Travel insurance claim query

Springbok222

In July last year my wife and I were on holiday in the USA and Canada. We were due to fly out of New York on 20th July, arriving in Toronto at 10.30pm. We were then scheduled join an Algonquin Nature Adventures camping and canoeing trip at 12 noon the following day. Unfortunately, due to bad weather, Air Canada cancelled our flight out of New York on 20th July and rebooked us on a flight the following day, arriving in Toronto at 4.30pm. This meant that we missed the departure of our Algonquin trip. No refund from Algonquin Nature Adventures was forthcoming as their Ts&Cs require at least two days notice. When we arrived back in the UK, I put in a claim for the cost of the missed Algonquin trip with my travel insurance provider, Nationwide, but it was rejected as they said they don't cover a "trip within a trip". Nationwide have also said that it is not covered under their "Cancellation" or "Missed departure" sections either. As these events were all out of our control, is that not what travel insurance is for? This has left us £1000 out of pocket. Any help or advice?

TELLIT01

If the responses are in accordance with the T&C of the companies I very much doubt there is much you can do about it.  You may be able to appeal the insurers decision, but the Canadian tour company has done nothing wrong as they would almost certainly not be able to sell the trip on at such short notice.

DullGreyGuy

Springbok222 said:
As these events were all out of our control, is that not what travel insurance is for? This has left us £1000 out of pocket. Any help or advice?

Only the very top tier insurance is written on an all risks basis, the majority of insurance is written on an insured perils basis so only covers exactly what the policy book states it will cover. Even within insured perils basis policies there are ranges of quality from bargain basement that covers little to full fat which does include all flights etc. 

Ultimately you need to read your policy documents and ascertain if you believe you should be covered or not. Many low-middle policies for example will state the only flights covered is your initial flight out the country and the final flight back to home.