Trip insurance, missing liveaboard departure due to flight issues

[JPEG]

I haven't seen this addressed directly on the board...if it has been covered, I apologize!

I am looking for first-hand reports from folks who:

1) purchased trip insurance, and then,
2) missed their liveaboard departure due to delayed or canceled flights

What ended up being covered?
Were you satisfied with the insurance and the insurance company?
How long did it take to get reimbursed?
What insurance company did you use and what "level" of coverage did you select?

Thanks!
-JPEG

 

[Altamira]

Not really answering your question, but you can proactively help protect yourself from a cancelled or delayed flight to a liveaboard or any other vacation where it is not possible or practical to rejoin in event of delayed arrival. As a retired airline pilot, I never put the success of my vacation in the hands of an airline schedule. Go a day or two early, avoid the stress and aggravation of any number of unpredictable delays, and enjoy the local sights. The tighter your schedule, the more likely you will have a problem (in my experience).

 

[jonhall]

Here's a link to a thread from less than a year ago. Doesn't have 1st hand experiences but some info:

advice for trip insurance
advice for trip insurance

 

[Diving Dubai]

Last year, I was on a liveaboard in Komodo with my wife. As is our way, and because we can be more flexible with our vacation time, we padded the trip arriving two days early, so we could have a day resting and chilling by the pool prior to departure.

The boat was scheduled to depart late afternoon. Around lunch time the area was hit by thunderstorms, meaning those people on flights arriving "just in time" didn't make it on time. For most they caught a later flight and the operator delayed departure for a few hours so all was fine. There were two whose rescheduled flight arrived too late. They still made the boat as the operator made arrangement for them to catch us up via speed boat. Not the most comfortable, but they made the trip

My point is that most operators will have procedures in place for such eventualities as it's not infrequent. However prior to booking it's worth asking the question. Also before purchasing travel insurance, make it has the cover you require just in case (and read the small print)

 

[Tippytoes12]

Yes , couldn't agree more. On a RA liveaboard a couple , expats who lived in Singapore , cut things too fine and missed the flight to Sorong. We spent an extra half day in fabulous rainy Sorong harbour and then had to alter the route to allow them to catch up. People may not say anything , but you will make yourself very unpopular with your fellow passengers if you do this. Many other people we meet have similar stories. Go a day or two before and relax before the lob.

 

[KeithG]

I haven't seen this addressed directly on the board...if it has been covered, I apologize!

I am looking for first-hand reports from folks who:

1) purchased trip insurance, and then,
2) missed their liveaboard departure due to delayed or canceled flights

What ended up being covered?
Were you satisfied with the insurance and the insurance company?
How long did it take to get reimbursed?
What insurance company did you use and what "level" of coverage did you select?

Thanks!
-JPEG

We have had this occur. Winter storm cancelled our flight. we were delayed 1 day getting to Belize. We called the LOB to notify them of our delay. We called the insurance company and let them know. The LOB left without us. We took a water taxi to catch up. The water taxi was extremely expensive.

All of our extra costs were covered by our umbrella medical / cancellation / interruption insurance. We did not actually ask for compensation for the missed day of dives...

We use a Blue Cross product. Our product is only available in Eastern Canada. Insurance is regulated at the state / province level, so products are never exactly the same in every state or province.

BUT: I can also confirm that the "trip insurance" provided (for free) by our credit card company would not have paid a dime for this specific situation. In their eyes our trip was not cancelled and it had not yet started, so the incident was not covered by their definition of "interruption".

You need to read the fine print of the insurance policy. Many will NOT cover this situation.

 

[95devils]

My wife and I were traveling to Palau a couple of years ago. We were to arrive in Palau on Friday, the boat was to depart Sunday evening to early Monday morning. United cancelled the flight from Oahu to Guam due to a pilot calling in sick. We arrived on Palau late Monday night. The boat sent a skiff to pick us up and take to the boat. We missed a full day of diving, the skiff cost us $375. Travel insurance paid for one meal in Oahu, nothing else.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Not really answering your question, but you can proactively help protect yourself from a cancelled or delayed flight to a liveaboard or any other vacation where it is not possible or practical to rejoin in event of delayed arrival. As a retired airline pilot, I never put the success of my vacation in the hands of an airline schedule. Go a day or two early, avoid the stress and aggravation of any number of unpredictable delays, and enjoy the local sights. The tighter your schedule, the more likely you will have a problem (in my experience).

That's been my thinking. It's like self-insuring. You pay whatever additional cost to you is involved in arriving however-many days early you believe prudent, depending on your estimate of the reliability and frequency of flights. You get the bonus of allowing you to decompress from a long flight, etc. Liveaboards are expensive. If you can afford the cost of a liveaboard and a week away from work or whatever obligations you may have, then you can probably afford one or two more days on the front end.

 

[AZNetEng]

I heartily recommend flying in at least one day early if at all feasible schedule wise.

 

[KeithG]

That's been my thinking. It's like self-insuring. You pay whatever additional cost to you is involved in arriving however-many days early you believe prudent, depending on your estimate of the reliability and frequency of flights. You get the bonus of allowing you to decompress from a long flight, etc. Liveaboards are expensive. If you can afford the cost of a liveaboard and a week away from work or whatever obligations you may have, then you can probably afford one or two more days on the front end.

Going early does not always work. In fact, going early caused our problem. We booked our flight 1 day early and the snowstorm was on that day. The next day all flights were normal. But since it was the week of christmas there were no empty seats avaialable for several days. If we had not tried to fly 1 day early we would have been fine.