Travel Insurance and flight cancellation

[Happy Dude]

Does anyone have a travel insurance policy that covers expenses incurred as a result of delay/cancellation due to mechanical fault of an aircraft?

1cover.com.au specifically exclude claims arising from this, a lesson I learnt the hard way.

Muchos ta.

 

[serfty]

Travel Insurance - Save for your Holiday with Travel Insurance Direct will in respect of "Travel delay Expenses".

...

10.

Delays, rescheduling or cancellation of scheduled transport services caused by the carrier or related to the carrier’ including maintenance, repairs, rescheduling, service faults, industrial activity other than a strike, corporate takeover. This exclusion does not apply to Sections 2E, 2H ...​

SECTION 2E: TRAVEL DELAY – NIL EXCES APPLIES

You only have this cover if you chose Plan A, B and C.

We will pay you up to Single $2000 and Family $4,000 (sub limit of $200 per 12 hour delay) for the cost of reasonable additional meals and accommodation if, for a reason outside your control, your scheduled transport from Australia or Overseas is delayed for at least 6 hours, for each subsequent 12 hours (or part of that time) of delay.

You must give us your receipts, and written confirmation of the delay from the carrier.

SECTION 2H: SPECIAL EVENTS – NIL EXCESS APPLIES

You only have this cover if you chose Plan A, B and C.

If your Trip is interrupted by any fortuitous cause outside of your control and you are unable to arrive at your destination by the time originally scheduled – for the purpose of attending a pre-arranged wedding, funeral, conference, or sporting event which cannot be delayed as a consequence of your late arrival – We will reimburse you for the reasonable additional cost of using alternative public transport to arrive at the destination on time.

 

[PPW]

The CitiBank Gold Cardholder's International Travel insurance provides:

7. Travel delay

If the departure of any scheduled transport in which you have arranged to travel is delayed for at least six (6) hours due to any unforseen cause outside your control we will reimburse your reasonable additional meal and accomodation costs...

In my view, this is sufficiently broad to cover mechanical delays (unless, you could somehow exercise control over said delays!)

Had a quick look at my Commonwealth Bank Gold/Platinum Insurance policy and think that it would also respond.

 

[Happy Dude]

Thanks Serfty/PPW. I have the citibank goldcard and it's insurance....now.

I was amazed that mech failure of an aircraft was excluded from a travel insurance policy (there's a good ad for reading the fineprint!). I suspect the folks at the airport who said I'd be fine because I had travel insurance would be equally amazed.

Anyhoo, 1cover.com.au are on "the list" and those expecting a decent travel insurance policy should look elsewhere.

 

[Evan]

You would think one of the main reasons for insurance except medical was exactly that, delays/cancellations due to airlines no longer flying route or mechanical failure etc etc. Amazing... oh well i guess thats life sometimes.

Assumption is the ........ i think you all know the rest
E

 

[NM]

You would think one of the main reasons for insurance except medical was exactly that, delays/cancellations due to airlines no longer flying route or mechanical failure etc etc. Amazing... oh well i guess thats life sometimes.

Assumption is the ........ i think you all know the rest
E

Or the cynics would suggest that the main purpose of travel insurance is to make money for the travel insurance companies . The reason people are willing to purchase travel insurance would be as you have indicated.

 

[clifford]

Wow, I'm amazed that this insurance policy (which one has to pay an excessive amount for no doubt) has such a get out clause. A very shonky provider IMHO.

Even my CBA and ANZ gold card travel insurance covers mechanicals. And, I've even had a successful claim for such a delay.

 

[jpk]

Some of the travel insurance companies pimped out in Europe are shonky - several get out clauses, and minimal payouts for delays/cancellations. The majority of people who would buy these packages would never bother to check the details.

 

[spunkarooney]

1cover Travel Insurance is underwritten by Allianz. Allianz is the largest Underwriter of Travel Insurance in Australia and the worlds third largest Insurance Company. You don't get a more reliable Underwriter in Australia.
http://www.1cover.com.au/aboutus.html

The same company involved with the Bernie Banton litigation. See "Bernie Banton" Allianz - Google Search

 

[oz_mark]

1cover Travel Insurance is underwritten by Allianz. Allianz is the largest Underwriter of Travel Insurance in Australia and the worlds third largest Insurance Company. You don't get a more reliable Underwriter in Australia.

