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Travel Insurance Airline Strike Coverage (no coverage list)

I will be going to Spain in Late August 2017 for the Best of Spain tour and am finding the flight I want is not covered by Travel Guard AIG for trip cancelation and interruption coverage due to a Airline Strike.

My tenative flight is with Norweigian Air Shuttle direct from Oakland CA to Barcelona. I will also be flying local carriers with-in Spain to go from one tour to another which is also not covered for Strikes.

Has anyone come across this before?

It seems only European Carriers are affected by this list:

https://www.travelguard.com/customerservice/strikelist/

Probably my next thing to do is to ask Norweigian if they offer additional Flight Travel Insurance covering strikes.
Any help of insight would help.
Thanks,
Liam

Posted by
2916 posts

Are you sure you wouldn't be covered? The Norwegian Air strike coverage date ended in March 2015. And I do see a Spanish airline pilot strike, but that is from 6 years ago.

Posted by
2147 posts

I'd suggest double-checking by calling TravelGuard, but the way I read their strike list is that if there is a strke with Norweigian Airlines, then you WOULD be covered (provided you buy your trip insurance before any subsequent exclusion may appear on their Strike List...said another way provided you buy your trip insurance before TravelGuard notes any furture threat of a strike with that carrier, which might or might not happen). For the general Spanish Pilot strike, I read it that you would NOT be covered for a pilot strike in Spain (but clarify with TravelGuard to see if the exclusion means pilots of Spanish-owned airlines only or pilots that are stationed in Spain and receive their compensation in Spain (covered by their union or union equivalent).

If you were to buy trip insurance through an airline, I think (not certain) such coverage would be only for your flight, not your tour. But, if you purchase other insurance for just your tour and your flight prevents you from getting there, if that other trip insurance excludes a pilot strike for one of your flights, then you may be out of luck.

Best to ask LOTS of questions with the trip insurance company, and I always suggest taking an actual screen capture of any exclusions that apply on the day you purchase your policy, just to protect you, should something be added (and back-dated) after you purchased your policy. What does that mean that I just typed? For instance, I had called TravelGuard to inform that that Haimark cruiseline went bankrupt (and we had to file a claim due to Haimark requesting that customers leave a ship early, before the end of the cruise....TravelGuard finally settled up fairly). I watched over a time frame after I called them to alert them to the bankruptcy, and they had not listed the exclusion, and I think I even called them again and reached the senior-most person I could. But, when they finally did list the exclusion for Haimark, I noticed it was backdated. My guess is that they would have paid a claim for someone who may have made a cash outlay during that fuzzy period before they actually showed the exclusion on their web site (or it could be since Haimark had gone bankrupt, it may not have been possible for someone to actually make a payment during that fuzzy period....who knows?).

NOTE: Re: your particular situation, what I shared above is just my take on how I interpret their strike exclusions. Again, it's important that you check with TravelGuard directly.....ditto if you decide to insure your flight with the an airline and the rest of your tour with another insurer (just to make sure the two coverages separately accomplish what you want together).

Posted by
5153 posts

Strongly suggest you contact Travel Guard AIG directly. First by telephone and then follow up with an Email and get their answer in writing. They are the only people who can give you an authoritative, accurate answer. We've found that a lot of web sites just do not have the latest information about such things. BTW, we had a claim with them once for a medical situation and it was handled very, very well. No complaints at all and will not hesitate to use them again.