- Joined
- Jun 3, 2014
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- Virgin
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Like many here, I’m in the habit of holding Annual Travel Insurance cover. I tend to take out a new policy for the following year at around the time that the existing policy period expires.
Also like many here, I’m in the habit of booking award flights about a year in advance.
I recently booked some award flights for April 2017, which raised the question: “Are these flights covered for cancellation risk?”.
Consider this hypothetical situation:
· I hold an Annual TI policy running from mid-Feb 2016 through mid-Feb 2017.
· In May 2016 I buy some tickets to fly in April 2017.
· During January 2017 I suffer some sort of accident / medical event (of a type normally covered under my policy) which results in me needing to cancel my April 2017 trip.
Before even looking at the policy wording, my gut reaction was along the lines of “well, the trip is after the policy ends, so there’s a fair chance it won’t be covered”.
But on reflection I started wondering whether I was looking at it the wrong way around. Whether instead the risk being insured in this instance isn’t related to the date of the trip, but is the risk of a cancellation event occurring during the period of the policy.
So, the next step was to go to the policy wording (I’m currently using the 1Cover^ Annual Policy with PDS dated 20 Nov 2015).
I’m not a lawyer, so I may have missed some other relevant clauses elsewhere (but I’ve had a pretty thorough search through the fine print), and the only relevant clause I can find (on P17) is headed “Period of Cover”.
Verbatim quote of the relevant passage follows:
“How Long You’re Covered For?
The earliest that cover under the Policy starts is when we give you a certificate of insurance. This confirms the period for which you are insured.
Importantly:
* Cover for Section 13 – Cancellation Fees and Loss of Deposits starts on the date the certificate of insurance is issued.
* Cover under all other Sections…- snip – this part of the passage is entirely irrelevant to the question …
* All cover ends on the earlier of the date you return home or the last of the travelling dates shown on your certificate of insurance.”
And the relevant part of Section 13 states:
“We Will Pay
a) We will pay any cancellation fees and lost deposits for travel and accommodation arrangements for which you have paid in advance and cannot recover in any other way if your journey is cancelled or shortened at any time through circumstances that you did not expect or intend or are outside your control.
---snip”
There is also a “We Will Not Pay” passage, but it doesn’t contain any wording relevant to timing.
In the We Will Pay passage, the word “journey” is a defined term. The definition is “your journey from the time when you leave your home to go directly to the place you depart from on your travels, and ends when you return to your home.”
There is no wording I can find in the general exclusion contents that is relevant to timing.
I can’t see any language in any of the quoted passages (or anywhere else in the PDS) that restricts coverage under Section 13 only to travel plans due to occur within the dates shown on the certificate of insurance.
So am I delusional to think that my hypothetical situation is covered, or do I now need to buy a further year’s coverage for the period Mid-Feb 2017 through mid-Feb 2018 to cover the recently booked flights?
Is there anyone still reading this that has some inside the industry knowledge to shed some light on the question?
Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for any knowledge / advice anyone can offer.
FWIW I have already put this question to the insurer, and their response (in the nicest possible way) is that I’m not covered (so 1 vote is already in on the delusional side of the ledger…)
^ I only mention that it’s 1Cover so that anyone interested can access the PDS.
Also like many here, I’m in the habit of booking award flights about a year in advance.
I recently booked some award flights for April 2017, which raised the question: “Are these flights covered for cancellation risk?”.
Consider this hypothetical situation:
· I hold an Annual TI policy running from mid-Feb 2016 through mid-Feb 2017.
· In May 2016 I buy some tickets to fly in April 2017.
· During January 2017 I suffer some sort of accident / medical event (of a type normally covered under my policy) which results in me needing to cancel my April 2017 trip.
Before even looking at the policy wording, my gut reaction was along the lines of “well, the trip is after the policy ends, so there’s a fair chance it won’t be covered”.
But on reflection I started wondering whether I was looking at it the wrong way around. Whether instead the risk being insured in this instance isn’t related to the date of the trip, but is the risk of a cancellation event occurring during the period of the policy.
So, the next step was to go to the policy wording (I’m currently using the 1Cover^ Annual Policy with PDS dated 20 Nov 2015).
I’m not a lawyer, so I may have missed some other relevant clauses elsewhere (but I’ve had a pretty thorough search through the fine print), and the only relevant clause I can find (on P17) is headed “Period of Cover”.
Verbatim quote of the relevant passage follows:
“How Long You’re Covered For?
The earliest that cover under the Policy starts is when we give you a certificate of insurance. This confirms the period for which you are insured.
Importantly:
* Cover for Section 13 – Cancellation Fees and Loss of Deposits starts on the date the certificate of insurance is issued.
* Cover under all other Sections…- snip – this part of the passage is entirely irrelevant to the question …
* All cover ends on the earlier of the date you return home or the last of the travelling dates shown on your certificate of insurance.”
And the relevant part of Section 13 states:
“We Will Pay
a) We will pay any cancellation fees and lost deposits for travel and accommodation arrangements for which you have paid in advance and cannot recover in any other way if your journey is cancelled or shortened at any time through circumstances that you did not expect or intend or are outside your control.
---snip”
There is also a “We Will Not Pay” passage, but it doesn’t contain any wording relevant to timing.
In the We Will Pay passage, the word “journey” is a defined term. The definition is “your journey from the time when you leave your home to go directly to the place you depart from on your travels, and ends when you return to your home.”
There is no wording I can find in the general exclusion contents that is relevant to timing.
I can’t see any language in any of the quoted passages (or anywhere else in the PDS) that restricts coverage under Section 13 only to travel plans due to occur within the dates shown on the certificate of insurance.
So am I delusional to think that my hypothetical situation is covered, or do I now need to buy a further year’s coverage for the period Mid-Feb 2017 through mid-Feb 2018 to cover the recently booked flights?
Is there anyone still reading this that has some inside the industry knowledge to shed some light on the question?
Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for any knowledge / advice anyone can offer.
FWIW I have already put this question to the insurer, and their response (in the nicest possible way) is that I’m not covered (so 1 vote is already in on the delusional side of the ledger…)
^ I only mention that it’s 1Cover so that anyone interested can access the PDS.
