Air Canada Pilot Strike and Cancellation / Interruption Insurance

[CDNPolar]

This can impact many and not just Canadians.

 

The Air Canada (AC) Pilot contract negotiations don't look to be going that well.  We are anticipating a strike and a complete shutdown of Air Canada by September 17th.  

 

What is being discussed now is that AC my and probably will start to cancel flights and trim down operations starting as soon as Friday September 13th or Saturday September 14th.  This will help the airline to minimize the number of people in distress and without flights next week.

 

Just as a note on the insurance, and why I am such an advocate for insurance.  Medical, Cancellation, and Interruption Insurance.

 

We leave on Friday for a work conference with flights both ways on AC.  We are AC out and AC Rouge back home.  Our tickets are return from September 13 to 16.

 

We have been offered full refund to cancel or change now.  It is not in our budget now for the flight costs to book an alternate airline this late notice.  So, we are going to take what comes and use our insurance.  Here is what came of a detailed discussion with my insurance company - Blue Cross, a Canadian Insurance provider.

 

Our out of pocket costs are:

 

Flights

Hotel - non-refundable at this stage

 

* We cannot use our insurance now, because if we cancel our flights we don't have a covered reason to claim back the hotel costs under cancellation rules.

* We can wait until Friday and if our flight goes, then we go, and if our flight home is cancelled by AC then our Interruption insurance kicks in and we can purchase a new flight home, one way, and the insurance pays.

* IF BY CHANCE we are informed on Friday - the day of our first flight out - that the flight is cancelled, then we qualify to purchase a new round trip ticket on another airline and be covered with Interruption insurance.  Interruption insurance kicks in on the day of departure.  We can also choose to not go at this point and claim the hotel pre-paid costs, the limo ride to the airport, and any other non-refundable costs.

 

Buy insurance, but know what it covers.

 

I learned from this experience that on the day of departure, I can buy a new round trip flight and have it covered.  I did not know that before now.

 

That really works for me because in the situation of a cruise, I don't want to not get to the cruise.

[MacCruising2018]

Thanks for the info CDNPolar. Sigh.... we are in such a case.  Our flight is to depart Sept 18th for Denmark, where we are to board our Norwegian Fjords cruise on the 22nd.  At this point, the only thing we can do is wait to see if they cancel the flights, and then put through our cruise through on our credit card insurance under trip interruption/cancellation.  If AC starts winding down operations this weekend, we'll start cancelling our accommodations and excursions too.  Dang it all!  This is the second cruise this year that's gotten cancelled (first one was due to a medical issue for me). 

[CDNPolar]

14 hours ago, MacCruising2018 said:

Thanks for the info CDNPolar. Sigh.... we are in such a case.  Our flight is to depart Sept 18th for Denmark, where we are to board our Norwegian Fjords cruise on the 22nd.  At this point, the only thing we can do is wait to see if they cancel the flights, and then put through our cruise through on our credit card insurance under trip interruption/cancellation.  If AC starts winding down operations this weekend, we'll start cancelling our accommodations and excursions too.  Dang it all!  This is the second cruise this year that's gotten cancelled (first one was due to a medical issue for me). 

 

Sorry to hear this.  This is quite a situation for you.

 

This is a big hit for a vacation that was expensive and something that you were really looking forward to, but think of the mothers or siblings that won't make it to a wedding, or someone on their last few days and family cannot make it home.

 

The impact of these things are so far reaching.

 

I am not anti-union at all, but there have to be limits to this kind of strike action.  There must be a better way.  We know it will happen again in 10 years, but in the meantime the flight attendants union, the baggage handlers union, the maintenance workers union....?  It is never ending.

 

The worst part of this is waiting for the cancellation.

 

We have non-refundable hotel costs, that we cannot claim until AC cancel our flights.

 

We have the option to self-cancel our flights now, but then we would not have an insurance claim for the hotel.

 

If we go and our return flight is cancelled, then we have coverage for a new flight home, but that may be a hassle to book....

