Insurance through Costco Travel

[scrapnsuzn]

We took the QM2 cruise last week - it was awesome. However, they had technical difficulties in the last port, we left that port 5+ hours late, which caused us to miss our flight from New York City to Denver. Cunard says they are only responsible if you booked the flight through them. We booked our flight independently. The Costco insurance - by Berkely Care/Virginia surety, says it has to be 12 hrs or more for them to cover it.

 

Ughhh - it cost us $1000 for 4 of us to fly one way, and we certainly are hoping to get some kind of reimbursement from someone.

 

Anyone have any insight and/or suggestions.

 

Thanks in advance.

Susan

[sirwired]

All I can say is read the policy. If it says 12 hours under the section marked "Trip Delay", then you are out of luck.

 

Look at it as a learning experience. Next time you will probably either buy tickets for the next day or purchase a policy with a lower threshold.

 

SirWired

[Host Caroline]

If you had separate flight insurance it "may" have covered it...I don't see how you'd have any other avenue for recourse though. Often booking air thru cruise line is more expensive but then this type of situation is usually covered when you do....

[6rugrats]

On what airline were you flying? Did you call them to tell them you were going to miss your flight? Weren't they willing to work with you on this?

 

12+ hours is a really long requirement. How long from your original flight time was your new flight time? Was it over 12 hours?

[cruiseco]

Berkley handles the plans from most of the major cruise lines so sometimes you get someone on the phone that maybe handles Princess/Carnival/HAL questions 99% of the time and may not really know what's in the Cunard plan.

 

Get out your full description of coverage and see if it differs from what I pulled up on the Cunard web site. Here's the relevant portion of the Trip Delay benefit (http://www.cunard.com/Documents/US_Insurance.pdf):

 

"Cunard will reimburse you for relevant expenses, up to $1,000, if your trip is delayed en route to or from your Sea/Land arrangements due to inclement weather, strike or other job action, or equipment failure of a Common Carrier . . . Eligible expenses include . . . the cost of a one-way economy air ticket to return to the place of origin shown on the travel documents."

 

NOWHERE in that description of coverage for the Trip Delay benefit is a minimum 12 hour delay mentioned. I even did a search through the document for "12" and "twelve" and nothing came up.

 

Their definition of a "Common Carrier" is:

"Common Carrier means an air, land or sea conveyance operating under a valid license for the transportation of passengers for hire."

 

So here's what I'd argue:

 

1) Was the cause of the delay a mechanical breakdown of a Common Carrier (Cunard's ship)? Yes, assuming that's what you meant by "technical difficulties".

 

2) Was your trip delay en route FROM your Sea/Land arrangements? Yes.

 

3) Did your purchase of a one-way air ticket back to your place of origin meet the plan's definition of "eligible expenses'? Yes.

 

I would not take a verbal response over the phone as a final answer. Request the claim documents and file them. If you are turned down file an appeal either through any third-party arbitration process that might be available to you and/or file a dispute claim with your state's department of insurance. I don't know that you'll win but I think you have a reasonable enough argument to push the claim.

 

What might be a problem with going the dept of insurance route is that the Trip Delay benefit is not insurance. Those claims do not get paid by Berkley but rather by Cunard itself. So the dept of insurance may decline to get involved and your only hope for outside help may be the arbitration process -- if there is one. BerkleyCare has one but since this doesn't really involve them it may not apply.

[grumpyjr88]

You should've only been charged a nominal fee to change the existing tickets. Not sure why you had to buy new ones. :s I've missed loads of flights for just about every reason you can imagine and only once was I charged the $150 to change my flight. It was a british airline, flying from England... all the other times I was missing a US flight.

[6rugrats]

Berkley handles the plans from most of the major cruise lines so sometimes you get someone on the phone that maybe handles Princess/Carnival/HAL questions 99% of the time and may not really know what's in the Cunard plan.

 

Get out your full description of coverage and see if it differs from what I pulled up on the Cunard web site. Here's the relevant portion of the Trip Delay benefit (http://www.cunard.com/Documents/US_Insurance.pdf):

 

"Cunard will reimburse you for relevant expenses, up to $1,000, if your trip is delayed en route to or from your Sea/Land arrangements due to inclement weather, strike or other job action, or equipment failure of a Common Carrier . . . Eligible expenses include . . . the cost of a one-way economy air ticket to return to the place of origin shown on the travel documents."

