Travel Decision Reference 2022-0354

• Case Outcome: Rejected
• Subject Matter: Travel
• Reference: 2022-0354
• Date: 27 October 2022
• Finantial Sector: Insurance
• Conducts Complained Of: Rejection of claim - cancellation,Claim handling delays or issues

Decision Ref:

2022-0354

Sector:

Insurance

Product / Service:

Travel

Conduct(s) complained of:

Rejection of claim - cancellation

Claim handling delays or issues

Outcome:

Rejected

LEGALLY BINDING DECISION OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND PENSIONS OMBUDSMAN

The Complainants incepted an annual Travel Insurance Policy with the Provider on 7

December 2018. This complaint concerns the Provider’s decision to decline the claim the

Complainants made after they cancelled their trip to Mexico that was scheduled for early

January 2019, following the death of the First Complainant’s father.

The Complainants’ Case

The Complainants say that in August 2018, they booked a holiday to Mexico to commence

in early January 2019. They say that the day before they were due to depart, the First

Complainant’s father died, after being first diagnosed with cancer on 13 December 2018.

The First Complainant submitted a travel cancellation claim to the Provider but say that the

Provider wrote to the First Complainant on 6 March 2019 to advise that it was declining the

claim on the basis that the Complainants’ Travel Insurance Policy excludes cover for claims

in which at the time of taking out the policy or booking the trip, a close relative was

undergoing treatment and/or investigation at a hospital, clinic or nursing home, which gives

rise to the claim.

The First Complainant submitted an appeal to the Provider on 24 April 2019 wherein he

stated that “I at no stage was aware that my father was being tested for cancer until I was

informed by my mother on the 13th of December [2018] of the results of the biopsy”.

Following its review, the Provider advised the First Complainant in its letter of 14 May 2019

that it was standing over its declinature of the claim.