Originally Posted by
Brituchenite
Received a letter today that my claim was denied for the following reasons:
* The benefit does not provide coverage when you’re still within your city of residence.*
I called the Customer Service line to discuss this and was advised that my claim was rejected as I was still within my city of residence, had not yet started my travel, and did not send a copy of the billing statement showing the ticket was originally purchased on my Mastercard.
I have appealed this decision and disputed the reason for the rejection.
I was not still within my city of residence. I was at Newark Airport when the rolling delays began.
My city of residence is XXXXXXX, NJ. The airport is located in the City of Newark, NJ. Thus, I was not in my city of residence.
The CSR representative advised that I had not started my trip as I was still in NJ. I disputed this. Nowhere can I find documentation that states I have to be a certain distance or time away from home when the delay begins. It is my understanding that I had to have already begun my trip when the delay occurred in order for a claim to be valid. I claimed this to be true. I had already left my home, had traveled to the airport, was at the airport, and had been at the airport for several hours when the flight was eventually cancelled.
I did, indeed, present a copy of the billing statement showing the purchase of the original flight on my Mastercard. It also shows on the United Airlines ticket receipt that the payment was made with Mastercard ending in XXXX.
I believe my claim to be valid based on the criteria for a Trip Delay – the trip has to have begun, the delay has to be greater than 12 hours and/or overnight. My trip had begun as I had left my home and was at the airport; the flight was canceled AFTER the originally scheduled departure time so I had no knowledge of this prior to leaving my home. My re-accommodated flight was 18hrs after my original and necessitated an overnight stay.
Does anyone know whether there is a time/distance away from home criterion that has to be met? I can't find anything anywhere.
Anyway, I will wait to see whether my appeal is accepted, and let y'all know the outcome once I know.
Received a response to my appeal. They now want to know the
exact time I was notified by the airline that my flight was canceled.
I was not *technically* advised by the airline. I realized it had been canceled when I refreshed the status screen on my laptop (at 9:21pm) and saw it had changed from delayed to canceled. I called the 1K line and was told I had been re-accommodated onto a flight at 2pm the next day.
I went to FlightStats.com and downloaded historical data showing the flight canceled at 9:08pm and have sent a pdf of that to the claims adjuster....
Now, I am going to fight this to the death .... on principle.....
The fact remains that I was delayed for 18hrs, which necessitated an overnight stay, therefore I believe I am entitled to reimbursement of my hotel expenses. The flight canceled AFTER the scheduled departure time, and after I was at the airport.
Oy vey! If only these things were simple!