Missed connection insurance

[Dark Horse]

Hi – is anyone aware of an insurance product you can buy to cover a missed connection due to delayed or cancelled inbound flight to a hub where you have a long haul onward flight booked. This is to cover the times where through necessity you need to book a separate flight to connect to your longhaul flight so you can’t get cover from the longhaul supplier airline by having the whole trip on one booking. This is to give peace of mind and to avoid having to book a very long connection time to cover delay risk, or flying the night before a long haul onward flight.

Amex Platinum insurance has missed connection cover due to delayed inbound but only £300. You ok need a lot more if you miss a business class longhaul flight.

I am going to Thailand from Edinburgh on Avios flights out BA to Bangkok and back Qatar from Bangkok. Outbound flight is from Gatwick so I’ll go down the night before (no BA Edi to Gatwick any more) as happy to visit people in London. Returning however I will need to get an internal flight from Koh Samui to Bangkok. Only options are local carriers so I can’t link into the Qatar booking. I can fly early and spend hours and hours at BKK airport or go the night before but would like to just book a 3-4 hour connection.

Just wonder if anyone has solved this one as it must be a very common issue for headforpoints readers.

Thx

[memesweeper]

There’s no perfect policy – they often have exclusions that may cause a delay that causes you to misconnect.

The thing to look for is “missed departure”. This often includes missing the return flight, often includes public transport, and often defines public transport as including scheduled aircraft.

The issue is the limits. No policy will cover you for a last-minute one-way business fare in excess of a few thousand pounds. Some will have limits in the hundreds not thousands.

Naturally they all also require evidence that you left sufficient time to arrive and check-in, and that the delay was outside your control.

[JDB]

@DarkHorse – some policies such as HSBC Premier provide very significantly higher cover for travel disruption/missed transport (£7,500/£1,000) but I’m not sure they would necessarily pay out as hoped.

As indicated by @memesweeper you would need to provide evidence of the facts, but more particularly that the missed connection wasn’t foreseeable.

The reasonable amount of time between the domestic arrival and an international departure is quite subjective and you should expect it to be scrutinised quite carefully by the insurer.

I think a three to four hour domestic to international separate ticket connection feels like quite a short time with little margin of error. You may find that are able to check your bags through which changes the situation considerably.

The principle of insurance is to cover you for unexpected costs in the event of unforeseen events. I would say that a short connection is slightly different – expecting the insurer to underwrite an unnecessary risk for your comfort and convenience and that’s not really the bag they are into.

The practicality of this is that in many cases an airline will take pity on you and rebook you.

[memesweeper]

I took two flights last month with an unprotected connection.

On the way out from the UK it was about 4.5 hours, which was tight-ish. The onward connection, if missed, was a cheap domestic, even last minute. I would not have dreamt of claiming on insurance for missing it, although I have the HSBC policy (and booked with BAPP Amex which includes some disruption insurance for missed connections I think).

On the way back I overnighted at the connecting airport abroad. The long haul back to the UK was in business, and I didn’t want to miss it, so there was 12 hours of ‘padding’. Had disaster struck I absolutely would have claimed, but the priority was just not missing it. I have no idea if HSBC would have paid for business tickets but I would certainly expect them to get me home.

Unbelievably I nearly missed the flight home — despite having an airport hotel and an overnight layover — because the guard at the door to the terminal wanted to see a ticket, which I didn’t have! Just an email, which is normal for European carriers. Got to check in with exactly one minute to spare. I’ve no idea what an insurer would do about that (mostly likely laugh at me) so be aware, insurance will never cover all eventualities, including some that might actually happen. Unprotected connections are a risk, and there’s no cast-iron way to get around that.

[kaconym]

The Barclays travel pack, which you can purchase for £14.50 per month with a premier account covers up to £10,000 for missed transport.

The policy states:

“We’ll pay for alternative travel and accommodation costs to enable the insured person to reach their destination if their pre-booked transport is missed because of an unexpected transport delay, such as the vehicle they’re travelling in breaking down, or public transport being delayed or cancelled.”

Nowhere does it specifically exclude flights. It also specifies it can be travel to a similar standard to what was expected. The policy terms are here.

[JDB]

@kaconym – the policy has the fairly standard type of caveats (quoted below) which leave any claim rather in the air as it’s very subjective as to whether or not you left enough time. It’s one thing if you are on an approved connection, but quite another if you are self connecting. You need to pay for your new ticket and claim afterwards. I don’t know the answer to this, but it’s definitely not a free pass and insurers employ people to push back on claims! For example, will consider the recommended check in time as much as the last check in time.

“..it was known or could reasonably be expected to have been known that it could impact the insured person’s travel plans…Any claim where the insured person hadn’t allowed enough time, or done everything they reasonably could, to get to their departure point for the time shown on their itinerary.”

[kaconym]

@JDB Yes, I agree, it’s definitly not carte blanche to book any self connect you want to and I would expect push back if they can. I would always try to book in a way that absoletly minimises the risk I would have to rely on it.

I was more pointing it out as in terms of the monetary amount it covers £10,000 for missed transport is significant, and much more generous than most other policies I’ve found. It’s one of the main reasons I use this policy in fact versus other competing products but I have not had to use it up to this point thankfully. They have been very good about other claims in the past though, but of course your milage may vary.

[Dark Horse]

kaconym wrote:

@JDB Yes, I agree, it’s definitly not carte blanche to book any self connect you want to and I would expect push back if they can. I would always try to book in a way that absoletly minimises the risk I would have to rely on it.

I was more pointing it out as in terms of the monetary amount it covers £10,000 for missed transport is significant, and much more generous than most other policies I’ve found. It’s one of the main reasons I use this policy in fact versus other competing products but I have not had to use it up to this point thankfully. They have been very good about other claims in the past though, but of course your milage may vary.

Thanks all for responses. I have Barclays premier so I will look into it. I will ask the specific question on reasonably foreseeable but I think for a domestic to international connection 5 hours is more than “reasonable”. I would always book a domestic flight with at least one back up flight behind it that you could buy if the booked flight is cancelled. I don’t think you can reasonably foresee a flight cancellation or substantial delay of more than 2-3 hours. I’m just trying to see if there is a cost effective option avoid overnighting as belt and braces. Thx

[memesweeper]

Dark Horse wrote:

. I would always book a domestic flight with at least one back up flight behind it that you could buy if the booked flight is cancelled.

Good policy. One reason my last unprotected connection included an overnight was the little airport I was coming in from had one flight a day to the international airport. Had it be 2+ flights a day, I might not have bothered. Makes it highly likely I’ll get home, and if disaster strikes, and makes it highly unlikely an insurer would reject the claim.

But, just to reiterate, all policies have exclusions (eg — industrial action, war) and if one of these is the cause of your missed connection you are on your own. All self-connects are a risk, be prepared to accept that in return for the benefits of a better/longer/more exotic holiday, and if the worst happens, just take a deep breath and accept it.