Doesn't matter how reliable the underwriter is, if the policy makes the exclusion.

 

[spunkarooney]

I'm sorry; I should have put quotes around the text in my earlier post. The text was taken from the URL provided. The post was not meant to infer that I was endorsing the company.

It would not surprise me if 1Cover is a brand of Allianz. Does anyone here know?

When hunting around for travel insurance I came across lots of sites that appeared to be independent, some almost having an amateurish appearance, but if you look deeper a lot of these were linked back to Allianz.

 

[kpc]

Does anyone have a travel insurance policy that covers expenses incurred as a result of delay/cancellation due to mechanical fault of an aircraft?

1cover.com.au specifically exclude claims arising from this, a lesson I learnt the hard way.

Muchos ta.

http://www.1cover.com.au/assets/pdfs/1CoverPolicy.pdf (see page 42).
Having bought a policy from them, I had a close look at their T & Cs. The red highlighting below is the relevant bits.

13 TRAVEL DELAY EXPENSES
You have this cover if you choose Plan A, B or D. (Nil Excess)
13.1 WE WILL PAY
We will reimburse your reasonable additional meals and
accommodation expenses if a disruption to your journey, for at
least 6 hours, arises from circumstances outside your control:
We will pay up to $200 at the end of the initial 6 hour period.
In addition we will pay up to $200 for each full 24 hour period
that the delay continues beyond the initial 6 hour delay.
The maximum amount we will pay for all claims combined under
this section is shown under the Table of Benefits for the plan you
have selected.
13.2 WE WILL NOT PAY
We will not pay if a disruption to your journey arises from any
of the following reasons:
a] If you can claim your additional meals and accommodation
expenses from anyone else.
b] The financial collapse of any transport, tour or
accommodation provider
c] If your claim arises directly or indirectly from an act or threat
of terrorism.

My interpretation is that 1Cover will pay $200 after a delay of 6 hours, followed by another $200 if the delay exceeds 24 hours and so on, IF the costs of additional meals and accommodation are not provided by the carrier, which seems reasoable to me.

I would have thought that a mechanical failure would constute a delay due to cirumstances beyond your control, and you would be entitled to your costs for meals and accommodation if not already provided by the carrier; otherwise, I would suggest contacting the insurance ombudsman.

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

http://www.1cover.com.au/assets/pdfs/1CoverPolicy.pdf (see page 42).
Having bought a policy from them, I had a close look at their T & Cs. The red highlighting below is the relevant bits.
My interpretation is that 1Cover will pay $200 after a delay of 6 hours, followed by another $200 if the delay exceeds 24 hours and so on, IF the costs of additional meals and accommodation are not provided by the carrier, which seems reasoable to me.

I would have thought that a mechanical failure would constute a delay due to cirumstances beyond your control, and you would be entitled to your costs for meals and accommodation if not already provided by the carrier; otherwise, I would suggest contacting the insurance ombudsman.

I would have thought that one of the issues here was to cover additional costs such as new flight tickets, etc, if you are connecting to a different (eg LCC) carrier on a different ticket. Think Jetstar to Tiger to Air Asia, etc. This policy would clearly not cover such costs, so you would have to purchase a new ticket out of your own pocket.

As I am planning to make several such connections on my next trip, I thought I'd better check my ANZ Gold Visa travel insurance policy. I was pretty sure that under the previous underwriter, CGU, such an event would be covered, but I was extremely disappointed to find that the new underwriter, AIG, only covers events such as those covered by the 1Cover policy. More cost cutting, I suppose, where the customer loses out again.

What this means is I will have to find another policy, at additional cost, that will cover carrier-caused delays and missed connections.

I will probably also ditch the ANZ gold card, because the previous travel insurance (which I have successfully used several times) was one of its best features.

 

[Petch]

As I am planning to make several such connections on my next trip...What this means is I will have to find another policy, at additional cost, that will cover carrier-caused delays and missed connections.

You are not the only one, please keep us informed with your progress. (Personally, I have until the beginning of Feb to find a new annual plan provider, one who actually provides adequate cover.)

