Cancelled holiday
Jerry and Joan planned a trip to Australia and had booked their flights when Joan had an accident and broke her leg. Jerry and Joan had to cancel the trip and lost the deposit they had paid by credit card. They made a claim under the travel insurance cover provided by their credit card.
The claim
The insurance company, Blue Moon Insurance, declined the claim because Joan was over the age of 75 and she had not applied for Mature Age Cover. Under the terms of the cover provided by the credit card insurance there is no automatic cover for medical related benefits for persons aged between 75 and 89. Because the trip had been cancelled for medical reasons, Blue Moon believed the policy did not cover the claim for lost deposits.
FSCL’s view and resolution
The policy was not entirely clear. Medically related benefits are clearly excluded in the case of claimants over the age of 75 who have not applied for Mature Age Cover. What we had to consider was whether a claim for loss of deposits for medical reasons was a medically related benefit as defined in the policy. We told Blue Moon that we thought the policy wording was not entirely clear.
Given the claim was a small one, Blue Moon offered to refund the deposits, less the excess of $200, without any admission of liability. Jerry and Joan were happy to accept Blue Moon’s offer which resolved the complaint.
