 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm typing this back at home when I should have been in Innsbruck or on our private transfer to Obergurgl. Basically, we got delayed for 3 hours this morning on the M25 and did not make the BA flight. I phoned BA to see if we could get on a later flight but they were both full. BA moved us to the 8:15 flight tomorrow - cost £35 x 2.
So Mrs D and I will lose 1 night in our hotel and 1 day's use of our pre-paid lift passes. Total value £500. We have full travel insurance including skiing etc. My question is - would you expect this to be covered? Having never had this problem we assumed we would. Our insurer said No! What do you think? Anybody managed to make a claim for similar?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Unlikely. Usually only covered for public transport issues, not private car.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The insurance cover was fine for the fact that we were in a car. If we had chosen to buy new air tickets they would have paid for that.
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@Rob D, sorry to hear your bad news.
i know it doesn't help you, but i suppose the lesson to be learnt for the rest of us, for your unfortunate experience is to phone the insurers 24h helpline straight away from the airport/ferry etc, to find out what you are entitled to.
it sounds like your insurer would have advised you from the airport to buy another flight, if possible.
i bought my annual trip insurance the other week, for upcoming easter (and other trips) and am sure there was a section about missed departures due to unforeseen circumstances, will go back and check entitlements, and make sure em contact no is in my phone.
hope you get out tomorrow without any issues
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Rob D, you were unlucky with a three hour delay on M25 this weekend, although it is always a grim road and to be undertaken with a huge allowance for delays. But next weekend is only going to be worse, with it actually closed around the A3 junction.
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Which insurance company and what policy? The terms are by no means standard when it comes to things like this.
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| sugarmoma666 wrote: |
| Which insurance company and what policy? The terms are by no means standard when it comes to things like this. |
I won't name (and possibly shame) just yet as the reason for the post was to see if my expectations were too high!
I've been looking at other policies and it's very difficult to say if it would be covered or not. Most policies I look at would have accepted getting delayed behind an RTA as a reason to claim, it's just what would be covered by that claim?
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| Pamski wrote: |
| @Rob D, you were unlucky with a three hour delay on M25 this weekend, although it is always a grim road and to be undertaken with a huge allowance for delays. But next weekend is only going to be worse, with it actually closed around the A3 junction. |
national highways
Latest updates
01 March 2024
More details about our M25 closure
Last weekend we closed the A3 for a full weekend and demolished two bridges.
Our next weekend closure will be for more demolition work, this time on the M25.
It means the M25 between junctions 10 and 11 will be closed in both directions from 9pm on Friday 15 to 6am Monday 18 March.
Diversion routes
The local diversion route below will be in place which is the same for both directions:
Junction 10 - Junction 11: North bound A3 to Painshill Junction, A245 towards Woking, and then A320 to M25 Junction 11.
Junction 11 - Junction 10: A320 south towards Woking, A245 towards Byfleet and Painshill junction, Southbound A3 to Junction 10.
Taking the M25 in the other direction to avoid our closure is also an option.
Either way, if you do travel, please leave a lot of extra time for your journey.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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surprised you cannot claim for missed flight...usually that includes additional costs to complete your journey...it should be in the T&Cs, check it out then I think its worth contacting them again, useful to pin down what caused the traffic jam, also show how you allowed sufficient time for the journey, with timings and flight numbers, good,luck
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| snowornever wrote: |
| surprised you cannot claim for missed flight...usually that includes additional costs to complete your journey...it should be in the T&Cs, check it out then I think its worth contacting them again, useful to pin down what caused the traffic jam, also show how you allowed sufficient time for the journey, with timings and flight numbers, good,luck |
We could claim if we had bought another flight, but we had contacted BA and the earliest flight they could get us on was tomorrow (Sunday) they charged us 2 x £35 but our policy has a £50 per person excess!. Our insurers are not disputing the claim as their T&C say:
"The vehicle you are travelling in is involved in an accident, breaks down, is delayed by an incident that causes traffic jams or road closures."
I just naively thought our lost day of our holiday would be covered as well!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Rob D, fair enough. I've just had a look at my insurance (Coverwise) and I think I'd be covered for the 2 times £35 plus the cost of a replacement transfer tomorrow, but not the costs of things I'd be unable to use (e.g. the hotel and lift pass).
I would, however, have been covered for up to £1k to get me there:
"We will pay you up to £1,000 for reasonable additional accommodation (room only) and travel expenses necessarily incurred in reaching your overseas destination or returning to your home"
subject to me having left what the insurance company / airline deem to be sufficient time to get to the airport.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Have you contacted the hotel? They could see you as a no show & let you room to someone else if not!
