought.The recent snow we had meant his flight re scheduled to the following day. By pure bad luck whilst waiting to check in he collapsed and was taken to hospital where he stayed for 2 days. when he claimed on his insurance they refused to pay as the ticket had no return leg. When he applied for the ins he clicked the "single trip box" thinking like most people would when booking anything SINGLE, cover for just the one way. No the ins industry class a single trip as a return, must start and end in the UK.
Realise we should have read thru all the terms and cond's to find this obvious fact but did'nt, as to me, single means single, one way, or maybe it's just me.
Result loss of 600 quid .
Any chance of getting money back some way.

All help/advice appreciated

Thanks

dacouch

which insurer was it

stickman

dacouch wrote: »

which insurer was it

Swift cover through Moneysupermarket.
Thanks

dacouch

I've just had a look at their site and they don't offer one way trips, if they had you would have an outside chance by explaining the mistake he made and paying the difference in getting the claim paid. There would be no guarantee they would have and it might have involved the ombudsman.

I can see how he could make the mistake of single trip, unfortunately he if he had read the wording etc he would have realised that. Next time tell him to use a broker or ring someone up for a quote rather than use a website as they would have picked up what he actually needed and either sold him the right product or told him they could have not covered him.

Is it not possible for the airline to change the departure time, a lot of the big airlines will.

stickman

dacouch wrote: »

I've just had a look at their site and they don't offer one way trips, if they had you would have an outside chance by explaining the mistake he made and paying the difference in getting the claim paid. There would be no guarantee they would have and it might have involved the ombudsman.

I can see how he could make the mistake of single trip, unfortunately he if he had read the wording etc he would have realised that. Next time tell him to use a broker or ring someone up for a quote rather than use a website as they would have picked up what he actually needed and either sold him the right product or told him they could have not covered him.

Is it not possible for the airline to change the departure time, a lot of the big airlines will.

Thanks for reply,
When filling in details on Moneysupermarket they asked for destination and start/end dates for the trip. Son put in 1st Feb to3rd Feb surely they would see that you can't get to NZ and back in 3 days so should have flagged up invalid dates or something to alert one of this return requirement, Also swiftcover took the payment knowing that the trip could'nt be done within that time frame so why did'nt they say/do anything.
Just think it's a little ambiguous single trip.

Re the airline as they had rescheduled the flight to the following day and my son did not check in(was taken to hospital) they class it as a no show/missed departure. Don't know if they would give him another ticket as a goodwill gesture maybe, is it worth a try?

Thanks

dacouch

He has discovered one of the problems of using a website, the website is not intelligent enough to think the trip is not possible. The other problem is the Insurers can say you put the information in so its your fault. If you ring them and they advise him incorrectly then you can take it up with them.

It is definately worth speaking to the airline as most of the big airlines will try and sort another flight out especially if he has medical proof. (They probably sold his seat to someone else when he did not turn up anyway). Give them a ring

stickman

dacouch wrote: »

He has discovered one of the problems of using a website, the website is not intelligent enough to think the trip is not possible. The other problem is the Insurers can say you put the information in so its your fault. If you ring them and they advise him incorrectly then you can take it up with them.

It is definately worth speaking to the airline as most of the big airlines will try and sort another flight out especially if he has medical proof. (They probably sold his seat to someone else when he did not turn up anyway). Give them a ring

Thanks again. Have been in touch with BA and looked up their cond of carriage.
3e) Your rights if you are prevented from travelling by events beyond your control

If:

• you are a consumer.
• you have been prevented from travelling by events beyond your control and
• all or part of the fare for your ticket is non-refundable.

we will give you a credit for the non-refundable part of the fare. We will do this if you:

• have a completely unused ticket
• have told us promptly about the events beyond your control and
• have given us evidence of these events.

The credit can be used for future travel on us by you or any person you choose. We may take a reasonable fee from the credit to cover our administration costs
What chance of replacement ticket under this criteria, thinking that collapsing at check in and off to hosp for surgery that's beyond anyone's control surely.Also if you don't have trav ins what then. BA did say something about all this being pre-flight not actually on flight etc, but then again when son collapsed at check in they would not have let him check in/board anyway due to the obvious illness at the time.
Help/advice appreciated
Thanks

dacouch

Thats good news, sometimes its worth paying the extra to fly with someone like BA or Quantas etc as you get this sort of back up.

If you want me to recommend a company that will cover him for the one way trip for travel insurance I can post some links

stickman

Thanks for prompt reply, however although I am hoping that son will be covered by the mentioned conds of carriage, as yet BA have not agreed to anything, have to ring them again tomorrow. What do you think of our chances under said conditions.

Thanks

dacouch

A medical problem is normally classed as beyond his control so should be ok, especially as he collapsed at the terminal as they would have not let him fly if he was not fit anyway.

stickman

dacouch wrote: »

A medical problem is normally classed as beyond his control so should be ok, especially as he collapsed at the terminal as they would have not let him fly if he was not fit anyway.

Thanks for that this is what I'm hoping for as well, will let you know how we get on tomorrow.

Thanks again for all help/advice