The catch: Their voyage wasn’t technically “stopped,” as they spent all 18 nights onboard. Several times in my conversations with insurance executives, I’ve heard the phrase “You’re not covered for loss of fun,” but I figured that applied to a rainy week at a Caribbean resort, not an Antarctic cruise that never makes it to shore. Antarctica.
I also heard from a reader named Alan, from Vaughan, Ontario, about a nightmare return from Vancouver to Toronto during the storms of last Christmas. After three WestJet flights were canceled and another delayed, all because of the weather, the next flight they were booked on was canceled due to a lack of crew, and he and his wife were stranded in Calgary overnight. Alan paid for his trip with an HSBC credit card that offers travel insurance through Assurant.
The next day, with no word from WestJet about when they could fly, they called Assurant, who told them it would cover an AirCanada flight home. Alan filed hotel expense claims from WestJet and flight reimbursement from Assurant. WestJet rejected the hotel’s claim and the letter it provided Alan to file a claim with Assurant mischaracterized at least two of the cancellations and focused on the lack of crew on the final flight – a situation not covered by insurance.
A WestJet spokeswoman, Madison Kruger, said the airline had mistakenly rejected the hotel’s claim and would pay. Linda Recupero, a spokeswoman for Assurant, which manages HSBC’s policy, said she could not comment on the case but the company was in touch with Alan to help with next steps.
In another case of complicated communication, Jacki, of Englewood, Colorado, tested positive for Covid and was turned away from a Greek Islands cruise in May 2022, a situation clearly covered by the trip cancellation policy provided by her credit card. Chase Sapphire Reserve. But when Chase’s third-party administrator tried to verify that the cruise line hadn’t refunded her for the $11,000 cruise, they were told that she had gotten a $250 refund sometime along the way. Jacki was not informed of this mix-up until almost a year later. She wrote me with the subject “Insurance impasse”.
