For the 142 passengers who had to slide down the emergency chutes of a Jet Airways aircraft, after it skidded off the runway following an aborted take-off in Riyadh on Friday, the hope of making claims against their travel insurance appears bleak.
Bandra resident Navneet Bagga, a consultant with Delloitte, finally returned to Mumbai on Saturday morning a 24-hour delay, during which he had to brave it out in the airport, waiting for baggage to be retrieved and then share a hotel room with two others, to find out that his travel insurance claim had been turned down.
“A reply to my email on claiming my travel insurance from Bajaj Allianz revealed that such an incident is not covered,” Mr. Bagga, who injured his hand during the evacuation, said.
Jet Airways said that of the 142 passengers on board flight 9W 523, 77 were accommodated in a hotel, 40 left for home and 36 remained seated in the lounge. The aircraft skidded off the runway after the pilots braked hard to abort take-off after spotting a “barrier”.
A Jet Airways spokesperson said that the airline would decide on compensating the passengers only after the probe into the incident was completed.
Besides putting them up in hotels, Jet Airways also operated a relief flight from Riyadh to Mumbai to bring in the passengers.
Travel insurance, like the one sought by Mr. Bagga, covers hospitalisation, loss of baggage and other incidental expenses. Some travel insurance also cover passengers against trip cancellation, trip curtailment and burglary of your home during the trip.
‘Extraordinary situation’
Sudhakara Reddy, president, Air Passengers’ Association of India (APAI), termed the situation as extraordinary. “It’s true that the passengers had to go through a stressful situation. But insurance doesn’t kick in unless there is injury, need for hospitalisation etc,” he said.
“Once the probe is through, the airline will have to compensate the passengers,” Mr. Reddy said.