Can You Claim for a Missed Flight?

What is a Missed Flight?

Missed flight, also referred to as a missed departure in travel insurance terms, is when you are forced to miss a scheduled flight due to unavoidable reasons.

This can happen anytime, during the inbound or outbound journeys. It can happen due to many reasons, but only a few of them are considered valid for reimbursements.

For example, missing your flight due to a strike, an accident, disruption of public transport, mechanical breakdown of your car, death of an immediate relative, etc. are some of the reasons that most insurers consider valid. Similarly, missing your flight because you overslept or read the time wrong is not a valid reason.

Do I Get a Refund if I Miss My Flight?

Getting a refund for your missed flight depends on whose fault it is. It also depends on whether or not you purchased a comprehensive travel insurance plan.

If you had to miss your flight due to technical issues or breakdowns in the carrier, then your airline is more likely to compensate you for your missed flight. However, they may or may not compensate you for other non-refundable bookings. In such a case, your international travel insurance will help you recover that loss.

If you miss your flight under the covered reasons, then you will get a refund for your loss. However, for this, you need to be really well-versed with your trip insurance plan, especially the parts related to flight cancellation or missed flights.

Does Travel Insurance Cover if You Miss a Connecting Flight?

For most travellers, a missed flight is an absolute nightmare. Especially when it is for a well-deserved vacation, missing your flight means losing the time and money you gave for the flight, as well as for many bookings including hotel or tour companies etc. that you paid for in advance.

Many travel insurance companies in India offer certain benefits when it comes to cancelling or rescheduling flights. However, these benefits depend largely on the intensity of your situation.

If your trip has been cancelled before the date of departure, then you will get compensation benefits given that it was an unavoidable reason such as falling too sick for the trip or a death in the family.

Other cases that are usually covered by trip insurance include natural disasters, sudden and extreme weather changes, terrorist attacks or sudden critical issues faced by the insured traveller. However, you should always remember the level of coverage offered by different policies as some of them may or may not offer this benefit.

Missed flights are often confused with missed connections, where a person misses a connecting flight. While many insurers offer coverage for missing a connecting flight, it is not the same as missed departure. Also, make sure that your insurer offers coverage for both if you have a connecting flight in your itinerary.

When Can You Claim for a Missed Flight?

Other than airline issues, most trip insurance plans provide coverage for a missed flight. These are the few reasons your travel insurance will cover missed flights:

• If you missed a flight because of an accident (rail, bus, etc.) while reaching the airport
• If you were late for a connecting flight due to a natural disaster, bad weather, hijacking, civil unrest etc.
• If you or an immediate family member falls critically ill

On the other hand, you won't be covered for missing your flight due to your own fault or something avoidable. Traffic, not leaving for the airport on time, oversleeping, forgetting your passport at home or other careless mistakes won't be considered valid reasons.

Another thing to remember, if you missed your flight due to the airline's fault, you may claim a refund from them. Many travel insurance companies in India don't provide coverage for such cases, however, they may compensate you for hotel bookings that went to waste because of the missed flight.

Wrapping it Up,

Missing a flight is one of the most common flight-related issues faced by people. Domestic or international, flights are costly and most people won’t like to see all that money go down the drain. It only gets worse if you had an urgent meeting or reason to travel someplace but couldn’t board the flight. To make sure you never have to suffer from a missed flight, buy travel insurance for missed flight and missed connection benefits. This way, you won’t have to suffer the pain of losing all that money as well as cancelling your vacation plans.