Dont worry about the lost lift pass - maybe you can fit in some extra time on arrival or leaving day
As for being covered.. depends on the reason of the delay really. + you would need to pay the excess.
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I asked about this very recently on here. Pretty much for the same concern (in car to airport).
Most policies have a version of "missed departure" but the wordings of why and what they cover do seem to vary widely. And, as said above, then there is the excess.
It's blinking annoying that they expect you to sit in the UK in some hotel room, twiddling your thumbs for a day or two, and not reimburse or compensate you for lost destination hotel or lost ski time (and pass, hire, etc costs). 
Hope that you get it sorted & enjoy the rest of your jollies.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Gored wrote: |
Have you contacted the hotel? They could see you as a no show & let you room to someone else if not!
Dont worry about the lost lift pass - maybe you can fit in some extra time on arrival or leaving day
As for being covered.. depends on the reason of the delay really. + you would need to pay the excess. |
We've advised both the hotel and our transfer and they are now expecting us tomorrow.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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This should fall under the Trip Interruption part of the policy, and your hotel, lost flight and loss of use of your lift ticket should all be covered.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| MorningGory wrote: |
| Unlikely. Usually only covered for public transport issues, not private car. |
I really dislike this sort of post. It is stated with such confidence that some may believe it. When in fact it just complete nonsense and clearly the poster has absolutely no knowledge base.
There may be some insurance policies that only cover public transport delays. But in 30 years + of having travel insurance policies I have not encountered one. So if they exist at all they must be a very rare beast.
As an aside, as well as covering additional expenses my policy has a sort of compensation scheme where there is automatic entitlement to a payout determined by the length of delay. Not all policies have this but my current one does.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@zikomo, No, you're the one talking complete nonsense. I've had policies that explicitly stated this in the past. And my Mrs is highly qualified in insurance which comes in handy sometimes.....
No need to be so aggressive either 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Pass the popcorn 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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School gates at 4.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Covered on my policy.
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Aside from gratuitous aggression, this thread does rather neatly illustrate that all questions like 'will my insurance policy cover x loss?' should elicit one answer and one answer alone, namely 'read the small print of your policy'. It is never a good idea to assume that one legal document is the same as another, even if they look similar. Apologies if, to some, that's stating the bleeding obvious.
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@Hurtle, spot on.
@Origen, thank you. Not that I'm averse to talking nonsense 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@MorningGory, you stated bluntly that travel insurance does not cover delay when travelling in a private car. That was simply nonsense. As others have pointed out.
Had you stated that SOME insurance policies do not cover it that would indeed have demonstrated a level of knowledge. But you didn’t. And now are finding it hard to admit you were wrong, and your advice was not helpful at all.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
| Aside from gratuitous aggression, this thread does rather neatly illustrate that all questions like 'will my insurance policy cover x loss?' should elicit one answer and one answer alone, namely 'read the small print of your policy'. It is never a good idea to assume that one legal document is the same as another, even if they look similar. Apologies if, to some, that's stating the bleeding obvious. |
+1
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@zikomo, I used the words unlikely and usually. Not sure if English isn't your first language but that is not stating bluntly that it doesn't  in fact it does strongly imply some.
So I wasn't wrong. And it wasn't advice, it was an opinion.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Quote: |
you stated bluntly that travel insurance does not cover delay when travelling in a private car
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No he didn't.
Not that this is what the OP asked. His question was not about the immediate additional financial cost of missing the flight, but whether he can reasonably expect financial compensation for missing a day's enjoyment of his holiday (hotel, pre-booked ski pass etc). Looking at my policy, the answer to this is an emphatic "NO". Just as it wouldn't compensate me if I couldn't go skiing because the weather was terrible or I caught a bad dose of norovirus.
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I overslept and missed the one-a-week flight to Kathmandu
Can I claim for the week’s yak hire I won’t now need?
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You know it makes sense.
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@Red Leon, only if you have the Zikomo extension to your policy
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks for this. It does not at all say that travel insurance products will not "usually" cover missed departure as a result of a delay when travelling in a private car. So I'm not sure of your point really.
I quote from your link:
"An insurance provider may accept a claim for a missed flight if the delay was caused by:
Public transport delays
Road accidents – but be aware that some insurance providers only offer cover if the accident happened on a dual carriageway or motorway
Your car breaking down
Extreme weather conditions – such as a snowstorm."
