Microsoft outage: Travel insurance will pay for flight delays or cancellations, but…

The world came to a virtual halt on Friday after a botched software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike crashed many Microsoft Windows computer systems, adversely affecting several industries worldwide.

The aviation sector was amongst the worst affected by the global IT outage. As the system became non-functional, flight operations were disrupted with passengers standing in long queues, receiving handwritten boarding passes instead.

Moreover, this global IT outage also resulted in hundreds of flights being cancelled or delayed in India.

Having a travel insurance policy entitles you to file a claim for reimbursement. “Major tech disruption of cloud services by a major IT corporation has caused widespread flight delays and cancellations, both domestically and internationally. Any delays or cancellations of scheduled flights by the airlines will get covered under travel insurance,” says Vivek Chaturvedi, CMO and Head of Direct Sales, Go Digit General Insurance according to a News18 report.

“If the cancellation and delays are covered as per policy terms and conditions, then we will pay the claim (irrespective of measures taken by airlines),” says Aashish Sethi, Head, Health SBU and Travel, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.

In case the airline has cancelled your domestic or international flight because of outage disruption and you weren't properly informed in advance, you can file for compensation. However, keep in mind that the notification period before the flight termination varies depending on your insurance provider and policy.

 “You may need to provide written proof from the airline regarding the same. However, such proof is not required if the information is available to the insurer from a public source (like in this case of outage-linked cancellations),” says Chaturvedi.

However, make sure to keep a note of the conditions applied for your claims to be considered as valid. The conditions can vary based on your insurance provider, your policy type, and any optional extras you've selected for additional coverage.

For example, Bajaj Allianz offers a domestic travel policy that will compensate for flight delays of over six hours, unless you purchase a rider at additional premium. 

“In this case, even delays of over 30 minutes to two hours are covered, depending on the variant chosen,” says Sethi as per News18. 

The policy takes care of the expenses for food and accommodation if they aren't provided by the airline free of cost.

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