 

[trooper]

Or perhaps that type of cover is either unavailable or extremely expensive...

After all, Insurance companies are in the business of making money... they will not insure against things that are - shall we say - likely to happen.. unless of course the premiums are so high as to make their exposure negligible... (Car insurance rates for a 17 year old male on say.. a Lamborghini :mrgreen: )

The probability of misconnecting when one has opted to book "connecting" tickets on two different airlines (not partners).. and the subsequent expense of rebooking "use or lose" fares MUST be fairly considerable.... so IMO it isn't hard to see why insurance companies may not want to take on such risks....

After all, we are clearly discussing the conscious decision to book the riskier option (the one where no airline is responsible for our onward travel).... either to save money (LCC was mentioned) presumably or to "suit ourselves" for whatever other reason......

A story (probably apocryphal... but never let the truth stand in the way as they say) from the Canberra bushfires some years ago tells of a resident of the suburb of Duffy calling an Insurance company to urgently insure his house...... The insurance company wisely declined - as many houses in that area had already been shown on TV going up in flames...

He was (as the story goes) irate, and demanded to know why they wouldn't accept his premiums....:mrgreen:

Travel insurance is difficult , and expenisve to obtain.. for those over 72 years of age... it isn't hard to understand WHY...

This seems to be a similar situation to me... the risks of a claim being made are high enough to make it unprofitable/unworkable for the insurers...

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

Or perhaps that type of cover is either unavailable or extremely expensive...

After all, Insurance companies are in the business of making money... they will not insure against things that are - shall we say - likely to happen.. unless of course the premiums are so high as to make their exposure negligible... (Car insurance rates for a 17 year old male on say.. a Lamborghini :mrgreen: )

The probability of misconnecting when one has opted to book "connecting" tickets on two different airlines (not partners).. and the subsequent expense of rebooking "use or lose" fares MUST be fairly considerable.... so IMO it isn't hard to see why insurance companies may not want to take on such risks....

After all, we are clearly discussing the conscious decision to book the riskier option (the one where no airline is responsible for our onward travel).... either to save money (LCC was mentioned) presumably or to "suit ourselves" for whatever other reason......

A story (probably apocryphal... but never let the truth stand in the way as they say) from the Canberra bushfires some years ago tells of a resident of the suburb of Duffy calling an Insurance company to urgently insure his house...... The insurance company wisely declined - as many houses in that area had already been shown on TV going up in flames...

He was (as the story goes) irate, and demanded to know why they wouldn't accept his premiums....:mrgreen:

Travel insurance is difficult , and expenisve to obtain.. for those over 72 years of age... it isn't hard to understand WHY...

This seems to be a similar situation to me... the risks of a claim being made are high enough to make it unprofitable/unworkable for the insurers...

Well trooper, That's all fine and good, but there are some situations where you cannot get all of your travel requirements on one ticket or one/related carriers.

So what's the answer? Self-insure I guess (I have actually bought non-refundable tickets on different airlines on the odd occasion, where airfares are low) just to give a better chance of making critical connections. Stupid? Maybe.

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

You are not the only one, please keep us informed with your progress. (Personally, I have until the beginning of Feb to find a new annual plan provider, one who actually provides adequate cover.)

Hi Petch, I've been doing a bit more research and it looks like the Zuji "Plan A" policy might cover it. It's a little bit vague, but provides :

Cover for additional travel expenses following transport delays to reach events such as:

• Wedding
• Funeral
• Conference
• Sporting Event
• Pre-paid travel/tour arrangements.

If your connecting ticket can be considered to be a "pre-paid travel arrangement" then I don't see why you shouldn't be covered. I have also tried to read the "small print" and couldn't immediately find an exclusion clause for this.

Maybe you'd like to have a look and see what you think.

 

[Petch]

Cover for additional travel expenses following transport delays to reach events such as:

• Pre-paid travel/tour arrangements.

Thanks for the tip. Will have to investigate further.

 

[trooper]

Please keep us advised! Clearly it is a product that would have a market if affordable...

I suspect however that the sensible (not at all stupid!!) self-insurance mentioned above may be the only answer!

 

[aspro2]

See also this thread for a discussion of the insurance problems regarding missing separately booked connections.