Mumbai storm delay left me out of pocket

QIn November, my wife and I travelled to three 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 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 us £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 – but to no avail. Should I just give up?

– John Good

ANo. InsureandGo’s Gold multi-trip policy, underwritten by Zurich UK, says you can claim up to £1,000 for Missed Departure if you cannot reach the 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 your claim, it is giving you £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 your 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, too, that some cheaper travel insurance policies only provide cover for missing the outbound flight.