Lost passport same day due to fly out, hoping for some money back

jennduck

Just hoping for some bright ideas on behalf of a friend who has just discovered she's lost her passport at some point in the last 3 days, and she's due to fly to Corfu later today.

Apparently she can't get an emergency passport appointment as you need to have your existing passport to get a new one quickly: reapplying from scratch is a longer process, so even if she booked another outgoing flight later in the week it wouldn't be possible to get a new one in this time.

As well as losing the holiday it's looking like she'll be out of pocket as she booked the flights and accommodation separately, and apparently to cancel the accommodation this late she will get charged the full amount. Obviously the flights are already paid for in full as well.

I think she has holiday insurance and she booked everything on a credit card. Has anyone been in a similar situation and had any joy getting any money back, or does anyone have any other bright ideas?

Caz3121

she will need to read through the travel insurance policy wording to see whether covered.
I don't see anything claimable from credit card as the flight and accommodation are still available for her.
There may be some refundable government taxes in the ticket price (although this may be less than an admin fee depending who she booked through)

DCFC79

Can she not see if the hotel can move the dates eg to a date when she could go, same with the flights.

mattyprice4004

A credit card won't be relevant, as regardless of her situation the service is available to use and it's not the hotel / airline's fault.

Insurance is the only option.

shaun_from_Africa

I would be very surprised if travel insurance would pay out for losses due to a passport that was lost before the travel commenced.

Something like that would far too open to abuse (I'm not in any way implying that this is the case here) as all someone that couldn't go on a booked holiday for any reason would need to do is to claim that they had lost their passport and they would be paid out in full (minus any excess).

My policy provides cover for a passport that is lost after the trip had started but will only pay out for an emergency travel document.
It will pay out for flights and accommodation if the passport is stolen before travel but a police report is needed for this.

jennduck

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

I would be very surprised if travel insurance would pay out for losses due to a passport that was lost before the travel commenced.

Something like that would far too open to abuse (I'm not in any way implying that this is the case here) as all someone that couldn't go on a booked holiday for any reason would need to do is to claim that they had lost their passport and they would be paid out in full (minus any excess).

My policy provides cover for a passport that is lost after the trip had started but will only pay out for an emergency travel document.
It will pay out for flights and accommodation if the passport is stolen before travel but a police report is needed for this.

Thanks, this is very helpful - I'll pass it on to her.