If you’re planning to fly to or within north India in the next month or two, you should be prepared for fog-related delays and cancellations. After all, flight disruptions due to adverse weather affected about four lakh passengers last December.
According to the aviation ministry’s passenger charter, passengers are entitled to refreshments, free hotel stays and even monetary compensation, depending on the length of the delay. However, adverse weather is among the factors for which airlines aren’t required to provide free hotel stays or monetary compensation if a flight is delayed for more than 24 hours.
Also read | Retail revolution needed: Five reasons to add fixed income MFs to your portfolio
This means you could end up having to book a hotel and an alternative flight with your own money. To prevent this, consider buying travel insurance if you plan to fly towards the end of December or in January.
What does travel insurance cover?
Travel insurance pays a fixed, predetermined amount if your flight is delayed. The amount of cover and the stipulated length of the delay differs across policies.
Delayed flights: This is paid when a flight is delayed after the passenger has checked-in. It does not apply when the airline informs passengers about the delay at least six hours before the departure time.
Vivek Chaturvedi, chief marketing officer and head of direct sales, Go Digit General Insurance, said a common carrier delay cover pays out if the flight is delayed beyond the duration specified in the policy.
He added that passengers should check how the insurer calculates delay times when buying such a policy. “Some insurers or policies may consider the actual departure time as the moment the parking brakes are released, while others use the time when the aircraft leaves the gate or takes off,” he said.
The payout under this cover can vary from ₹2,000 to ₹10,000. The payout for domestic flights is below ₹3,000 in most policies and higher amounts are generally paid for international flights.
Also read: This 23-year-old distributor makes mutual funds ‘sahi’ for the hearing impaired
Missed connections: A fixed benefit is also paid in case you miss your connecting flight because the initial flight was delayed. Many policies reimburse for the extra accommodation and travel costs incurred because of missed connections. “The insurer will pay for reasonable extra accommodation and travel costs. You may have to pay to reach the next destination on your ticket/itinerary if you missed a pre-booked onward connection as a direct result of the scheduled common carrier. A claim up to the sum insured mentioned in your policy will typically be payable in such scenarios,” said Chaturvedi.
The payout is much higher for missed connecting flights, but the conditions are also more stringent. For instance, most policies covering international flights require the gap between the original and the connecting flights to be at least six hours. Some policies may not pay for a missed connection if the original flight is cancelled or rescheduled rather than delayed.
To maximise protection, passengers should carefully review the policy document and remember to document all relevant information to support their claim, Chaturvedi said.
Default plans don’t cover cancellation
It’s common to see fog-delayed flights being cancelled eventually. While most travel insurance policies cover delays and missed connections, few cover flight delays or cancellations due to extreme weather.
When booking flights through online travel agencies, it is common to find the option to buy a basic travel insurance policy that covers lost baggage, flight delays, missed connections and trip cancellations by the passenger on account of emergencies. However, such policies don’t cover weather-related cancellations by airlines, so passengers should buy this ‘cancellation by operator’ cover separately.
Also read: What should investors do as markets swing? Keep calm and carry on, experts say
Note that airlines are liable to pay monetary compensation for cancelled or missed connecting flights only when it is their fault, and this does apply to disruptions caused by weather. The airline must inform passengers of a cancellation up to 24 hours before departure and give them the choice of an alternative flight or a full refund. If it doesn’t, the passenger is entitled to compensation over and above a full refund or an alternative flight.
This also applies when the passenger misses a connecting flight because of the airline’s fault. The compensation is ₹5,000 for flights with a block time of up to one hour, ₹7,500 for between one and two hours, and ₹10,000 for more than two hours, according to the passenger charter. Block time includes the time taken to taxi to the runway, the duration of the flight, and the time taken to taxi to the arrival gate.
