Volcanic Eruption - How did your travel insurance company handle this?

[diane.in.ny]

I'm hoping I'm starting a thread that will be helpful to future travelers...namely...did your travel insurance company come through for you?

 

I'm sure current travelers are very much in a turmoil and so are the insurance companies. But when things settle down a bit, I am hoping those with first hand experience will share it with us what their insurance company did for them. (Please be sure to give company name and level of coverage.)

 

In the meantime, my heart goes out to those that are missing their cruises or are struggling to get home.

[cherylandtk]

See here for what several of the major insurers are saying (most treat this as a weather event).

http://www.tripinsurancestore.com/blog/

[diane.in.ny]

See here for what several of the major insurers are saying (most treat this as a weather event).

http://www.tripinsurancestore.com/blog/

 

I did see this link on another thread and, truthfully, was looking for more detailed info than was provided on this blog.

[cherylandtk]

Then you will have to wait a while until a) travelers make it home and b)file claims and c)remember to post their results. ;)

[diane.in.ny]

Yes and no as I know that some people have already been in touch with their insurance companies.

 

Friend traveling in two weeks found out her insurance company will pay for delayed flights. I'm trying to get some details to post here.

[cherylandtk]

Here is one link, but again it is still just generalties and not the specifics you mentioned.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1185952. Although it does look like many claims are being covered at the cost of tens of millions of dollars for one insurance company.

 

BTW, do post the specifics from your friend when you have them; policy brand and name, amount covered, amount re-imbursed, type of coverage claimed (delay, vs. cancellation vs. interruption)

[cruiseco]

 

Friend traveling in two weeks found out her insurance company will pay for delayed flights. I'm trying to get some details to post here.

 

That's nothing to get too excited about. Most plans, for travel delay, have the following wording (or similar). This is from TravelSafe:

 

"Travel Delay: Benefits will be paid for reasonable accommodation, meal, and local transportation expenses incurred by You, up to the Maximum Benefit Amount shown in the Schedule of Benefits, if You are delayed for 8 hours or more while en route to or from, or during a Trip, due to:

 

a) any delay of a Common Carrier (the delay must be certified by the Common Carrier);"

 

So the delay could result from the Earth being invaded by Martians and they'd still be covered. What's going to separate the good policies/companies from the less good is if they allow the client to CANCEL the trip if the flight to their cruise destination is canceled because of the volcano problem and be covered for the cost of the cruise (the airline will reimburse the cost of the air ticket).

 

This is from that same TravelSafe plan under covered reasons for Trip Cancellation and most plans have similar wording:

 

" h) Inclement Weather that causes complete cessation of services of Your Common Carrier for at least 12 consecutive hours; . . ."

 

When they say "complete cessation of services of Your Common Carrier" does this mean only your flight? All of their flights originating at your departure airport? All of their flights at the destination airport? Both? Or does it possibly mean the shut down of all flights of the airline no matter what route? What if your destination airport is accepting local arrivals by your airline but not trans-Atlantic flights? Does that still qualify as a "complete cessation of services"? What if a window opens up and a few flights get in or out but not yours and that window closes again? Do you need to wait out a new 12 hours of "complete cessation of services"? I just hate the uncertainty here. Perhaps a quick call to TravelSafe could make this more clear, but if so why not spell it out clearly to begin with?

 

To compare, I find CSA's wording of their covered reasons for trip cancellation to be much more consumer-friendly:

 

"arrangements canceled by an airline, cruise line, or tour operator, resulting from inclement weather, mechanical breakdown of the aircraft, . . ."

 

So if your arrangements are canceled by the airline due to weather (CSA has declared this a weather event) you're good. You're not in the position of having to worry about what's happening to anyone else's flight, only yours.

 

I know I'd rather have a plan with wording similar to CSA's rather than TravelSafe's. I'm not saying TravelSafe won't do right by its clients but the vagueness of the plan wording and the possible loopholes I can see there would be a cause to worry.

 

It's going to take at least weeks before anyone has any real data about how a specific plan handled any particular circumstance.