HSBC Premier Travel Insurance – missed flight

[SammyMcN]

Hi, I have a query for which I would appreciate advice please if anyone has been in a similar situation or has expertise. I have HSBC Premier travel insurance. I am travelling from Victoria (Canada) back to LHR via Vancouver in a few months. I am booked to take a ferry from Victoria to Vancouver, and then BA flight from YVR to LHR. I have heard that the ferry can sometimes be unreliable and may get cancelled from time to time. The flight from YVR departs at 20.50, the drive from the ferry terminal is around 45 mins so I am taking the ferry that arrives at Vancouver at 16.35 to leave plenty of time to get to the airport and go through security.

My question is whether I would be covered by insurance if I missed the flight back to LHR if the ferry is cancelled or delayed so much that I miss the 20.50 departure. I have read through the policy wording myself and am unsure if this would come under Unexpected Costs – Travel Disruption, or if it would be Unexpected Costs – Missed Transport. The former would provide more than enough cover (£10,000 per person) to pay for overnight accommodation and another flight the next day, however the latter only covers for £1,000, which would certainly not be enough cover for accommodation and a new flight.

Many thanks in advance.
Sam

[JDB]

You really need to check this with HSBC, but those two sections have different text/conditions attached to them. If you need to make a claim, one of the conditions is that you must have left enough time and in view of the unreliability to which you refer, the timing may be considered too tight.

[JDB]

@SammyMcN – one additional thing on this as you mention the cost is that an insurer won’t necessarily pay for the return flights in the same class as you had booked unless specifically stated.

[Tracey]

Are there still major road closures on Vancouver island? In the summer friends missed their ferry because the roads were closed.

[SamG]

My interpretation is Missed Transport which is only going to cover £1000

Insurance should cover a failure of public transport though but it’s worth checking how many hours they’d have considered reasonable to have allowed to check in + what costs they’d cover e.g. another BA ticket in the same class or the cheapest ticket available

For my personal circumstances I find the HSBC Premier policy lacking in certain areas (main one being no air mile coverage) and have other coverage

[points_worrier]

I would say it could be covered under travel disruption section. But do note:
It excludes Any event [where] you knew or could reasonably be expected to have known that travel disruption could impact travel plans. Any claim where the insured person hadn’t allowed enough time,or done everything they reasonably could, to get to their departure point
for the time shown on their itinerary.

From what you have said, and the ferry being unreliable, it is clear that aiming to come back in that timeframe is likely to fall under this exclusion, but it would be down to the person deciding at the time of making a claim.

I would come back earlier. If it gets delayed beyond this extra time due to freak storm etc really is what this section is aimed to cover.

[SammyMcN]

Thank you all for the valuable comments and advice. Seems it will be better for me to first check with the insurer and also to leave a bit more time for the journey.
Sam