Help needed to claim Travel Insurance for the holiday when we got stuck out of UK during lockdown

Martinmeet

Hi

I need some advise and help in this please. I went on holiday with my family back in Feb and had a return booked in March. Due to Covid-19, the country we were holidaying, was put in lockdown. We tried to contact the travel agency through their website but got no response apart from automated emails. Their phone number was never got connected or came busy. There were no flights running from that country. We had Nationwide FlexPlus Insurance which covers for 31 days holiday. The lockdown continued and we only got chance to catch a flight when there were some rescue flights started running in May in that country.

We had to pay for the return tickets ourselves and it was very expensive. For the whole family, it cost us roughly over £4k. After returning back to UK, I sent my claim to the UK Insurance who provides Nationwide FlexPlus insurance, giving them all the receipts and information they asked for. Last week they have come back to us asking more questions. Now, I don't understand what to say to them and I do not want to say something wrong or anything that can hinder my claim. It is huge amount and in this time when we need the cash, we are struggling to get our money back/claimed.

They have said -

1. We only cover the 31 days holiday and our holiday was over 31 days. - Now what do I say about this? I booked our holiday for less than 31 days but due to the lockdown, we couldn't come back. We were stuck and there were no flights. What do they expect in such situation?

2. We need to provide evidence that we tried to come back. - We contacted the travel agency through website and got their automated response. We have already submitted that. We never received any response from them, till now there is no communication. We tried to call them but never got through. We used local SIM which we don't have anymore so cannot provide those call details. What should we say now?

Please advise what should I reply to these UK Insurance guys? We are already stressed due to finance issues and were hoping to get the £4k+ we spent to return back home but don't know whether we will get it back? And how much time it can take? We have never claimed anything in our lives ever so no experience with such claims or companies.

Many Thanks for reading and advance thanks for your help, guidance and directions.

Thrugelmir

Martinmeet said:

2. We need to provide evidence that we tried to come back. - We contacted the travel agency through website and got their automated response. We have already submitted that. We never received any response from them,

Nothing else?  Suggests no effort. 

macman

What country? What were your scheduled outbound and return dates, and your actual return date?
What were the start and end dates of your policy?
Who did you book with? How did you pay? Have you not asked them for a refund for the cancelled return flight? Your insurers will expect you to mitigate your losses before you claim from them.

[Deleted User]

A bit vague.   What travel agents?  What country were you in?  Were you in a hotel?   Did you keep up to date with the daily news and or go to the airport to find out if there were reps there?    What were you doing from February to May?   From what you have given here, it doesn't sound like you put much effort into getting home which is what the insurance company will be picking up on.  e.g. if you were staying with relatives they may assume you took the opportunity to extend your stay and then when it suited, you booked your flights home?   (not what I am saying but how it might look)   You will need to convince them you didn't.

blindman

Martinmeet said:

They have said -

1. We only cover the 31 days holiday and our holiday was over 31 days. - Now what do I say about this? I booked our holiday for less than 31 days but due to the lockdown, we couldn't come back. We were stuck and there were no flights. What do they expect in such situation?

Did you contact NW to advise them that due to local lock down you could not travel back to UK?

I did this when in Australia in March and they said over the phone that I would be covered if we could not return within the timescale (77 days for me). but they would need proof (fair enough).

Where were you and how did you know your return flight was cancelled??