Trip insurance, missing liveaboard departure due to flight issues

[KeithG]

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.

Which travel insurance did you use?

 

[Lorenzoid]

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.

That's good to know, though I don't see the lesson there as being to NOT leave early. Rather, if it's during a heavy-travel holiday period and/or in a season susceptible to weather delays, perhaps one day or even two days early is not enough. I might factor in the season, frequency of flights, number of connections, and the reliability rating of the airline. If a connection is from one airline to another in a foreign airport, that's worth an extra buffer day right there.

At some point there is a break-even. If you leave three days early and have to pay for three nights in a hotel, meals, etc., waiting for your liveaboard departure, that's going to cost more than trip insurance. Then again, if there is no possible way to meet up with a liveaboard after it's left port, no amount of insurance compensation can replace the experience you missed out on, and you'll have to use your insurance compensation to book another liveaboard trip.

 

[KeithG]

That's good to know, though I don't see the lesson there as being to NOT leave early. Rather, if it's during a heavy-travel holiday period and/or in a season susceptible to weather delays, perhaps one day or even two days early is not enough. I might factor in the season, frequency of flights, number of connections, and the reliability rating of the airline. If a connection is from one airline to another in a foreign airport, that's worth an extra buffer day right there.

At some point there is a break-even. If you leave three days early and have to pay for three nights in a hotel, meals, etc., waiting for your liveaboard departure, that's going to cost more than trip insurance. Then again, if there is no possible way to meet up with a liveaboard after it's left port, no amount of insurance compensation can replace the experience you missed out on, and you'll have to use your insurance compensation to book another liveaboard trip.

Agreed. For us, Getting to the Caribbean often requires a connection in the US. We often leave 1 day early and overnight for the connection. It used to be Charlotte, but is mostly Houston now. In the case of our snow storm we drove to Charlotte to catch a plane to Belieze.

 

[95devils]

Which travel insurance did you use?

I believe that was TravelGuard.

 

[BDSC]

I agree with so many others and it is now common practice for me to arrive at a minimum one day early for all liveaboards. We are going to the Sea of Cortez in August and all you need to do it fly into Phoenix and catch the shuttle to the boat. Most flights will get us into Phoenix early enough to easily catch the shuttle. However, most of us are still going to fly into Phoenix on Friday, stay at the Hampton Inn close to the airport, and take away any stress of missed flights or mechanical problems or whatever. No difference in the price of the flight, just an extra night in a hotel. Well worth it.

 

[KathyV]

There's another benefit for arriving early - in addition to providing a cushion for delays before boarding a liveaboard or beginning a dive vacation. When we were younger we used to work until the last second, stay up all night packing, rush to the airport, and arrive at our destination exhausted and stressed. We would then rush out for the afternoon dive or to board the LOB and often one or the other (or both!) of us would soon develop a head cold and ear problems that would ruin or compromise our vacation - and being stuck on a LOB with a cold is a miserable experience.

We still work to the last minute and stay up all night to pack (haven't figured that one out yet) but now we give ourselves some time to relax, acclimate, rest and get healthy before embarking on a heavy diving schedule.

We take Travel Guard's Gold policy but we opt out of the car insurance and make our own arrangements. We do not need to take "adventure travel" insurance because TG includes scuba under their regular travel plan, but we also take DAN's middle-level policy. We do add a medical upgrade to the TG policy that includes evacuation to the hospital of our choice because that is important to us.

Be aware that if you want a policy that includes "cancel for any reason" you will need to buy the insurance promptly after booking the trip (usually within 2 weeks).

You should at least plan on getting DAN insurance, and some LOBs require travelers to take trip insurance.

Insurance is something that you hate to buy and hope you will never use, but when you need it - you really need it!

 

[BertStevens]

I'm an airline Customer Service Agent. I've seen plenty of Customers miss cruises because the traveled day of departure.

Just this past Friday, a family was late to the airport and missed their flight. I heard later in the day, they were still on standby trying to get to FLL for their cruise. I just hope the cruise wasn't that day!

So please pad your travel plans. Airline travel is the ultimate exercise in fluidity. Flexible is just too stiff.

 

[Altamira]

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.

Sometimes, especially in the winter and major holidays, no matter how well you plan, and have a good plan B,C.D, the weather or airline issues can still screw up your travel arrangements and vacations. But, if you are a "just in time" kind of person, you significantly increase your chances of a messed up/missed vacation. Even if the cost of the trip insurance is the same or more than a couple extra days of hotel and meal expenses, I hate missing a trip, and then have to start the planning all over and with dealing with same unknowns of travel problems. Diving is great, but getting there is a PITA.

 

[robint]

Another thing to consider when booking....the last thing you want to do is arrive and your luggage NOT make it. That's another reason to fly in a day early.... on a liveaboard in particular. Flying in the day of departure is risky.

We had trip insurance for our liveaboard in Palau trip...didn't need it, but it gave us peace of mind since it was such an expensive trip with so many flight connects each direction.

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

So I purchased trip insurance from DAN for our Cayman Brac Scubaboard surge trip in Jan of this year. Our flight was cancelled because of a problem at the airport (fire truck had overturned and jets were unable to land). We were rescheduled for a flight to a different island, arriving at 9pm then a second flight the next morning to Brac arriving at 8am.

Turns out that our claim was refused because despite the flight being cancelled, it was not cancelled due to mechanical or plane problems. Go figure. It's the 1st time I've purchased trip insurance. Bottom line, in addition to the trip insurance I paid 500 for new flights. The way I saw it that was cheaper than missing 1 day AI + hotel cost + missing 1 day diving. Pretty sure that is the end of trip insurance for me.

My new insurance will be one more day of vacation!!! What a great idea!!!