Abandonement of Holiday due to Loss of Passport

margaretdavie

Has anyone ever been in the position where they have had to abandon a holiday due to lost/stolen passports and successfully managed to claim on their travel insurance

dzug1

Under what heading of the insurance are you wanting to claim?

The only circumstance I can think of in most policies is if the passport were stolen from your home in a burglary that caused extensive damage you your home. And it would be the damage, not the loss of the passport, that allowed the claim.

PNPSUKNET

nope you cant,

dunstonh

you can replace a passport quite quickly under an emergency. There is a fast track one week service and even a premium same day service. So, it is very unlikely that the loss or theft of a passport would stop you having to abandon a holiday. So, on that basis, I would expect an insurance company not to accept that as an excuse.

margaretdavie

We flew out to Acapulco for a cruise through the Panama Canal and lost our passports on the coach taking us to the ship. We reported it as soon as we realised prior to checking in at the dock. They said they searched the bus but it was never found, though I knew I had it in my hand when getting on the coach
The cruise co were very good and arranged for us to fly to Mexico City and stay in a hotel till the Embassy opened and we had been told by the British Consulate in Acapulca that once we got our temporary passports we would be able to rejoin the ship, at the next port of call Temporary Passports apparently are only valid for 5 days and only to get us back to the UK.They tried to get us 10 year passports but the systems were all down, we had no alternative but to fly back to the UK using temporary passports, therefore missing our holiday. We didn't intend losing our passports and didn't want to not go on holiday so it was no excuse

Norfolk_Jim

I hope you got it all documented. If you've got good quality documentation and can show how you were assisted by your tour co in an attempt to get a new passport they might consider it. You will need to ask them. Have you had a good trawl through the small print? I know that some I've bought in the past had specific wording for loss / theft of passport

margaretdavie

We have good documentation I have read through the policy and on what we have it doesn't say you are or you aren't covered for abandonment of holiday due to loss of passport. I have written and asked them for proof of a clause that says we are not covered as I got told they can't write all the clauses down as it would take up too much paper and people wouldn't read it all. We have got the FOS involved and they were quite interested and didn't fob us and say insurances don't cover you for it, they are looking into it as well. We can only keep our fingers crossed though I'm not holding my breath, just glad I didn't book the same cruise for November on the strength of getting this money back. We'll probably have to wait till next year before we have the money saved

lisyloo

I got told they can't write all the clauses down as it would take up too much paper and people wouldn't read it all

That's complete rubbish.
They do have to write everything down.

Good luck with your claim.

dunstonh

That's complete rubbish.
They do have to write everything down.

They wont write down scenarios but you will expect explicit areas not covered.

We have got the FOS involved and they were quite interested

Thats the standard FOS response. Even if your complaint has no hope in hell of success they will tell you they are interested in looking at it.

and didn't fob us and say insurances don't cover you for it, they are looking into it as well.

They cant look into it unless you have already made a complaint to the insurer and have been deadlocked by them. The FOS will just forward your complaint to the complaints department of the insurer.

We dont have enough info here on here to judge your likely success but dont get your hopes up based on what the FOS have told you as that is just their standard patter.

miamoo

I honestly cant see that insurance would cover a lost passport to cover the cost of the holiday, just the cost of replacing the passport, on my insurance the amount covered is £200 for lost or stolen passport.

If it was allowed it would be everyones excuse for cancelling there holiday that they could no longer afford.

viclspence

Having worked in the travel insurance company - for a company called travelsolve who provide medical assistance for such insurers as Lloyds TSB etc, we were asked this many times, but no insurer will cover you for abandoning your holiday due to loss of passport. If you lose your passport while on holiday then they will do everything possible to get you home, but for the outward journey it is your responsibility to make sure that all passport and identification is kept safe, it should state this in the documentation somewhere too!