 

NOWHERE in that description of coverage for the Trip Delay benefit is a minimum 12 hour delay mentioned. I even did a search through the document for "12" and "twelve" and nothing came up.

 

Their definition of a "Common Carrier" is:

"Common Carrier means an air, land or sea conveyance operating under a valid license for the transportation of passengers for hire."

 

So here's what I'd argue:

 

1) Was the cause of the delay a mechanical breakdown of a Common Carrier (Cunard's ship)? Yes, assuming that's what you meant by "technical difficulties".

 

2) Was your trip delay en route FROM your Sea/Land arrangements? Yes.

 

3) Did your purchase of a one-way air ticket back to your place of origin meet the plan's definition of "eligible expenses'? Yes.

 

 

 

I am confused by your post. OP states they purchased insurance through Costco, not Cunard. Am I missing something? I still don't understand why OP's airline did not work with them. Perhaps they will come back and clarify.

[sirwired]

I just looked at the CostCo policy... yep, 12 hours. This all but requires an extra night before/after to protect yourself. And Trip Interruption of 100% is pretty limiting too. It may not be nearly enough if you have to turn around and go home right after you get there.

 

On the plus side, the medical and medevac levels seem ok, and there is no pre-ex exclusion. They also include a pre-paid 3rd-party shoreEx benefit if your ship misses that particular port; that's pretty interesting.

 

SirWired

[cruiseco]

I am confused by your post. OP states they purchased insurance through Costco, not Cunard. Am I missing something? I still don't understand why OP's airline did not work with them. Perhaps they will come back and clarify.

 

You're right, I mis-read the original post. Never mind.

[scrapnsuzn]

To clarify on the flights a little more. We did contact Delta airlines. We had originally purchased round trip tickets. The way they figure it is based on how much "credit" you still have for your return flight. We paid right at 290 each round trip, and apparently there was $111 left as credit for the return flights. There is the 150 change fee, and another 50 for something else, BUT you must have more credit than your fees, so even the 150 is more than our credits. When that is the situation, you have to purchase new tickets. Delta could not get us all on a flight on Sunday, would have been Monday, and the price for either day was over $400 per person, so even more than the $250 each that we paid.

 

It is quite a bummer and does not look like we will have much luck getting any type of refund. We went into New York early to see the city and of course, not miss our "boat", but did not feel we needed to do that on the return.

 

I do appreciate all your information. This board is a wealth of information. I loved checking out the thread on things not to miss on the QM2 before.

 

? again, sirwired mentions "purchasing a policy with a lower threshold". I am thinking we really do not have much choice on this, we purchase what our agent offers. Am I correct on this, or is there another way/place to purchase policies?

 

I am dissappointed that Cunard does not offer anything if you booked elsewhere. I do understand where they are coming from, but also feel like they left a LOT of passengers without any help too. Heard of some pretty elderly people who purchased their airfares independently and they were just told Cunard only helps those who booked with them. Even if they are not going to take any financial responsibility, helping some elderly to get new flights would have been good pr - my thoughts anyway.

 

Thanks again for all your responses.

[CruisinGerman]

Cruise brochures or other documentation you receive usually say the earliest time on disembarkation day you should book your flight.

 

A technical difficulty (not weather or something outside of anybody's control) is Cunard's fault, and the delay was substantial enough for them to be responsible.

 

If they refuse to reimburse you for expenses you incurred because of their technical difficulties, sue them in small claim's court. You will win.

 

Don't be frightened by the garbage contracts all the cruiselines issue in the United States. They are unilateral adhesion contracts with abusive clauses and won't hold up in Court. They are simply issued that way to scare the consumer out of seeking protection.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[sirwired]

I am fairly certain you would not win such a suit. I am pretty sure that common carriers are not subject to strict liability for consequential damages due to delay, as long as they have exercised due diligence (a.k.a. "reasonable care and dispatch") in transportation. I'm pretty sure this is part of common law, and also statute in many states. (Some quick Googling found this explicitly spelled out in the California Civil Code.)

