Travel Insurance - missed departure due to accident.

blondends

Hi All,

I have recently had a nightmare trip to France. I left home 5 hours before the flight was due to take off and got caught up in a traffic jam caused by an accident on the M25. I managed to get to the airport and check my bags in and confirmed with the lady behind the desk that I would have plenty of time to park the car and then board the plane - well I got to the gate as they closed the door. I was informed that my bags were being taken off the plane and that I had missed the flight.

Well long story short - it cost me £200 for a 1 way flight to France (compared to my £50 return ticket). I thought that my travel insurance might cover it but it seems that on reading the claim form I can't (only accidents involving my car, public transport delayed or breakdown of car).

So what I would like advice about is -

1. Can I recoup any of the costs for the extra flight?

2. Will talking to the insurance company help?

3. Can I make a claim with anyone else?

4. Ryanair were the airline I chose to travel with - they were ALL very rude to me and could offer me nothing - will a complaint and request for compensation fall on deaf ears?

5. Any other advice welcome.

Thanks is advance for any comments or suggestions - please take my advice and do not fly Ryanair, in the long run it is not worth it !!!!!

Chris

Astaroth

I would have thought your real complaint is with the airline company that said you would have time to park your car (unless you took an excessive time to do this).

Personally I would go against them and dont just accept the first offer they make. I had problems with a previous holiday and originally got offered £50 for having to spend locked in an airport with no light/ heating/ water/ toilets/ food and then having to spend a further 3 days in a hotel (at the companies expense) but not able to go out incase there was a space on a plane. I argued further and finally got about 1/3 of our holiday price back.

blondends

Thanks for your comments -

Let me add a little to the story, before parking the car whilst I was checking-in I finally made it to the front of the queue to be told that I had needed to pay for my bag and to do so I had to join another queue - paid for the bag - rejoined original queue, jumped a few places and checked-in.

After parking the car I passed through passport control and made my way straight to the gate which was the furthest gate from checkin (miles away) and so a culmination of all these resulted in my missing the flight.

The airline staff had no customer service skills whatsoever and just hid behind the disclaimers displayed all around their desk area. The signs read - if your begin to shout, swear, become angry.... we will have you escorted out of the airport!!!! :mad: Unbelievable!!! :mad: They had no consideration for my situation - accused me of being drunk - told that the directions they were giving me would only be given to me once and if i do not get them that they would not repeat themsleves. :mad:

Enough about them and on with any more comments that you may have about my insurance or similar )