As the U.S. government shutdown leads to thousands of cancelled flights, some Canadian travellers might be caught up in the stateside travel chaos. But there’s a chance that even those who bought travel insurance might be left holding the bag.
Aviation analytics firm Cirium says more than 8,000 departures south of the border have been cancelled since Friday, with the proportion of scrapped flights hovering around 10 per cent on Sunday and Monday.
Hundreds of thousands of Canadians fly to and from the U.S. each month. Travel insurer Marty Firestone says those who purchased cancellation insurance before the government shutdown was announced as a travel advisory should be eligible for compensation.
But he says travellers who held off or bought a policy more recently may be out of luck for meal, hotel and transport coverage — though the airline still owes them a refund for the cancelled trip.
“The key here for this specific situation is having insurance in place before the advisory went in place, because now it’s considered a ‘known event,'” said Matt Hands, VP of insurance at Ratehub. In the insurance world, a known event is a foreseeable one, which is thus excluded from coverage.
Some credit cards offer travel insurance that includes flight cancellation or interruption coverage. But consumers should still review their terms and conditions to confirm what is covered, said Hands. For example, the insurance may only apply if the trip was booked using that card.
American flight controller shortages stemming from the federal shutdown prompted U.S. regulators to order air traffic reductions starting last Friday, with wintry weather in parts of the continent exacerbating the staffing disruptions early this week.
The U.S. Senate passed legislation Monday to reopen the government, but the bill still needs to clear the legislature’s lower house and final passage could be days away – with further flight disruptions possible through the rest of the month.
“It’s going to take a good one week to 10 days, if not two weeks, which is going to lead into that Thanksgiving period when it’s their busiest day of travel,” Firestone said.
“This has an effect on so many people, including Canadians who are travelling for business and can’t run the risk of getting stuck in New York for two or three days because of this shutdown. It’s a domino effect.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made clear last week that flight cuts will remain until the FAA sees staffing levels stabilize at its air traffic control facilities.
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