 

And a mechanical problem does not automatically mean that reasonable care was not exercised. (Stuff breaks; it happens.)

 

I can't say I've ever heard of somebody suing an airline for instance, because they missed something as a result of a "mechanical."

 

SirWired

[CruisinGerman]

you don't hear of someone suing an airline because here the law says the airline has to re-route you, give you a refund, provide hotel, meals and transportation, even if it is not the airline's fault. If it IS the airline's fault, they have to give you all of the above, PLUS compensation.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[cherylandtk]

? again, sirwired mentions "purchasing a policy with a lower threshold". I am thinking we really do not have much choice on this, we purchase what our agent offers. Am I correct on this, or is there another way/place to purchase policies?

Just like you can purchase your air tickets from any vendor you want, so can you purchase your travel insurance from any vendor you want. Tripinsurancestore.com is a good one with many helpful pages about what to know about buying insurance, as well as a helpful 800 number. Others use Squaremouth, or trip tripinsurancestore, but I think the latter offers too many low quality policies, but see which you prefer.

[6rugrats]

you don't hear of someone suing an airline because here the law says the airline has to re-route you, give you a refund, provide hotel, meals and transportation, even if it is not the airline's fault. If it IS the airline's fault, they have to give you all of the above, PLUS compensation.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

Not too sure about this, as many people were not compensated for monies spent trying to get home, etc., after the volcanic ash problem.

 

People in the US sue airlines all the time, but OP has no case against DL. They can always try small claims court and file against the cruiseline. I have seen some crazy things happen there.

 

I wonder what would have happened if OP had not been able to get on a return flight until the next day (causing a 12 hour delay).

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

The volcanic ash incident has been thoroughly debated. Here in Europe we have something called the EU Airline Passenger Rights Directive. EU airlines are subject to this directive inside and outside of the EU. Other airlines (such as U.S. airlines) are subject to this Directive on flights originating in the EU.

 

All EU airlines have admitted that during the volcanic ash incident, they had to provide re-routing, refunds, hotels, meals, surface transportation, and telephone calls/e-mails/SMS. However, they were not required to provided additional COMPENSATION. If you look on any EU airline's website (Virgin Air, British Air, Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, etc.) there is a specific procedure for claiming reimbursement under those rights.

 

It was Cunard's technical malfunction that caused the delay, so I say that Cunard is responsible in this case.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[CruisinGerman]

The airlines here in the EU are fully aware that they had to provide hotel accommodations and meals for people who chose to wait for the next available flight on the airline in question.

 

See below from Ryanair, just to cite an example.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

 

Volcanic Ash Disruption - Reimbursement Information

 

Ryanair have a dedicated Volcanic Ash Disruption team to handle refunds and claims from those passengers whose flights were cancelled as a result of recent closures of European air space.

Many passengers were affected by this unprecedented event and we are receiving higher than usual volumes of correspondence. We are currently processing expense claims within 8 weeks of receipt. Please do not resubmit your correspondence as this may lead to a further delay in response.

The following information should assist passengers who wish to apply for either a refund or an expense claim form as a result of a flight cancellation due to the volcanic ash disruption. Please read this information carefully to ensure that you apply for the correct form of reimbursement as invalid claims will not be responded to.

What I am entitled to under EU Regulation 261?

If your flight is cancelled the EU261 Regulation provides that you are entitled to choose between either of the following:

(a) Full Refund – The airline will provide a full refund on your unused airfare. (If you chose to make alternative transport arrangements i.e. car hire, trains, ferries etc. these costs are not covered under EU261 and therefore no claims should be submitted), or

(b) *re-routing, on the next available flight to your final destination, or

© re-routing, on a future flight, to your final destination at a later date at your convenience.

*If, you select option (b) - the EU261 Regulation requires an airline to provide:

(i) meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time;

(ii) two telephone calls, telex or fax messages or e-mails;

(iii) reasonable hotel accommodation in cases of a stay of one or more nights;

(iv) reasonable transport between the airport and place of accommodation (hotel or other).

If you chose option (a) – click here to apply for a refund

If you chose option (b) – click here for expenses claim form