Just how effective?

I've known JQ phone staff to be pretty inept before. I believe one of them I was talking to before didn't know what a PNR was. I'm pretty sure the rest of the JQ staff aren't much more switched on in that regard. Hence the result with the OP.


In any case, sorry to hear the case of the OP, but OLCI would have saved your hide (provided that you arrived at the airport with enough time to run to the gate and board your aircraft).

This is no one's fault (except perhaps that of the people who caused the accursed accident which delayed you in the first place) - not the OP's nor JQ's. I don't know if there is a single travel insurance policy that would cover a situation like this.