My insurer won’t pay out after a storm caused me to miss a connecting flight

Gill Charlton has been fighting for Telegraph readers and solving their travel problems for more than 30 years, winning refunds, righting wrongs and suggesting solutions.

Here is this week’s question:

Dear Gill,

In November, my wife and I travelled to three different wildlife parks in India on a trip organised by Wildlife Worldwide. On the final day, November 26, we were due to fly from Bhopal to Mumbai with IndiGo Airlines to connect with a British Airways flight back to the UK.

Unfortunately, the domestic flight was delayed by two hours. IndiGo told us this was due to “adverse weather conditions in Mumbai” but in a confirmation email sent to Wildlife Worldwide’s local agent in India it said the delay was due to “traffic control congestion”.

The upshot was that we missed our BA flight and had to buy new tickets to fly home, which cost £1,675 each.

My wife made a successful claim under the Missed Departure section of her Halifax Bank travel insurance policy, but my claim was rejected by InsureandGo, which said I wasn’t covered for air traffic control congestion.

Wildlife Worldwide has made several attempts to get a note from IndiGo saying it was a weather event to no avail. Should I just give up?

– John Good

Dear John,

Absolutely not. InsureandGo’s Gold multi-trip policy, underwritten by Zurich UK, says that you can claim up to £1,000 for Missed Departure if you cannot reach your departure point for your final return journey (the BA flight) due to “a failure of scheduled transport due to bad weather, strike or industrial action”.

I contacted InsureandGo and sent across links to newspaper reports and a YouTube video of the intense storm that engulfed Mumbai on the afternoon of November 26. The evidence was irrefutable. Fortunately InsureandGo’s underwriters agreed.

“When making his claim, Mr Good could have been advised by the claim handlers of other free-to-access information sources that would have confirmed the cause of missed departure,” said a spokesman for the insurer. As well as paying the claim it is also giving Mr Good an additional £100 as a goodwill gesture.

My experience of IndiGo – and other low-cost carriers – is that domestic flights regularly take off late, with delays compounding as the day progresses. It is essential to allow for this when travelling in India and, if making a connection to an international flight, I would allow at least five hours, or build in an overnight stay to remove the worry entirely. Getting proof for an insurer after the event is nigh-on impossible so try to get something in writing while at the airport.

Luckily, in Mr Good’s case, it was possible to prove that this was an unusual weather event, but most insurance policies have very restrictive reasons for accepting Missed Departure claims, and air traffic control delays are rarely among the reasons given. Note also that some cheaper travel insurance policies only provide cover for missing the outbound flight.

– Gill Charlton

Your travel problems solved

Gill takes on a different case each week – so please send your problems to her for consideration at asktheexperts@telegraph.co.uk. Please give your full name and, if your dispute is with a travel company, your address, telephone number and any booking reference. Gill can’t answer every question, but she will help where she can and all emails are acknowledged.