 

I have friends with flights also on the 18th and they are stuck waiting to see what AC is going to do...

 

I feel for you.

 

Good luck.

[jclinard]

Sure they'll pay? My policy I'm looking at will only pay for an unannounced strike.  If they announce a strike, I think you're screwed.

 

 

[CDNPolar]

On 9/12/2024 at 4:03 PM, jclinard said:

Sure they'll pay? My policy I'm looking at will only pay for an unannounced strike.  If they announce a strike, I think you're screwed.

 

 

I know this answer is late, as I was travelling and not online.

YES, Blue Cross would have paid because I purchased the AC tickets months before the strike was announced.  I have this directly from the Blue Cross agent in a phone call (recorded with a reference number to the recording) and he verified with a Supervisor - at my request - before we ended the call.

 

The key with insurance is having the insurance and buying the ticket BEFORE something happens.

 

For instance, with all the unrest in the world, if you buy the insurance after the Canadian Government warns against all travel, your insurance is worthless, but buy the insurance and the tickets and then the Government announces a travel advisory, then you have a claim.

[jclinard]

That's not how my policy reads, and people on the phone will tell you anything you want to hear.  

 

I've got the denial letters from Travel Guard from the only time I made a claim.  They'll find any reason to deny, and I assume them leaving out the language regarding the date of the announcement of the strike is deliberate.

[CDNPolar]

2 hours ago, jclinard said:

That's not how my policy reads, and people on the phone will tell you anything you want to hear.  

 

I've got the denial letters from Travel Guard from the only time I made a claim.  They'll find any reason to deny, and I assume them leaving out the language regarding the date of the announcement of the strike is deliberate.

 

Sorry to disappoint you but I have from the Agent AND the Supervisor the confirmation that Blue Cross would pay as long as the tickets were purchased before the strike was announced.

 

I also have a personal friend with Manulife Insurance and she assured me that Manulife Interruption insurance would cover a flight home if the pilots strike happened as long as the tickets were purchased before the strike was announced.

 

This is company by company.  Perhaps Travel Guard does not cover this but others do.

 

I have sufficient back up that this would be covered so I don't have to think that they are telling me just what I want to hear.  These calls are recorded and if they are telling me just what I want to hear then that is business fraud.

 

This post is about CANADIAN insurance not US insurance.  This is CANADIAN coverage which differs greatly from US policies.

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 06:52 PM by CDNPolar

[jclinard]

I guess we'll both believe what we want to believe.

 

 

[CDNPolar]

11 hours ago, jclinard said:

I guess we'll both believe what we want to believe.

 

 

This is not a factor of believing what we want to believe.  Insurance in Canada has different terms than insurance available to Americans and vice versa.

 

With some - but not all - insurance companies in Canada, strikes are covered.

[GeezerCouple]

58 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

This is not a factor of believing what we want to believe.  Insurance in Canada has different terms than insurance available to Americans and vice versa.

 

With some - but not all - insurance companies in Canada, strikes are covered.

 

Agree with @CDNPolar again!

And it's not always all that different in the USA.

 

As @CDNPolar states, it's NOT a matter of "just believing what we want to believe".

 

That is, insurance policies include DEFINITIONS for a reason.... so that the insured knows what is or is not covered, and so the insurer makes the coverage clear, etc,

 

Here is the definition of STRIKE copied *verbatim* from our most recent travel insurance policy from Travel Insured (this year, 2024):

 

Strike means a labor disagreement resulting in a stoppage of work which:

1. a)  is unannounced and unpublished at time this policy is purchased;

2. b)  is organized, and legally sanctioned by a labor union or other organized association of workers, in a trade or

   profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests; and

3. c)  interferes with the normal departure and arrival of a Common Carrier.

 

The FIRST part of that definition (a) states that the strike would need to be

a)  is unannounced and unpublished at time this policy is purchased; 

 

That is, was the STRIKE generally "known" AT THE TIME THE POLICY IS PURCHASED?

