Nationwide FlexPlus Travel Insurance

Whisk1974

Hi,

We've had a FlexPlus account for a couple of years, primarily for the Worldwide Travel Insurance. I've never made a travel insurance claim in 30+ years of extensive travel.

However this year @Wizz Air threw our entuire summer plans into chaos when they cancelled all flights from Budapest to Dubai.

My trip was basically a multi city trip. I had an outbound flight from the UK to Prague, a flight from Budapest to Dubai and then a flight home from Dubai to the UK with Qatar Airways. The flight from Budapest to Dubai was cancelled before I departed and Aviva are claiming that as I hadn't already set off then I'm not able to claim for:

1. Additional costs incurred by getting home, or
2. Aborting the entire trip because of the cancellation

I asked a question regarding the same scenario, but with a hypothetical situation. the hypothetical situation was:

• I had a flight from the UK to New York but a return flight from Los Angeles to the UK 
• I had an internal flight in the USA to LA from New York
• The flight to LA was cancelled prior to me leaving the UK.
• The only way to get home (if I still took the trip) would be to find alternative arrangements for getting to LA

Aviva advise that in this situation then I would again have no way of claiming for addtional costs in getting to LA, or cancellation of the whole trip if there was no way to get there, since I would not have yet departed.

Does this sound right?

Thanks

NoodleDoodleMan

Have I understood this correctly, you never left the UK ?

Mark_d

At the time you departed you already knew that you would need to make a claim.  It is standard that insurance policies exclude this.

Even if you're aware of a likelihood of needing to claim whilst abroad, this is generally excluded.

In such a situation you might be protected by the package travel regulations if you booked the whole trip with a travel agent.  If you booked the components individually, as I often do, then you just have to find alternative transport from Budapest to Dubai.  I don't know what/how much compensation you could claim from Wizz Air.

eskbanker

Whisk1974 said:

The flight from Budapest to Dubai was cancelled before I departed

As an EU airline, Wizz are subject to the EC261 flight delay/cancellation regulations, which oblige them to rebook you on an alternative flight, even if that needs to be on another airline. It's rarely straightforward to exercise this right, especially with overseas budget carriers, but, at least in theory, they should reimburse you if you rebook yourself (and don't accept the refund that they'd prefer to use to close the issue down).

Whisk1974

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Have I understood this correctly, you never left the UK ?

No, I left the UK. My options were either abandon the whole trip (which aparently wouldn't be covered) or to make my own way to Dubai via a different route in order to carry out the trip (and the expense of this wasn't covered either).

Seems like you're left in the lurch on multi-city breaks if one flight is cancelled, which is astonishing.

Whisk1974

Mark_d said:

At the time you departed you already knew that you would need to make a claim.  It is standard that insurance policies exclude this.

Even if you're aware of a likelihood of needing to claim whilst abroad, this is generally excluded.

In such a situation you might be protected by the package travel regulations if you booked the whole trip with a travel agent.  If you booked the components individually, as I often do, then you just have to find alternative transport from Budapest to Dubai.  I don't know what/how much compensation you could claim from Wizz Air.

Yes, at the time I departed I knew I'd need to make a claim. I don't see the relevance, at the time of booking (months before) I didn't. 

My options were either abandon the whole trip (which aparently wouldn't be covered) or to make my own way to Dubai via a different route in order to carry out the trip (and the expense of this wasn't covered either).

Heads they win, tails I lose.

Whisk1974

eskbanker said:

Whisk1974 said:

The flight from Budapest to Dubai was cancelled before I departed

As an EU airline, Wizz are subject to the EC261 flight delay/cancellation regulations, which oblige them to rebook you on an alternative flight, even if that needs to be on another airline. It's rarely straightforward to exercise this right, especially with overseas budget carriers, but, at least in theory, they should reimburse you if you rebook yourself (and don't accept the refund that they'd prefer to use to close the issue down).

Wizz could only offer flights from there in September (no good to me) or a refund. They wouldn't cover extra cost of getting to Dubai as they gave me more than two weeks notice! Wow, a whole two weeks.

NoodleDoodleMan

Whisk1974 said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Have I understood this correctly, you never left the UK ?

No, I left the UK. My options were either abandon the whole trip (which aparently wouldn't be covered) or to make my own way to Dubai via a different route in order to carry out the trip (and the expense of this wasn't covered either).

Seems like you're left in the lurch on multi-city breaks if one flight is cancelled, which is astonishing.

The more savvy hereabouts can confirm/refute - but I'm thinking that Wizz cannot be considered responsible for the other carriers' flights, only the one that they cancelled ?

Therefore their responsibility is honoured by a refund ?

eskbanker

Whisk1974 said:

eskbanker said:

Whisk1974 said:

The flight from Budapest to Dubai was cancelled before I departed

As an EU airline, Wizz are subject to the EC261 flight delay/cancellation regulations, which oblige them to rebook you on an alternative flight, even if that needs to be on another airline. It's rarely straightforward to exercise this right, especially with overseas budget carriers, but, at least in theory, they should reimburse you if you rebook yourself (and don't accept the refund that they'd prefer to use to close the issue down).

Wizz could only offer flights from there in September (no good to me) or a refund. They wouldn't cover extra cost of getting to Dubai as they gave me more than two weeks notice! Wow, a whole two weeks.

I don't believe that's compliant with the regulations, so you could potentially pursue them for the fare difference, although I'm not suggesting that it would be easy to do so, especially if you indicated in any way that a refund was acceptable.