Trying to understand these travellers' unfortunate ticketing/insurance problem

[aspro2]

It was hard to choose the right forum for this one... Saw a letter in the The Age about someone's ticketing/rebooking mess and I can't see how their situation makes sense. So out of simple curiosity, I'm wondering what scenarios could have caused these travellers' problems? (I'm not assuming the travellers are telling lies or deliberately omitting crucial details!)

The letter (shortened/paraphrased by me):

Booked Brisbane-Singapore-Copenhagen-Nice. Because of Cyclone Alfred, no flights out of Brisbane. Subsequently rebooked when the airport reopened five days later, but ended up in Paris, not Copenhagen.

After losing our flight from Copenhagen to Nice, we had to make and pay for a new booking from Paris to Nice (our intended destination). This cost $1486.28 for myself and my wife. If we had not paid for the additional flight from Paris to Nice, we would have lost the whole of the rest of the ticket, which was non-refundable and unused, which would have been far more costly that paying for the additional flight from Paris to Nice.

American Express Platinum Card travel insurance, would not refund the unavoidable additional rebooking cost.

As far as I can see, this is one ticket, so I'm having trouble seeing how the travellers had to pay for the Paris-Nice leg, let alone why that was necessary in order to protect the remaining ticket sectors. Not sure why travel insurance would have refused the costs too, unless the policy was taken out after the cyclone had been predicted.

 

[markis10]

A lack of details does make it hard, it’s possible the revised routing was the only option under a commercial waiver or the leg from Copenhagen was outside the scope of the waiver. They certainly paid top dollar to get to nice.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It’s not clear who did the rebooking, or how the ticket was constructed. If it was all on the one ticket, they would have ended up in Nice whenever the rebooking took place.

It seems the Copenhagen-Nice might have been a separate ticket, as they said they ‘lost’ that leg.

Regardless, they should be checking their itinerary, because ending up in Nice on their own accord won’t necessarily stop the rest of the ticket being cancelled.

 

[aspro2]

If it was all on the one ticket, they would have ended up in Nice whenever the rebooking took place.

It seems the Copenhagen-Nice might have been a separate ticket, as they said they ‘lost’ that leg.

I think the "lost" reference is to the rerouting SIN-PAR instead of the original SIN-CPH-NCE. It does read as if this is all on one ticket. And yes, my curiosity is exactly why NCE wasn't the rerouted outbound endpoint no matter what.

 

[CaptJCool]

Cause the airline didn’t play NICE?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I think the "lost" reference is to the rerouting SIN-PAR instead of the original SIN-CPH-NCE. It does read as if this is all on one ticket. And yes, my curiosity is exactly why NCE wasn't the rerouted outbound endpoint no matter what.

I thought about that too… but then why wouldn’t they simply say they lost their final flight to Nice? Instead of, specifically, the CPH-NCE flight?

Perhaps with all the rebooking they accepted the flight to Paris, given its closer to Nice, and accepted to make their own way there? Or just assumed travel insurance would pay. (Most common mistake in reading TI complains is that people don’t understand when travel insurance applies, and when it won’t… they make assumptions)

 

[CaptJCool]

Perhaps that’s expecting too much of travel insurance ?
Like is it really designed for Medivacs rather than delays and inconveniences - in the original definition it was to cover the loss of sunk ship or house that burnt down

Rather than the mod cons of private health insurance for example that cover the costs of physio …

After all, it’s about making money based on who carries the risk, the bigger risks with huge financial impact being few and far between. Some stats I saw recently was there was something like 5-6 high cost Medical evacuations in a year

 

[Flyfrequently]

I would have been in contact with TI before booking anything additional but also would have taken the train from Paris to Nice, it's a very scenic journey.
And yes, needs more information as suggested above.