Olive made the best of her remaining time in New York, but the trip was largely hampered by more inclement weather.
Olive’s claim
Olive returned to New Zealand and claimed for the entire cost of her trip, including flights, accommodation and the marathon entry fee from her travel insurer, Elephant Travel Insurance Ltd. Olive also claimed a “per diem” allowance from Elephant for the days she was unable to enjoy her holiday in New York.
Elephant Travel Insurance declined Olive’s claim. Elephant’s policy covered cancellation, alteration, curtailment or incompletion of Olive’s trip. Olive’s trip was not cancelled, altered, curtailed or left incomplete: it was only the marathon itself which was cancelled. Elephant offered to refund Olive’s marathon entry fee.
Olive complained to FSCL. Olive believed she should be paid for the full cost of her trip to New York because the marathon was the only reason she was travelling to New York at all.
FSCL’s review
FSCL agreed with Elephant’s view of the policy: it was clear that Olive could not claim under a contract for travel insurance for financial losses she had not suffered. Olive’s loss was a loss of enjoyment, and the policy wording did not provide cover for loss of enjoyment. FSCL noted that it was not aware of any travel insurance that covered loss of enjoyment. FSCL’s CEO gave her preliminary view of the complaint to Olive, along these lines.
Olive withdrew her complaint.
