Flight delays and travel insurance observation

Markdavid1962

So just asking a couple of question and I know the answer to the travel delay insurance is to reduce claims payments

We were delayed by 5 hours 15 minutes as the plane broke down at East Midlands Airport, The flight was from England back to Northern Ireland and I have already asked for flight delay compensation from the airline (waiting for response)

However I noticed my travel insurance also had travel delay if the delay was over 3 hours but the small print states you have to be in a hotel for at least 2 nights, we had only 1 night in a hotel as it was a night out with a group of friends, so no point claiming but it raises a question what does 2 nights in a hotel have to do with a flight delay.

The other frustrating points here when we arrived at the East Midlands Airport  and headed for car rental bus stop, only to find they have suspended the bus service in the winter months, the walk is 20 minutes to the car rental centre for a normal fit person, my wife is disabled and could not do the walk, we had to use an uber when returning the car. No thoughts for disabled people. The Car rental (Budget) could not arrange anything

Do you think its acceptable to reduce costs this way, also checked and no mention on airport website otherwise we would have flown in to a different airport

MyRealNameToo

Markdavid1962 said:

So just asking a couple of question and I know the answer to the travel delay insurance is to reduce claims payments

We were delayed by 5 hours 15 minutes as the plane broke down at East Midlands Airport, The flight was from England back to Northern Ireland and I have already asked for flight delay compensation from the airline (waiting for response)

However I noticed my travel insurance also had travel delay if the delay was over 3 hours but the small print states you have to be in a hotel for at least 2 nights, we had only 1 night in a hotel as it was a night out with a group of friends, so no point claiming but it raises a question what does 2 nights in a hotel have to do with a flight delay.

The other frustrating points here when we arrived at the East Midlands Airport  and headed for car rental bus stop, only to find they have suspended the bus service in the winter months, the walk is 20 minutes to the car rental centre for a normal fit person, my wife is disabled and could not do the walk, we had to use an uber when returning the car. No thoughts for disabled people. The Car rental (Budget) could not arrange anything

Do you think its acceptable to reduce costs this way, also checked and no mention on airport website otherwise we would have flown in to a different airport

The majority of people buy their insurance on cost, as a consequence insurers are effectively encouraged to cut cover to achieve cheaper prices and therefore more sales. 

Nights in a hotel has nothing to do with a flight however by limiting cover on an annual policy to those with multiple nights away it excludes lots of day trips etc which would otherwise push up claims and therefore push up prices. Its understandable to a degree else you could get thousands of claims from people booking a day trip somewhere and cancelling due to weather, road conditions etc, would be large volumes of low cost claims which are often some of the most expensive to deal with proportionally. So they set a minimum duration to avoid all this noise and can give lower premiums as a return. 

On the basis there was a bus involved presumably this was a cheaper offsite rental company? Really one to take up with the hire car company than the airport but they probably dont want to lose sales by saying you've a walk in bad weather. Onsite rentals are normally more expensive due to the fees airports charge but personally prefer it then messing about with offsite. 

Woodstok2000

MyRealNameToo said:

Markdavid1962 said:

So just asking a couple of question and I know the answer to the travel delay insurance is to reduce claims payments

We were delayed by 5 hours 15 minutes as the plane broke down at East Midlands Airport, The flight was from England back to Northern Ireland and I have already asked for flight delay compensation from the airline (waiting for response)

However I noticed my travel insurance also had travel delay if the delay was over 3 hours but the small print states you have to be in a hotel for at least 2 nights, we had only 1 night in a hotel as it was a night out with a group of friends, so no point claiming but it raises a question what does 2 nights in a hotel have to do with a flight delay.

The other frustrating points here when we arrived at the East Midlands Airport  and headed for car rental bus stop, only to find they have suspended the bus service in the winter months, the walk is 20 minutes to the car rental centre for a normal fit person, my wife is disabled and could not do the walk, we had to use an uber when returning the car. No thoughts for disabled people. The Car rental (Budget) could not arrange anything

Do you think its acceptable to reduce costs this way, also checked and no mention on airport website otherwise we would have flown in to a different airport

On the basis there was a bus involved presumably this was a cheaper offsite rental company? Really one to take up with the hire car company than the airport but they probably dont want to lose sales by saying you've a walk in bad weather. Onsite rentals are normally more expensive due to the fees airports charge but personally prefer it then messing about with offsite. 

Avis/budget are onsite at EMA.  All the car hire at east midlands is in the same part of the airport site, its about 6-10 mins walk from the terminal, would only be 20 mins if you got lost!  They run a bus but as OP says its only in April-october.

user1977

Woodstok2000 said:

MyRealNameToo said:

Markdavid1962 said:

So just asking a couple of question and I know the answer to the travel delay insurance is to reduce claims payments

We were delayed by 5 hours 15 minutes as the plane broke down at East Midlands Airport, The flight was from England back to Northern Ireland and I have already asked for flight delay compensation from the airline (waiting for response)

However I noticed my travel insurance also had travel delay if the delay was over 3 hours but the small print states you have to be in a hotel for at least 2 nights, we had only 1 night in a hotel as it was a night out with a group of friends, so no point claiming but it raises a question what does 2 nights in a hotel have to do with a flight delay.

The other frustrating points here when we arrived at the East Midlands Airport  and headed for car rental bus stop, only to find they have suspended the bus service in the winter months, the walk is 20 minutes to the car rental centre for a normal fit person, my wife is disabled and could not do the walk, we had to use an uber when returning the car. No thoughts for disabled people. The Car rental (Budget) could not arrange anything

Do you think its acceptable to reduce costs this way, also checked and no mention on airport website otherwise we would have flown in to a different airport

On the basis there was a bus involved presumably this was a cheaper offsite rental company? Really one to take up with the hire car company than the airport but they probably dont want to lose sales by saying you've a walk in bad weather. Onsite rentals are normally more expensive due to the fees airports charge but personally prefer it then messing about with offsite. 

Avis/budget are onsite at EMA.  All the car hire at east midlands is in the same part of the airport site, its about 6-10 mins walk from the terminal, would only be 20 mins if you got lost!  They run a bus but as OP says its only in April-october.

8 min walk according to Google (which I usually find conservative compared to my pace): https://maps.app.goo.gl/5YDCG83rP9aCoEGcA