That is NOT just a "matter of belief".

And fortunately, it isn't relying upon a phone call that is [hopefully] recorded, etc.  (I'm always nervous about relying upon the "other party" ever allowing access to a recording.)

 

19 hours ago, jclinard said:

... I assume them leaving out the language regarding the date of the announcement of the strike is deliberate.

 

In EVERY policy we've had, there are definitions, so the insurer is absolutely NOT "leaving out the language" that is involved.

 

That's very similar to the weather issue:

 

"

Claims are not payable if a hurricane is foreseeable prior Your Effective Date for Trip Cancellation. A hurricane is foreseeable on the date it becomes a named storm;

"

and 

 

"

Your Scheduled Departure City or Scheduled Destination is under a hurricane warning as issued by the NOAA Hurricane Center within 48 hours of Your Scheduled Departure Date. Cancellation of Your Trip must occur more than 14 days following Your Effective Date of coverage for Trip Cancellation;

"

That is, one can't "notice" there is some worrisome weather pattern developing and THEN purchase the coverage/planning the trip and then cancel and get paid.

 

There is a reason there is a long list of DEFINITIONS with every policy (at least in the USA, for most types of insurance, not just "travel insurance").

 

This is why so many of us keep emphasizing the bit about READ THE POLICY.

Yes, it takes a bit of time, but it's not written in opaque language.  At least with our policies, there's a time window to read the policy and get a refund if one determines it's not suitable.

 

GC

[jclinard]

Yeah, I read my policy.  but nobody wants to listen to that.

[klfrodo]

10 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

This is not a factor of believing what we want to believe.  Insurance in Canada has different terms than insurance available to Americans and vice versa.

 

With some - but not all - insurance companies in Canada, strikes are covered.

Hey CDN,   don't fall into some posters personal issues.

 The poster arguing with you is still butthurt from an issue 3 or 4 years ago when he was upset because his claim was denied for something that was never a covered event in the first place. Instead of just saying, "well, I learned something" and moving on, all insurance companies are out to screw people even though many of us have experienced successful claims.

[GeezerCouple]

44 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

Hey CDN,   don't fall into some posters personal issues.

 The poster arguing with you is still butthurt from an issue 3 or 4 years ago when he was upset because his claim was denied for something that was never a covered event in the first place. Instead of just saying, "well, I learned something" and moving on, all insurance companies are out to screw people even though many of us have experienced successful claims.

 

Did they ever post what the claim actually was for and what the insurer stated as the reason for the denial?

Perhaps I missed that.

I'd genuinely like to know *IF* there is a problem with a major insurer really NOT paying what is apparently/obviously(?) a valid claim.

 

GC

[klfrodo]

37 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Did they ever post what the claim actually was for and what the insurer stated as the reason for the denial?

Perhaps I missed that.

I'd genuinely like to know *IF* there is a problem with a major insurer really NOT paying what is apparently/obviously(?) a valid claim.

 

GC

Did they ever post what the claim actually was for and what the insurer stated as the reason for the denial?

 

Yes, but it's not really worth my time to go back and look. I just remember that many of us told the poster that it probably wasn't going to be a covered loss due to X, Y, & Z. Ever since that, poster has been on a rampage about how insurance companies never pay up and only trust those who can tell you the color of the check. (whatever that's supposed to mean.)

 

I'd genuinely like to know *IF* there is a problem with a major insurer really NOT paying what is apparently/obviously(?) a valid claim.

 

After 20 years of following this board and Steve, I've never heard of a reputable travel insurance company not reimbursing up to the limits of a valid claim. Have I seen some language that may be concerning? Yes. Have I seen or heard about some wild hoops one needs to jump through? Yes. Have I heard of some places who play the long game? Yes. Have I read about or seen some people whine and complain because the insurance company isn't playing fair and that "they" didn't know something wasn't a covered event? Yes. But if you play the game by the rules set forth in the contract and your claim is valid, you will eventually receive your reimbursement.