SOME policies may not cover it, and some will have severe restrictions. But most will fully cover you if you miss your flight when travelling to the airport in a private car. I know this because every single travel policy I have ever purchased did so.
Hands up anyone who has a policy that does NOT cover you when travelling in a private car?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| MorningGory wrote: |
@zikomo, I used the words unlikely and usually. Not sure if English isn't your first language but that is not stating bluntly that it doesn't in fact it does strongly imply some.
So I wasn't wrong. And it wasn't advice, it was an opinion. |
I understood you perfectly well thank you.
You are wrong. The vast majority of policies will indeed cover you when travelling to the airport in a private car. So the opposite of what you said is true, it is likely that you would be covered and it would be unusual if you were not.
I am interested in who here has a policy that would not cover travel to the airport in a private car. There must be some policies that would not, but I have not encountered any so far.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I have read the small print of a lot of policies over the last 12m or so. They all seem to vary when you get to the 'missed departure' clause (never mind how you interpret them as regards any consequential losses, eventual option of cancellation, etc). Some don't mention cars at all, only "booked" public transport or taxis. Some mention cars but only breakdown; others don't mention breakdown but only if your car has an accident (not another has one and causes a delay); some do and some don't mention roadworks, traffic jams, getting stuck on motorways, etc etc.
And what if you use a van and not a car..?
In other words, they are all annoyingly subtly different! 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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So we are back home after a great week skiing, I'm very disappointed to see this thread has turned into a bun fight!
My original question was about expectations of cover not about what can trigger a claim.
As I sat in the car stationary knowing we would not make the flight I thought - That's OK we should get some sort of compensation for the lost day. We phoned BA from the car and transferred our flight to the next day. Once I got home I phoned the insurance company and they confirmed that being stuck in a private car behind an RTA for 3 hours was a reason to trigger a claim. If we had not phoned BA and transferred our flights (Cost 2 x £35) we could have got home and re-booked 2 flights the next day at a cost of almost £900 (We were booked BA Club and the insurance would have paid for like tickets) We could have chosen to go on to the airport and stayed in a hotel - say another £120 for the night. So total cost to the insurance company would have been over a grand! and the agent said they would have paid!
So in this instance costs to us - £75 and 1 day of the holiday lost. Cost to the insurance £0
I now know what is covered and what is not so should this happen again I will know what to expect.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Glad you had a good trip, @Rob D. Don't bother about it. This is Snowheads! And quite a few of us are better informed about this now than we were before as a result of this discussion.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Glad you had a good trip, @Rob D. Don't bother about it. This is Snowheads! And quite a few of us are better informed about this now than we were before as a result of this discussion.
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Glad you had a good trip, @Rob D. Don't bother about it. This is Snowheads! And quite a few of us are better informed about this now than we were before as a result of this discussion.
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@Rob D, does your policy pay out for delays? What are you looking for? Rebate of say one seventh or sixth of your accommodation, lift pass etc?
As far as I can see you have done everything right - to minimise the potential claim on the insurer. I would have thought you would have a reasonable chance if you appealed to the Insurance Ombudsman. (You might need a written rejection from your insurer first, so I would write to them again setting out your case).
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
| questions like 'will my insurance policy cover x loss?' should elicit one answer and one answer alone, namely 'read the small print of your policy'. |
Yes, that. Or email your insurer.
Generally though, I think it is reasonable to expect delays on the M25, or almost any motorway for that matter, and we all have access to apps like Waze so detours are usually possible. Insurers must get loads of people who simply don't leave enough time so I'd expect a bit of kick back if it happened to me. With public transport it is out of your control, with a private car they may take the view it's hard cheese.
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@Avabrunch, but, as stated by the OP more than once, their insurer has not disputed that aspect of the claim, so clearly views that he left adequate time. Unfortunately, though, the cover in that case doesn't cover the loss of use of the ski pass and accommodation.
@Rob D, did you end up shelling out for a new private transfer or did they agree to move the transfer to another day? Were there other flights with other airlines you could have taken on the day (even if requiring going to a different airport)? It sounds like your insurer would have paid those costs. I like the idea of demonstrating to the insurance ombudsman that you minimised the costs to your insurer but I think you'd have to demonstrate that it wouldn't have been cheaper for them to pay for you to take alternative flights on the day rather than pay for your consequential loss of a day's use of accommodation and ski pass.
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FAQ
