Will Travel Insurance Cover a Missed Connection from International Flight? (SYD>LAX, LAX>BOSTON)

[Deactivated] on 07/05/2016 - 18:05
Last edited 07/05/2016 - 18:17

Hello OZBargainers..so I have flights from Sydney to LAX with Virgin Australia. Need to get to Boston after that.
Virgin America has a flight that's 2.5 hours after we land (yes this is cutting it very close).

The two flights won't be under the same booking so I'm wondering what happens if we get held up in customs or arrive late from SYD>LAX. Have done this leg about 20 times but always under work's tab so never had to worry- plus customs in LAX is less than a 1 hour exercise in most cases.

If I book with Virgin America is there anyway to pre-arrange pre check in (so the Virgin US guys can put us on another flight later for free if we miss the connection)?.

If not, will travel insurance cover any missed connections like this?

Don't want to wait 5 hours for the next flight to Boston once getting into LAX…

On the topic, can anyone recommend a good travel insurance company that will cover a missed connection?

Thanks for any advice!

Travel

Comments

  • gomertose on 07/05/2016 - 18:17
    +2

    No. You gotta read the insurance t&c's as they will stipulate a minimum connection time, but I highly doubt they will cover you when you have only left 2.5hrs transit.

    • zappy32 on 07/05/2016 - 18:39
      +2

      And someone left an anonymous neg… This place sometimes! This is usually the case. Most I have seen either won't cover it or you have to be arriving at the airport before check-in begins.

      EDIT: Virgin America will put you on the next flight for free usually. Check out missed flight info here:

      http://www.virginamerica.com/html/contract-of-carriage.pdf

      US Airlines are generally a lot more lenient that Australian ones in this regard.

  • Umicro on 07/05/2016 - 18:51
    +1

    No Insurance will ever cover a missed connection for any reason.
    They MAY cover amendment costs for unforseen circumstances ie illness or environmental occurrences.

    In any case;

    1. You already know that this is risky.
    2. You need to pass custom and immigrations in LAX (minimum recommended time is 3 hours - Yes it can be done quicker but you don't know if you can do it on that day) // Airline Minimum connect is 1.5HR when on the same ticket.
    3. As you have 2 seperate tickets then it is no ones responsibility except yours. (especially if there is a delay or schedule change)
    4. Virgin America and Virgin Australia do not codeshare so no interline agreements exist. (they are actually different companies)
    5. You cannot check your bag in with VA and get it all the way through it VX (due to customs & the airlines being different)
    6. All checked luggage is paid at point of checkin for domestic US. So you will have to line up again to pay for it. (this may chew up to 45 minutes)

    Rule of thumb, If it can be prevented and you haven't taken step to prevent it.
    No coverage.

    Best to book though connect ticket to destination - or book with a travel agent who can link & marry segment together.

    • RockyRaccoon on 07/05/2016 - 19:25

      Immigration isnt that bad now there are self service machines that can process your arrival, in fact last time even when I got my fingerprints rejected, so had to use agent rather than self service, we got thru before the bags came out.

      And then customs was rather quick.

      Biggest issue which I cant advise is how far Virgin America departure gates are from Virgin arrival gates (I fly Qantas)

      Maybe the OP can try seeing if the agent in Sydney, might take pity and have the bags priority tagged, or leave check in to the latest you can, as past experinece is that later check in seems to be earlier baggage arrival.

    • zappy32 on 09/05/2016 - 20:50

      Some insurers do offer some limited missed connection coverage. Here's a couple I've looked at before but I assume there's others as well.

      Columbus - Not specified but covered for Missed Connections(pg 13).
      World Nomads - Covered but at least 3 hours or more depending on carrier but not covered for things withing the carriers control(ie. not maintenance issues but will cover weather, strikes, natural disasters etc).

      • Umicro on 13/05/2016 - 19:04

        None of those actually cover what OP wants.
        Missed connections due to Unforeseen circumstances en-route are covered by main carrier and fall under additional expenses.

        What OP is doing is intentionally creating a close connection time for connivence.
        The risk is they are different carriers so neither will accept responsibility.

  • MITM on 14/05/2016 - 09:13

    You want insurance to cover you because you might not walk/run fast enough to the next gate, but the plane takes off on time without you - I doubt it.
    Book a later flight.

  • Donaldhump on 18/05/2016 - 02:50

    book a later flight, it could take you 1 hour to get through lax customs/immigration. it is indeed a painful wait, and sucks when you do arrive on time to just wait, but your mad to to only give yourself 2.5 hours. I would have 5-6 minimum.

    for the record even if it was the same airline and same booking, you have to clear customs at your first port of call in the USA, so i dont think you can even check your bags all the way through and transfer with lax airport without clearing customs with the same airline.

    i have done panama to dallas a few times, and it goes through houston and every time i have to do this in houston.

  • anna10 on 18/05/2016 - 09:15

    There have been reports that LAX is better these days.

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