To ask you to stop giving false info about travel insurance?

[Libre2]

Every time there is a thread (of which there are increasing numbers now) about a flight being cancelled, several people will pipe up and say "claim on your travel insurance". 99 times out of 100 this situation is not covered under travel insurance.

It wastes everyone's time if claims are put in for this, yours and the travel insurers.

Generally (unless you have VERY expensive insurance), unless it's a weather issue, a strike or a mechanical issue, the airline cancelling is the responsibility of the airline, not of the travel insurer.

I know it's dull, but check your wording before submitting a claim. Yes, I might be a trifle weary from working in the industry over the last two years.

Is it not? That seems silly.

Why? Insurers cannot cover every eventuality and an airline cancelling on a whim (as it were) would be impossible to rate for. Travel insurance is a business with incredibly tight margins, if every eventuality were covered then everyone would go out of business.

The airline that cancelled the flight is responsible for refunding your money/compensating you.

Ah fair enough so the flight company would compensate for the whole holiday?

Um, I guess they should do - whether or not that happens in practice I don't actually know!

Genuine question - if a cancelled flight is responsible for the rest of your holiday being cancelled, would your travel insurance cover the loss on hotel/car hire? I must admit that I'd always assumed it would.

Ah sorry cross posted. I last flew somewhere years ago and have never needed to claim. That's interesting and makes perfect sense. Thank you.

Ah sorry - X-post with PP and OP! That really surprises me actually - surely that's absolutely the kind of thing that travel insurance IS supposed to cover?

Did anyone payout when people got stuck in that Icelandic volcano eruption? Would that be travel insurance or the airlines? Or does travel insurance just cover the traveller if they get injured.

@WooNoodle our holiday was cancelled due to the Iceland volcano, airline refunded flights and out insurance covered the car and accommodation.

My insurance covers the rest of the holiday if travel is disrupted.

Oh well that's confusing me as the PP said the airlines would have to if the flight was delayed?

Genuine question - if a cancelled flight is responsible for the rest of your holiday being cancelled, would your travel insurance cover the loss on hotel/car hire? I must admit that I'd always assumed it would.

I would like to know that too. We usually book different elements of our holiday separately.

Oh actually no I see your insurance covers it. Confused now. Is all insurance different? Some cover flights?

So who should one contact for reimbursement if not your travel insurance company? You don't know if the flight company will do so? It is very confusing.

Yes I'm confused now too

Actually don't answer, we aren't abroading this year so my question is moot.

The airline would only cover the cost of the cancelled flights (and any compensation required by law).

Your insurance would cover any other costs; like accommodation and car hire etc, provided they were covered under your policy. Typically they'll be under a clause that requires you to show that it wasn't your fault that you couldn't use the services.

The airline is responsible for the flight portion, insurance is there for reimbursement of car hire and accommodation. That (and medical issues) are the reason we pay for travel insurance. We have had to claim for accommodation in the past due to cancelled/delayed flight and it has always been covered by insurer

The airline should reimburse it or reschedule it so you should contact them in the first instance.

No they do not. That is claimed from your travel insurance - assuming that you have taken out the correct cover. Perhaps if you are going to give people advice on travel insurance you should know what it does? So yes, you are being unreasonable, because if you start a thread telling people what their insurance is for, you should know what their insurance is for!

Travel insurance policies can vary a lot in what they cover. It pays to read the small print.

It is very dependent on it being covered in the wording. Many insurers do not cover this (flights or accommodation). Some will have something called travel interruption or catastrophe cover or other such things which do allow for cover.

Bog standard insurance is there for medical, baggage and cancellation in the event of illness or death.

It really is worth checking before you buy.

I know very much what quite a lot of insurance covers for and I can assure you that a lot of insurance does NOT cover if an airline cancels for anything other than strike, inclement weather or mechanical failure.

However, I don't know whether airlines routinely compensate for flights that are cancelled, whether they give vouchers, whether they rearrange or whether they do nothing.

If the airline doesn't cover it then I guess I would contact my travel insurers. If they don't cover it then I would contact my credit card company.

Either way I would assume I would get the money back from one of them.