Not upheld: Unknown / needs review complaint against Europ Assistance SA

Decision detail

Summary

Mr and Mrs L complained that Europ Assistance SA unfairly rejected their travel insurance claim after Mr L's flight to Morocco was cancelled due to poor weather. Mr L had purchased a staff travel cancellation waiver policy to protect his non-refundable accommodation booking. EA declined the claim, stating the policy only covered cancellations due to lack of standby seats and explicitly excluded flight cancellations. Mr L argued the policy description as 'cancellation insurance' should cover all holiday cancellations and that the IPID was misleading. The ombudsman found the policy terms were clear and unambiguous, the exclusion was properly applied, and the policy documents were not misleading, therefore not upholding the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that the policy terms were clear and unambiguous: cover was only provided for cancellations due to lack of standby seats, and flight cancellations for any reason were explicitly excluded. Since Mr L's flight was cancelled due to poor weather (not lack of standby seats), the claim fell outside the scope of cover. The ombudsman rejected arguments that the policy description as 'cancellation insurance' should automatically cover all holiday cancellations, noting that all insurance policies are subject to their specific terms and conditions. The ombudsman also found the policy documents, including the IPID, were sufficiently clear and not misleading, and that the adviser did not promise the claim would be settled.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website