Travel insurance claim problem

I was wondering if somebody would be able to advise on what I should do next with my travel insurance claim as I have a bit of a problem.

Bit of background, there was a death in the family, so i had to make an emergency flight home. Booked the flight in the airport, got a receipt for the credit card transaction from the airline and kept that in my wallet for the travel insurance claim. I've now submitted all my receipts to the travel insurer and they say this receipt is not sufficient and they want an itinerary/invoice for this flight. However I was never issued with an invoice as I bought the ticket in the airport and the credit card receipt is all I got. I contacted the airline (TAM airlines) and they said they could not find my reservation without a ticket number, but I do not know the ticket number. So I'm stuck.

Is the insurer being unreasonable to request an invoice when Ive already submitted a receipt for the flight? They say the reason for this is as its "a standard document we require on all claims for early return in order so we can confirm that the cost claimed by you is relating to the policyholder only".

I even checked my baggage to see if it still had the airline tag on it which may have had the ticket number but it was removed when I went on another flight afterwards.

Any ideas or advice? Are they being unreasonable or is this fairly standard? It was a very expensive flight so can't afford not to be refunded for it.

Write back to your insurance company explaining the situation and include a copy of the reply from TAM Airlines. Tell them that you would like to initiate their complaints procedure if they cannot meet your claim. After you have exhausted their complaints procedure (copy of which should be available through your Policy Document) you can then address your complaints to the Financial Ombudsman if you are not satisfied.

A standard wording is as follows from a travel policy:

If it is impossible to reach an agreement, You have the right to make an appeal to the Financial Services Ombudsman’s
Bureau, Third Floor, Lincoln House, Lincoln Place, Dublin 2, Republic of Ireland.
Telephone: 00353 (1) 6620 899
Fax: 00353 (1) 6620 890
Email: enquiries@financialombudsman.ie
Web: [broken link removed]
Please note that the Ombudsman will not consider Your case until You have followed the internal complaints procedure by
writing to Our General Manager, as outlined above. Please quote Your insurance reference number and/or Your claim
number in all Your correspondence to all parties involved with this procedure. This procedure is intended to provide You
with a prompt and practical service with any complaint that You may have.

Gary -I assume you kept copies of everything submitted to the loss adjustors.
Does not the receipt show the flight details? If it just shows an amount received by TAM, with no flight details, then the insurance people have a point.

But even if it shows flight details the insurance company could argue that you may have bought this for another relative who was not insured with them, so they want to see that the flight was bought by you for you. If it says those things then you should follow Sue Ellens comprehnsive excellent advice.

If the receipt does not prove that the flight ticket was bought for you,with the flight details - then ,from my long experince selling thousands of travel insurance policies, I'm unsure how succesful you'll be.

Sorry to appear impolite -but you only got a credit card receipt and no other bits of paper to show check-in staff or departure gate staff or airline staff?

Cheers for the replies.

The receipt doesnt show the details of the flight unfortuantly.

I got a boarding pass but I stupidly lost it. I searched the seats when the flight landed but couldnt find it anywhere and i was in a bit of a state. Such a pity TAM cant send me the details.

Will have to go ahead without an invoice or whatver as there isnt one to be got. Will submit it to the complaints section afterwards if they dont pay out on the flight and failing that the ombudsman.

I understand they think I could have bought the ticket for a relative, but using a bit of common sense, how else could I have gotten home or made the flight from Gemany? It was quite obviously me on the flight! The price of the flight was quite reasonable to.

Have you received your credit card bill yet? Most of the flights I book appear on my credit card statement with additional detail like the airport codes and the passenger names, and in some cases a ticket number

millieforbes said:

Have you received your credit card bill yet? Most of the flights I book appear on my credit card statement with additional detail like the airport codes and the passenger names, and in some cases a ticket number

Click to expand...

It just has the the payment reference, no flight ticket number unfortunatly.