Cheapest Flights To Jordan - Travel Insurance and Flight Cancellations - Beware of the Fog

After recovering from the shock you would probably turn to your credit card company - or travel insurance policy - for compensation. You expect the airline to provide compensation but they claim it is not their responsibility because the cancellation was due to 'extraordinary circumstances' which were beyond their control. Imagine arriving at the airport on time only to find that your flight has been canceled due to fog or technical problems.

Until a delay of more than 24 hours had occurred, however, a claim for abandonment would not normally qualify. If the flight had been delayed for a certain period of time - rather than canceled - travel insurance would normally cover claims related to the delay.

And flight abandonment are normally treated as separate issues, flight cancellation, flight delay. Under travel insurance terms and conditions this is not going to fly. It's also no use arguing that as the flight had been scheduled to depart at a specified time on a specific day and had not departed at that time - or any time after that - it should be treated as an 'indefinite delay' or abandonment!

Travel insurance generally does not compensate for the cost of tickets for canceled flights either - only for delays of certain periods of time, unfortunately. Many travelers are not aware that airlines are not obliged to offer compensation where extraordinary circumstances (which includes fog) cause cancellation of a flight.

Which states: until you get to No.3 under Article 5, . . And it all looks good, article 5 is quoted under the Flight Cancellation policy of many airlines. It also provides the airlines with a defence that it does not have to pay compensation if there were 'extraordinary circumstances', however. But basically it was set up to protect the rights of passengers to monetary compensation if a flight is canceled, to the average person it may seem like annoying mumbo jumbo. 261/2004. Look for Article 5 of EU Regulation No. Take a minute to check the airline's Terms and Conditions before going ahead, if you are booking a flight online.

" If it can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. . . "An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation.

But look closer and you will probably find it, the mention of extraordinary circumstances may not be obvious! And unexpected flight safety shortcomings, strikes affecting flight operations, security alerts, terrorist alerts, political instability, civil unrest, weather conditions, where the circumstances include (but are not limited to): Air traffic control or air traffic management decisions affecting aircraft, the terminology used to describe extraordinary circumstances in the Flight Cancellation Terms and Conditions of various airlines may differ somewhat.

Extraordinary circumstances is believed to have been used as an excuse for anything from staff problems to technical glitches. The airlines often manage to wriggle out of paying by using the 'extraordinary circumstances' rule - or should that read 'loophole', however? EU-based carriers are required to compensate passengers for canceled flights where they are unable to rebook the passengers, under current European Union law.

And be reduced to loudly chanting la-la-la-la-la), due to the fog, (The average person will probably have covered their ears and closed their eyes at this point. It cannot be argued that as a flight did not take of at all it constituted a 'delay' of more than 24 hours and should be covered under the 'abandonment' section of a travel insurance policy, likewise! It will never take off, rather than delayed, if a flight has been canceled. Flight cancellation should not be confused with flight delay. But they are not obliged to do so, if an airline has to cancel a flight due to extraordinary circumstances it is up to the airline whether to offer alternative flights or any form of compensation.

The best advice is Buyer Beware, until the fog clears, in the meantime! Try contacting one of the companies that operate on a no-win-no-fee basis to investigate whether an airline's denial of compensation is valid, and you believe you have a case, if your travel plans get caught in the 'extraordinary circumstances' conundrum.