Cancellation not covered by insurers

Barry2022

I must confess that this has rather surprised me. Had a trip booked to Venice - flights with Ryanair and hotel booked independently. Insurance taken out with Holiday Extras underwritten by the Davies Group.
Due to an air traffic controllers strike, the flight was cancelled by Ryanair the day before we were due to fly . Tried to get alternative flights but they were literally disappearing before our eyes. 
Ryanair refunded the outward flight but are refusing to refund the return flight - which is against CAA regulations. Both flights were booked on the same contract. Ryanair state the return flight had to be claimed at the same time as the refund for the outward one - but there was no way to do this (we have screenshots). This is now with the arbitration service - and i will pursue it via the CAA and small claims court if necessary.
In parallel, i also put a claim in to my insurers (obviously i told them that i was still trying to recoup the refund for the return flight from Ryanair).
Despite the key facts document and another one stating cancellations were covered, they are denying the claim. They are stating small print in their 97 page T&C document. The list of reasons why they state that they pay for cancellation is woefully short - flight cancellations are not covered. After putting in an official complaint, they told me a totally different reason why they were denying the claim.
My intention is to pursue this through the Financial Ombudsman , Office of Fair Trading and Small Claims court if necessary. The least it will do is alert others that flight cancellations are not covered by a major travel insurer (the policy wasn't even their most basic one). 

Has anyone else had a similar experience.  

Westin

Are you sure you are interpreting the policy correctly?   The flight cost element may not be covered as the refund on that should come back from the airline but the others costs, such as hotel, which you could not use should be covered and claimable.

Barry2022

Its not me interpreting it wrong - its the insurers telling me, The hotel was cancelled as consequence of the flight cancellation. Th

DullGreyGuy

Travel insurance is designed to be the backstop rather than first line of defense. As you say, if an airline cancels a flight they have a liability and therefore there is no need for an insurer to offer to cover that risk. That said, as many found out with Covid, there are some circumstances that insurers dont offer cover for which you wouldnt have a claim from anyone else either.. countries changing their entry requirements with short notice is one we are all now aware of. 

Are you sure your policy is underwritten by Davies? They are an outsourcing organisation not an insurer and so whilst they'll do the claims handling I'd have thought Holiday Extras policy was written by someone like Great Lakes via an MGA

onashoestring

Different insurance policies will provide cover for different things , so it really does come down to the specific T&C of your policy .

Typically strike action isn’t covered by most travel insurance . 

Barry2022

Cancellation of any sort by the airline is not covered by this policy

Westin

Barry2022 said:

Cancellation of any sort by the airline is not covered by this policy

Was it a cheap policy? One of the 'Bronze' or 'Value' ones?

Barry2022

No - as i mentioned, it wasnt the basic one. It was the middle option. 

onashoestring

In parallel, i also put a claim in to my insurers (obviously i told them that i was still trying to recoup the refund for the return flight from Ryanair).
one). 

Travel insurance policies require you to claim for cancelled flights from the airline .

Because you tried simultaneously to claim from both the airline & your insurance it likely resulted in automatic rejection of the claim.

Check the section of policy that covers “abandonment” this will state if you are covered for the cost of the unused hotel as a result of abandoning your trip and will also state any exclusions that apply to your holiday.

Barry2022 said:

…. After putting in an official complaint, they told me a totally different reason why they were denying the claim.

What was the reason given ? 

Barry2022

As mentioned in my original post, i tried claiming off Ryanair for the return flight but they didnt pay out. 

TELLIT01

I think you need to continue to chase Ryanair to pay, by the various routes mentioned in the OP and only get back to the travel insurance company if all those routes fail.  You may still find the travel insurer specifically excluded flight cancellations.