Travel Insurance Ash Claim

maraman

I have my travel insurance with Axa via my Lloyds TSB account and when the airspace was closed due to the volcanic ash I was supposed to be flying to Berlin for a short break. I got the Easyjet refund without problems but was wondering if I could claim from my travel insurance for the £200 that I paid in advance for my hotel accommodation? When I phoned Axa they were useless, the man just kept repeating I should contact the airline and could not have been less helpful, I kept answering that I had and they had refunded the airfare but as they werent involved in the hotel booking that was all I could get from them. He eventually said he would reluctantly send a claim form but that was two weeks ago and one hasnt arrived.
Has anyone got any thoughts or experience with this sort of claim? I am getting resigned to a lost £200 but am cross that the insurers are using the fact that it wasnt an adverse weather condition, when clearly the wind direction was, and in any event surely there is a delayed departure claim in there?
All very frustrating

M

mayfair1985

I *think* that it is down to the insurers to decide if the ash is 'act of god' or 'adverse weather'. Check your policy wording but delayed departure sometimes only counts for a delay of up to 24 hours. After that it turns into a cancellation claim.

northwest1965

Firstly, can you get a claim form online? I have a feeling if its AXA it will be csal.co.uk that will be handling it. We are insured with Atlas Direct and its underwritten by AXA. We had to make a claim from them and that is who is dealing with it.

I did enquire from our insurance company but they will not pay out on volcanic ash - their reply to me was :-
We do not consider volcanic ash to be "adverse weather" therefore there is no cover under the "Travel Delay and Abandonment" and the "Missed Departure" sections.

Additionally it is not a stated reason to cancel or curtail a trip and therefore there is no cover under the "Cancellation, Curtailment and Trip Interruption" section.

Hope you get better luck.

FH_Brit

MARAMAN - Axa are useless - in my opinion they are the worse insurance company in existance - They are my "pet hate".

You will not get anything out of them as they are not covering the ash claims. Just go to search above and enter Axa and see how bad they are (although probably most anti-Axa posts will be mine!).

NORTHWEST - CSAL (Benfleet, Essex) I don't think deal with Axa anymore (may be wrong) but Axa are brining everything under Axa Assistance. And you are totally right that yuo put above is the response from Axa to any of their policies.

northwest1965

FH_Brit wrote: »

MARAMAN - Axa are useless - in my opinion they are the worse insurance company in existance - They are my "pet hate".

You will not get anything out of them as they are not covering the ash claims. Just go to search above and enter Axa and see how bad they are (although probably most anti-Axa posts will be mine!).

NORTHWEST - CSAL (Benfleet, Essex) I don't think deal with Axa anymore (may be wrong) but Axa are brining everything under Axa Assistance. And you are totally right that yuo put above is the response from Axa to any of their policies.

They are dealing with our claim (medical not ash) CSAL. Its been a month so far and still we havent had a cheque!