October 13, 2006
Travel Troubleshooter vs. Access America travel insurance
Americans buy travel insurance less often that Europeans; is that because we have no reason to trust the insurance companies?
This traveler called Access America twice and asked if she would be covered for a missed connection. Both times the agent on the phone answered yes, you'll be covered. But the troubleshooter reminds us we need to read the contract:
Check out Part 6, Section H of your contract for what is -- and isn't -- covered in the event of a missed connection. You would have been covered for up to $300, if you were delayed by a traffic accident or bad weather.In other words we can't trust the agents we speak to on the phone. They say "yes" when they should say "yes in very rare cases but most of the time we'll deny your claim".
''It was a confluence of events that caused Ms. Wolf's delay,'' a spokeswoman for Access America said. "None of them were covered under her policy.'' I have no problem with this in general, but the fact that we can't trust Access America phone agents tells me that this is a company I'll never trust to insure my vacation.
Back to my original question. I think Americans don't buy travel insurance because we don't want to hire a lawyer to figure out what the contract means. And since we don't trust the insurance companies to give us a straight answer we risk vacationing without insurance.
Posted by James Trotta at October 13, 2006 2:34 AM | TrackBack
DO NOT TRUST what the agent tells you on the phone! My daughter, myself and friends were traveling to Cabo for a weeks vacation. My daughter misplaced her drivers license, so I called US Airs, our airline to fly out on. I explained that my daughter misplaced her drivers licence and asked if her birth cert. and her picture college id would work for id. The agent of couse told me yes, several times. The day came to travel, we drive 180+ miles to the airport, spent $100.00 on a room near the airport, spent $300.00+ on clothing for Cabo. At 4:30am. we checked our lougage in, received our boarding passes, go through the long line for security. The guy checking id and ticket info. asked my daughter how old she was, she replyed 19 and we were told she needed a government approved picture id. I tryed to explain what we were told by the agent over the phone, but that did not matter. He sent us back to the ticket lady, who sent us to another, not so nice person, for us to be told to bad, your daughter can not go. Throught the tears we waited onother hour for them to find our lougage, it was already on the plane.
Posted by: Rita Caton at October 14, 2006 3:22 AMSorry to hear that Rita. I'll add US Air to the list of travel companies never to use.
Posted by: James Trotta at October 14, 2006 4:55 AMSo sorry to hear about Rita and her family's woes - actually abuse. I'd like to ask her a question - Rita, were you travelling international? In which case a passport would have been necessary for your daughter to board the plane - unless a bilateral agreement allowed for travel without a passport. But in that case a form of ID to prove nationality would be necessary. And there is were my beef lies - a driver's license is not an ID - it is only proof that your daughter has been permitted to drive in the state that issued it.
An ID would have to be a document issued purely for the purpose of identification - something the US (assuming you're American) does not provide to the civilian population. US Airs was totally out of line by insisting on your daughter providing a document they are not legally permitted to use for their business purposes. If they don't issue ID's at time of ticket purchase they cannot ask you to provide a document that does not exist. Trust me - you can sue them for breach of contract - failing to fly you...
Cabo San Lucas (Mexico) is an international destination, but as of this date a passport is not required to return to the United States. You only need your birth certificate and a "government issued photo id". While in most cases, a drivers license is not a true proof of identity in the strictest legal sense, the feds have deemed it good enough in these cases. Please also note that it was not US Air who denied boarding. Permission to pass into the secured area of the terminal was denied by "security" presumably the T.S.A. who answers to Homeland Security, not US Air. The info given by the US Air agent is normally correct.
Your situation is unfortunate in that you ran into "supercop" who went by the strictest interpretation of the rules. There is a fine line in that the airline controls boarding, but T.S.A. controls acces to the terminal. The other issue at work is what documents are acceptable to enter the U.S. from a foreign country. When arriving from Mexico, the documents listed above are required, however in cases of lost documents it is allowable for relatives to sign affadavits affirming the persons identity. This may not be available at the airport where a separate set of rules prevails. Confused yet? When you run into these situations, it is best to politely but firmly request to speak to the next highest person of authority and appeal to their common sense and reason. No guarantees, but worth a try.
My sympathy for your tough situation.