Can You File a Claim for a Missed Flight?

As defined by travelling insurance, a missed flight is one in which the policyholder was forced to miss a scheduled flight for unavoidable reasons*. This untoward situation can befall any traveller, whether they are undertaking an inbound or an outbound journey. Moreover, while there can be several reasons why you could have missed boarding your flight, your travel insurance plan will only reimburse you for valid reasons for the delay and not otherwise.

To illustrate with an example, if you have missed boarding on time because of situations beyond your control, such as an accident, a strike, public transport disruption, car breakdown, death of an immediate relative, etc., your insurance provider will have you covered. However, on occasions that you missed your flight because you overslept or didn’t read the time right, your travel insurance may not give you a missed flight refund.

[*Read the policy document carefully and understand the definition of unavoidable reasons. An insurer only compensates for your missed flight for the reasons listed in the policy schedule.]

• Whether or not you get a flight no-show refund depends on two crucial factors:

• Whose fault it was that you missed the flight and

= Whether or not you invested in a comprehensive travel insurance plan

If you miss your flight because of technical malfunctions or because there are disruptions and breakdowns in the carrier, it is highly likely that the airline itself will compensate you. For other non-refundable bookings, however, the airline can simply refuse to give you a refund. In the case of the latter, your travelling insurance can come to your aid to help you get a refund on missed flight.

Your insurance provider will give you a flight no-show refund if you have missed your flight because of any of the reasons that are mentioned in the policy document. However, to know when you can and cannot be reimbursed for your flight no-show, you must thoroughly know the scope of your travelling insurance. This includes knowing about the policy inclusions and exclusions particularly related to missed, cancelled, or delayed flights.

Missing your flight can be a highly distressing situation. This is particularly the case with missed vacations when a lot of your money is at stake: from flights to hotel reservations. On most occasions, travellers will have paid in advance to make all these bookings.

Fortunately, most insurance providers offer certain benefits for rescheduling or cancelling flights. Whether you can avail of these benefits, however, relies on the severity of the situation that led to a flight no-show on your part.

For example, imagine that you have been forced to cancel your trip (prior to the date of departure) because of unavoidable circumstances like a death in the family or an unexpected illness. In conditions such as these, you will be reimbursed by your insurance company. The scope of your travel insurance plan also extends to cover unforeseeable situations such as natural disasters, extreme weather fluctuations, terrorist attacks, etc. However, before investing in any travelling insurance, travellers must bear in mind that the extent of coverage offered by a policy may differ from one insurance provider to the next.

Many travellers often get confused between missed flights and missed connecting flights. Although several insurance providers may offer you coverage against missing a connecting flight, it is not the same as missing a flight at its departing destination. As an important travelling tip, every policyholder must confirm whether their insurance provider covers a connecting flight if they have one in their itinerary.

On occasions other than airline issues, most insurance companies will cover travellers for missed flights. Here are the most commonly included reasons in your travel insurance plan for which you can get a missed flight refund in India:

• If you have missed your connecting flight for unforeseeable reasons such as natural disasters, civil unrest, hijacking, etc.

• If the policyholder or their immediate family gets critically ill

Conversely, you will not get a refund on missed flight for avoidable reasons or for reasons that were your fault. Careless and rookie mistakes such as not reading the time right, forgetting your passport, not leaving for the airport on time, and getting stuck in traffic, etc. These reasons are not considered valid for a flight no-show refund.

Policyholders must also bear in mind that if their flight is missed for reasons that are the fault of the airline, they can claim a refund for them. Most insurance providers will not compensate for missed flights for reasons that have been the airline’s fault as these can be reimbursed by the airline itself. Your insurance provider will, however, reimburse you for the hotel reservations that you have made in advance.

Missing your flight can be both distressing and greatly disappointing. Not to mention it comes with the potential of losing a lot of your hard-earned money – all for nothing. And so, every traveller is advised to be properly protected with a comprehensive travel insurance plan. Your traveling insurance takes care of all the contingency situations when you are away from home so that you can have a worry-free trip. Travellers can even choose to partially secure their journeys with flight cancellation insurance. The flight cancellation insurance by Tata AIG covers you against a host of unpleasant scenarios that may lead to you missing your flight.