I'm guessing that's true only with your super-duper Liveaboard Rider from DiveAssure? If my understanding is correct, insuring against "missing the boat" is a special case of trip interruption insurance, not typical trip interruption insurance. As I understand it, typical trip interruption insurance doesn't compensate you for costs you incur in proactively preventing yourself from missing a further leg of your trip due to the interruption. Am I correct? They only insure that when you eventually get to your final destination, you are compensated for any costs due to the interruption. (Unfortunately, "eventually" isn't good enough for a liveaboard.)
As I understand it, typical trip interruption insurance pays for incidental things like accommodations, food, and local transportation until your travel resumes. So, for example, if I arrive in Los Angeles and my Fiji Airways flight is canceled, then my insurance pays for whatever incidental costs Fiji Airways may not compensate me for. Since most airlines book you on the next flight out (potentially too late for your liveaboard) and provide some compensation for incidentals, including overnight lodging in some cases, I would think it unlikely that I would need to make a travel insurance claim for trip interruption costs. I mean, is it really worthwhile to insure myself against having to buy myself dinner and breakfast at the airport, or for that matter, even overnight lodging, since I typically choose some cheap motel by the airport? If I understand correctly, typical trip interruption insurance would not compensate me for the cost of booking an earlier flight on another airline (to avoid missing my liveaboard) if Fiji Airways offers to put me on their next flight (despite it causing me to miss my liveaboard). Is that correct? To state it another way, as I understand it, typical trip interruption insurance doesn't insure against the timing of my trip deviating from what I booked, only against me having to spend additional money to eventually reach my destination.
P.S. For what it's worth, I have not yet bought travel insurance for the upcoming Fiji trip, but I did pad my arrival by TWO days. Still ambivalent about travel insurance.
Hi, L!
I'm digging into the fine print of DAN and Dive Assure policies...I'm thankful for ctrl+F.
@giffenk's coverage is quite good. While it does not encompass everything, it encompasses a whole lot. For us with no access to his coverage......
Dive Assure has a "
Missed Departure" clause: The insurer will reimburse You up to limit specified in the Schedule of Benefits in respect of
reasonable additional accommodation (room only) and travel expenses necessarily incurred to reach the overseas destination as a consequence of; strike, riot, mechanical breakdown, missed connection or inclement weather, causing interruption of scheduled public transport services (on the outward journey only); or accidental or mechanical failure involving the car in which You are travelling (provided it has been properly serviced) causing You to arrive at the international point of departure from the point of origin to commence the booked journey.
Note the "necessarily incurred to reach the overseas destination. e.g., if you are going on a Fiji trip and are going to a liveaboard, that technically only means arriving in Fiji if they are throwing you the book! This benefit maxes out at $1,000.
In addition, they also have the section you are referring to, the specific detail for the
Liveaboard Rider which would cover "Missed connection resulting in missing the liveaboard" and "Missed liveaboard departure due to airline delays" - this includes the additional cost to join it. This cover is up to 90% of the trip cost or the max of the declared trip value. If you can't join it, trip cancellation coverage would apply. This makes a big difference between getting you to the destination (Fiji) up to a max of $1K vs getting you to Fiji and also catching up to the liveaboard (water taxi? extra domestic flight?) up to a max of 90%-100% of your trip coverage. Huge difference in where you end up and how much you pay out of pocket.
DAN's policy on trip interruption is as follows:
Trip Interruption Benefits: The Company
will reimburse the Insured up to the Maximum Limit shown in the Schedule or Declarations Page for Trips that are interrupted due to the Unforeseen events shown above for: (a) Unused portion of non-refundable pre-paid insured Trip Cost, and (b) additional transportation expenses incurred by the Insured, either 1) to the Return Destination; or 2) from the place that the Insured left the Trip to the place that the Insured may rejoin the Trip; or (c) additional transportation expenses incurred by the Insured to reach the original Trip Destination if the Insured is delayed and leaves after the Departure Date. However, the benefit payable under (b) and (c) above will not exceed the cost of economy airfare, or the same class as the Insured’s original ticket, less any refunds paid or payable, by the most direct route..
Edited to add: Weather is also covered for deluxe and elite plans with DA up to 90% of the trip cost as part of their normal curtailment/interruption and cancellation coverage.
DAN provides this coverage as well but instead but up to 150% of trip cost. Here's the kicker! The "unforreseen events shown above" include a long list of items which also qualify for cancellation coverage. I'm only including the ones that would apply for trip interruption here: sickness, injury, financial default, weather, strike, hijacking/quarantines, terrorism, delay due to traffic accident.......Nowhere in there does it mention anything about mechanical breakdown of car/bus/plane, interruption of scheduled public transit services.....MISSED CONNECTIONS!.....That is concerning. You would not get a refund for the non-refundable portion of the pre-paid trip, additional expenses to either get back to the "Return Destination" (home), or expenses to rejoin the trip or extra cost to reach the destination unless those "unforeseen events" apply. Aiyah!
This is the first time I have looked at this policy so closely and it is
very interesting.
Agreed. The key with airline connections is to make sure you leave enough room for connections - or at least have someone else to blame for missed short connections?
Where ever possible we always book multiple flights under a single ticket. That way there is no discussion with your insurance about whose fault it is, err , I mean if it is an insurable event versus user stupidity. I believe my trip insurance provider has some hand waving about ME being responsible for showing up "on time" for flights and boats and trains and things (regardless of weather conditions). "on time" is loosely defined as following the guidelines of the travel provider you are using. So if it snows and it takes me 2 hours to get to YVR instead of the normal 20 minutes and I miss a flight because I arrived late at the airport and found a huge line up, then I am screwed. It was all my fault. If I show up on time but my flight leaves 2 hours late because the airport baggage system is bork'd, then I am golden. Make sure you document the reason for your delay.
In this world booking multiple flights under a single ticket becomes a no brainer since the booking agency has defined and guaranteed that you meet the "on time" policy for connections. It's not my fault!
Similarly, if you are meeting a LOB after a flight(s), my insurance policy needs me to be aware of the LOB's policy about arriving "on time". In general this one is not really relevant since a missed flight generally means we will miss the LOB by at least a day. Many people react to this possibility by going a day early.
BUT: Going a day early is not a totally fool proof solution (I still think it is a good idea to relieve stress and stretch your vacation a bit). The only LOB we have missed was one we cleverly scheduled to go a day early. The storm also happened a day early, at Christmas. The next day weather was great and all flights where fine. But because it was Christmas there were no seats available to rebook us. We got bumped 2 days. We contacted the LOB and advised them we would be 1 day late - no worries, they arranged a water taxi. We then called our insurance explained our problem and got immediate approval to proceed. It was all good - 1 day of missed diving but I was still a happy camper since it could have been a missed week of diving.
I totally agree with
@giffenk herre about booking multiple flights under a single ticket,
especially if it involves an international connection. Sometimes it is tempting to not do this because it's cheaper to buy the legs separately but it can also create a nightmare. These are called "online connections" meaning you don't have to pick up your bags, go through customs, exit, and re-check yourself in again. The airline transfers your luggage for you, you don't go through customs, and you go to the transfer desk or security line. Unfortunately, there is no way around the customs bag drag when connecting in the US. In your first port of entry, you have to go through customs with your luggage and then throw them back on the conveyor belt even though it's technically an "online connection". I will, however, purchase an international ticket with stopovers on one ticket and then do separate domestic flights (as in Indonesia) but I leave a minimum of 4 hours to do this, and room to wiggle if I even miss that flight.