Late on Tuesday night a client called me. From Northern India.
He’s a Professional Services provider from Auckland, but on an trip back for a little while.
Heavy fog had meant an internal flight cancellation, he could not fly on to his next stop for 2 more days and how did his policy respond?
He’s insured on a Annual Travel Corporate policy – a competitively priced cover from a well respected provider on the NZ travel market.
Taking him through the policy, we determined that as his delay would be more than 6 hours he was entitled to claim and since it was over 12 hours he would be eligible for up to the maximum benefit.
The policy therefore provided him with alternative accomodation costs of over $1000 and an allowance for related food and sundries as well.
But as he is a resourceful chap, he also wondered if he could use the policy to help him book alternative transport to his next destination – like the train.
The answer to that was
If it is a cheaper option to cancel the flight and go by train to another location than waiting for the new schedule offered by the Airline, they can proceed to do so.
They have to request for a refund for the unused flight and any other affected bookings and submit a claim for reimbursement for the extra costs they have incurred as a result of the event.
I also asked him to call the 24 hour assistance line that his Insurer provide, so we could put them on notice of a potential claim and just talk through his options with them as well.
They emphasise that insured travellers place in this position should
- Keep all receipts,
- Get a written explanation from the travel provider explaining the reasons for the delay and its duration
- Put a claim in against the Airline or other travel provider if it is possible to do so.
I went off to bed pleased to be of help to my client. As a Broker, providing insurance is really only a small part of the service; when problems occur that is where we can really make a difference for our clients.
We have a range of Travel Insurance options to suit all Budgets and Journey type – click to start a Quote on the link below
This article is not intended to be specific advise and all travel insurance providers operate differently. Please always read your policy wording carefully before deciding to purchase an insurance policy.