BMC Travel Insurance: How to deal with cancelled and delayed flights
With this morning’s news of the Heathrow Airport closure, find out what to do if your holiday plans get disrupted. Here’s a simple three step guide for how to deal with cancelled or delayed flights.
Flight cancelled? Or massively delayed? It's not a fun way to start your holiday and having to deal with it, especially if you don't know what to do, can be incredibly stressful. We don't wish it upon anyone, but if it does happen to you just follow this easy-to-use guide on what you can do and what you should be eligible for in terms of compensation.
1. Delays or cancellations? Here's what you're entitled to from the airline
While the airline should be informing and updating you on delays and cancellations to your journey, don’t forget to check social media for updates as well as the email account you used to book the tickets. The airline’s smartphone app can also be a useful source of information on your trip.
According to EU Regulation 261/2004, the airline is obliged to look after its customers in the event of delays and cancellations, no matter the reasons for the disruptions. Depending on the length of the delay you may be entitled to food and drink. This may come in the form of vouchers.
Overnight delays means the airline should provide you with a hotel room including transport there and back. However, be sure to check whether the airline is booking the hotel for you and, if not, find a reasonably priced room and make sure to keep your receipts to claim for compensation.
For cancelled flights, as soon as the announcement is made you can choose whether you want a REFUND for the cancellation or an ALTERNATIVE flight to your destination, which is also known as rerouting. It doesn’t matter if the flight was cancelled 10 hours or 10 minutes before it was due to depart, nor does it matter why it was cancelled.
2. How your BMC Travel Insurance policy can help
If your flight is cancelled or delayed as a result of industrial action, bad weather or a technical fault on the aircraft, you may be able to claim up to £30 for each full 12 hours that you are delayed up to a maximum of £120.
If your flight is cancelled on your outward journey and the airline cannot offer an alternative within 12 hours, and you choose to abandon your trip, you may be able to make a claim for irrecoverable cancellation costs.
As always, you should check your particular circumstances against your policy wording. For BMC Insurance, read the Policy Wording linked to in this document. If in doubt, keep costs to a minimum and keep all receipts. Travel insurance claims are dealt with on a case-by-case basis and assessed upon the merits of each individual claim. The BMC Travel Insurance Claims office can be contacted on 01623 631 331 Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.
3. Compensation up to £540 under EU Regulation 261/2004
Have you been delayed by more than three hours? Or has your flight been cancelled? If so you’re likely to be entitled to compensation worth from £110 up to £540 under EU Regulation 261/2004. Since Brexit this regulation has been written into UK Law. It’s easy and free to claim online.
There is a step-by-step guide to claiming, including an online tool, to help manage your complaint with information how to stop airlines getting out of paying out on the Money Saving Expert website.
BMC Travel Insurance
Our insurance is designed to protect you on your adventures, whether that’s bouldering in France, trekking in India or climbing the world’s highest peaks. We’ve got five different policies so that you can find the right fit, from travel, trekking, hill walking, climbing, skiing to mountaineering. We can also arrange specialist cover for unclimbed peaks and inaccessible regions.
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