A delayed flight nearly derailed a family’s trip to Ireland. Thinking they were protected by travel insurance, they jumped on the next available flight to save their trip. When they returned, they found out the reason for the delay was not covered by their trip protection plan.
“I wanted to cry because we were so excited, I’m like we cannot not go on this trip,” said Julie Ryan, who had planned a trip to visit her niece who was studying abroad in Ireland.
Ryan was on her way to the airport with family when she started receiving text alerts that their connecting flight from Boston to Newark was delayed and she realized they wouldn’t arrive in time to catch her flight to Ireland.
At the gate, an airline employee told her they didn’t have any other flights available that night.
“When we walked away and started to look at other airlines, I was like it’s going to be okay because I bought insurance for the trip,” said Ryan. “When I get back I’ll file a claim. All will be good.”
Turned out the reason for her flight delay was not covered by the plan she purchased, provided by XCover. A representative for the company explained in an email, “Your protection doesn’t cover when your departure is cancelled, rescheduled, or delayed due to an operational reason such as air traffic control slot delays, carrier staff shortage or strike or low passenger demand.”
She booked the flights for four people, a rental car they didn’t end up using and the travel insurance through Priceline.
“Their answer was the same. ‘Sorry, you bought a non-refundable flight,’ but I didn’t not make the trip through any fault of my own. I think I had 23 emails between all these companies, and every response was nope, nope, nope, so I reached out to NBC10,” said Ryan. “The next day Priceline reached out to me.”
After NBC10 Responds reached out to Priceline, Ryan received a full refund of $5106.15.
“I don’t know what kind of magic worked, but you did it,” said Ryan. “It means the world to me to get my money back because then it allows me to plan for my next vacation!”
Priceline did not respond to our request for comment about this situation, however, Cover Genius, the parent company of XCover, provided us the following statement:
“At Cover Genius, we always strive for transparent policies and straightforward claims processes to provide the best possible experiences for our customers. As travel insurance policies can vary, we advise customers to check the full details of their unique coverage, including inclusions and exclusions, in their XCover account.”