Predeparture tests? Check the small print

QOn December 26 we bought singletrip travel insurance from the Post Office for our holiday to Kenya, departing the next day. We also booked sameday PCR tests with the West London Pharmacy in Chiswick. But the results never came through, which meant we couldn’t check in for our 3.30pm flight to Nairobi on December 27.

The pharmacy has refunded the £180 we spent on the tests but not the £1,400 we had to pay for new tickets to fly out to Nairobi with Emirates a couple of days later. Please can you help me obtain compensation from the test provider or the Post Office, which advertises that its cover includes “missed departure while waiting for test results”. We put in a claim but the handler says we have no cover even though we bought the most expensive Elite policy. – Amy Poe

AYou have no claim against West London Pharmacy. PCR testing centres never guarantee results within the advertised time because tests must be sent away to be processed. Over Christmas, there were delays in getting samples to labs and yours did not arrive until lunchtime on December 27.

However, you should be able to make a claim under your Post Office policy. Its extended Covid-19 travel insurance says there is cover for missed departure while awaiting test results. An asterisk beside the wording says cover is excluded for the basic Economy policy.

I asked the Post Office to find out why your claim had been rejected by its handler. After investigation, it told me that cover for delayed PCR tests is also excluded from Lite and Elite policies (and thus not mentioned in the policy document). It accepted that an error had been made by failing to name these policies on its coronavirus cover webpage. It asked the underwriters to reopen your case and your claim is being paid under the Missed Departure section of the policy, up to a value of £1,000.

Your experience raised other issues. Lite and Elite policies are only available on price comparison sites. Their cover is more restricted because they are discounted to be competitive. The Post Office’s direct-sales site only markets Economy, Standard and Premier policies, which adds to the confusion when looking for presale policy documents.

It is also worth noting that the “missed departure while waiting for test results” cover applies only to tests at your “departure point”. I asked the Post Office to clarify this. It means the test must be done at an airport testing centre, so this is very restricted cover.

In the neck: delayed PCR test results meant our reader couldn’t check in for her flight to Kenya and had to pay £1,400 for new air fares