advice needed re: travel insurance claim
 

As some of you fodorites may know, I was in Jamaica for a few extra days as we could not get a flight out due to Hurricane Emily on the day we were supposed to leave, or for the next couple of days as well. I have filed my claim with all of the appropriate information so I thought, but they have just sent me a letter that they need confirmation in writing that the airport in Montego Bay was indeed closed. Any recommendations on how I go about doing this??? I guess that I would have thought that the insurance company would not have any difficulty in finding this out. Any info appreciated.

brenandg - Maybe check newspaperand magazine archives? You might be able to find something on the internet. Does the airport there have a website?

Brenda,

I would contact the Minister of Tourism in Jamaica, and ask for some official help. I don't have an email address for you, but will research.

Tiverton would be able to help. Maybe post directly to him.

[email protected].

I can only begin to imagine your frustration.

Marion

Here's the info for MBJ airport in Montego Bay. Perhaps either call them, send a fax, or by post depending on the speed you need the info.

Montego Bay - Sangster Airport (MBJ/MKJS)

Montego Bay Airport
PO Box 204
Airport Administration
Montego Bay, Jamaica

Tel: +1 876 952-3124, +1 876 952-3133
Fax: +1 876 952-6127, +1 876 952-1051

Marion, thanks for your reply, will be waiting for any further information. I got the grinning face :D, now need to know how to do the winking one.

Forgot to add, Canuck, thanks for the info too. I'm sure I will be utilizing it.

Brenda,

Our wonderful Canadian friend gave you great advice ;-) Call or Fax and I'm sure you will get the documentation you need.

Jacketwatch told me to put the cursor over the emoticon and you'll see how to do it. TRA LA, he's right !

;-)....semi colon, dash and then right-handed parenthesis.

mm is probably getting ready to show off his "gag me with a spoon" that Diana showed him !

Let us all know how your insurance claim progresses. You're such a good
sport, I'm sure it will be a positive outcome.

Marion

Will they allow a statement from the airline you were booked on? I had to file a travel claim in February. We had travel delays on the way to our cruise because of bad weather which forced our departure airport to close and the airline faxed me a letter stating that our flight was canceled due to weather and that was sufficient for the insurance company.

Your airline might also be able to supply this information.

BTW, I have made claims like this in the past, and have always been able to find a newspaper article (often on-line) which substantiated the claim that an airport was closed. The travel insurance carrier always accepted it.

Here's an online news report you could use:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...433&EDATE=

and:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050716/nysa011.html?.v=17

You can actually email these stories directly to insurance co...

Thanks Joan!!! I just printed them. I think that will be sufficient for the claim.

All the great suggestions from everyone else appreciated too. This seems like the easiest way instead of getting all of those lovely computer phone menus!

Just another tip on the insurance claim process. We needed to document that the airline tickets we claimed were non-refundable. I now print out the rules that we all tend to ignore when making on-line reservations.

Just an update. I printed the articles that Joan provided links too. Thanks again! :). It worked fine and I received my check in the mail from Travel Guard today. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.

=D> Hooray and you're welcome!