Rion was returning from holiday when his flight was delayed for 12 hours. He paid for a different flight to avoid delaying his return.
What happened
Rion then made a claim to his insurer for the cost of his new flight. But his insurer turned down the claim because his policy said a fixed benefit of £50 was payable for a delay of 12 hours or more. Rion’s insurer also said it wouldn’t pay Rion £50, as he hadn’t actually been delayed for 12 hours – he’d flown home sooner.
Rion thought this was unfair and complained to his insurer. Unhappy with the outcome, he contacted us to make a complaint.
What we said
We agreed with Rion’s insurer that the cost of buying new flights in these circumstances wasn’t something that was covered under Rion’s policy. The delay wasn’t on the outward journey so Rion wouldn’t have been entitled to make a claim for abandonment.
We thought it would be fair for the insurer to pay Rion £50 – the amount of the travel delay benefit he’d have been entitled to if he hadn’t made his own arrangements.