Travel insurance claim?

johnsusan

I hope this is the right place to ask all you experts out there

Our Ryanair flight was cancelled on Tuesday due to Italian strikes and we have a free re-booking for Saturday. We booked the accommodation independently and with only 12 hours notice obviously we cannot have a refund from the accommodation provider (who we paid by cheque as no CC facilities).

We have travel insurance with AXA (via a Co-operative Bank Privilege Account) and I had expected that the cost of the 4 days accommodation we could not use would be covered by the policy. The phone line at AXA told me that I am not covered. I have insisted on making a claim if only so I can then complain to the Co-op about the poor level of travel insurance offered in return for £13 a month fee.

My questions are:
Is there any other way I can obtain compensation?
Would other travel insurance policies cover this situation or is AXA following the normal practice.
Anyone have any other ideas - only friendly ones please

Thanks for any replies which are appreciated. I will update this with what happens so others may learn from my mistakes!

Susan L

Voyager2002

Most hotels would give a refund for the second and subsequent nights. I assume that you informed your accommodation provider as soon as you knew about the cancellation, so try to negotiate a partial refund, or at least credit for a future stay there.

As for your insurance, read the policy carefully. What you have lost is not the cost of your accommodation but part of your holiday, and you should be able to claim something against this.

Even though Ryanair cannot get you to your destination until the weekend, there are likely to be empty seats on other 'planes and trains. Some insurance policies would pay for new tickets: ask your insurer or read the policy carefully.

johnsusan

Thanks Voyager2002 for the quick reply.

It is not Hotel accomodation but the rental of an apartment. This is our 3rd visit to the same accomodation and the providers are indicating that if we turn out not to be insured for the loss of our 4 days holiday (costing us 4 days accomodation) they may make some adjustment to next years holiday cost.

I have had a careful read of the policy and think that technically AXA may be correct. It just seems ridiculous to me that if we had been delayed at the airport for 24 hours they would have allowed us to cancel the whole 2 week holiday and reimbursed us the cost of 14 days accomodation but because we were told 12 hours before we were due to fly out that the flight was cancelled that we have no claim for the reduced length of our holiday.

As far as I can see flights to anywhere near to our destination airport (Brindisi) are now fully booked given that all UK to Italy flights were cancelled on Tuesday with no doubt hundreds of people trying to now get home/away. The AXA helpline did not indicate that they would consider any claim and did not offer to pay for alternative tickets to get us there before Saturday. I would not want to do that unless I knew I could get the additional cost back in a claim.

I thought some bright spark in Martin's MSE might know what I should do (apart from get better insurance!).

Thanks for considering my situation I appreciate your time.

Susan L