Travel insurance decline valid claim

mitcha

In March I was in Australia expecting to return with Cathay Pacific on 26th March but with 24 hours notice they stopped passengers transitting through Hong Kong. Our TA advised us to call our insurance. I called Barclays travel insurance who advised me to get our TA to find new flights to return to UK as we had a valid claim and curtailment cover of 5k each for me and my partner.  We managed to get 2 seats on Qatar airlines costing us an additional £3200 and returned home on 29th March 3 days later than planned. Our TA since obtained a partial refund from Cathay Pacific of £500+. Barclays have twice rejected our claim despite their advice to get back to UK ASAP and that we had a valid claim stating we should claim from our travel company Travel Councellors as we are covered under the package travel regulations 2018. So far the Travel Councellors have rejected stating we are not covered.  Next step is to go to the financial ombudsman but I would like some advice about who is liable as we are being passed between both companies each blaming the other.

Alan_Bowen

If all you had bought from TC were flights then the Package Regulations do not apply, nor does the duty of care under EU261 to return you home as you were booked on a non-EU airline from a non-UK airport. If you were on a package holiday and had an ATOL Certificate then there may be some issue, but was TC the organiser or just the agent, this will be shown on the Certifciate itself?

mitcha

Thanks for responding Alan. 
I have the ATOL cert and it was issued by TC. They gave me information to pass onto my insurance which read as follows:
As part of our obligations as a tour operator under the Package Travel Regulations, our position would have been to work with Cathay Pacific to repatriate our clients when they were able to, and contribute up to 3 night’s accommodation in Melbourne (if this was required). This may have meant the clients staying in Melbourne for quite some time, potentially at a considerable cost to the client (ie. the minimum timescales the Hong Kong government imposed was an initial 14 days (under review), which has materialised in a further lengthier duration).
The insurance have still rejected our claim and they have stated .......
Unfortunately I must maintain our claims team's decision to decline. Your policy can only consider costs that are not recoverable from your travel provider. I understand that your travel agent have not looked to refund your package or additional costs, but as they arranged for you to return home early and were unable to fulfil some aspect of your package, they are liable to refund you. This is in accordance with the Package Travel Regulations 2018 which supersedes an individual provider's terms and
conditions.

I don't know who should cover our costs and being passed from one to the other doesn't help.
Thank you in advance for any advice.

mitcha

I meant to say that there were also some hotels booked and it was a package holiday . We also stayed with family and friends. 

NoodleDoodleMan

"I meant to say that there were also some hotels booked and it was a package holiday."

Flights and accommodation together does not necessarily constitute a package holiday.

They have to be on the same reservation booking - if they have separate booking reference numbers then it's not a package.

mitcha

It is a package. There is no dispute about that. 

Voyager2002

mitcha said:

It is a package. There is no dispute about that. 

In which case your insurance company is correct to decline the claim: the responsibility lies with the tour operator.

mitcha

Many thanks for all advice. This is presently back with Travel Councellors and I am waiting on their response. I will for now keep with this route and just hope we are compensated.