Originally Posted by
writerguyfl
If that's the case, it's a passive-aggressive way to shame someone trying to fix a problem. That's not helpful in any manner, as far as I'm concerned. But, maybe that's just me...which is fine.
I agree 100% with your remark. But, as you can see, that doesn't exactly fit this case. Even if you had travel insurance, using it in a case like this might be far more stressful than simply calling Delta.
By the way, I appreciate that you took the time to provide your interpretation.
I've always interpreted many of the "you should have purchased travel insurance" posts on FT to reflect different "cultures" abroad regarding this issue, where people covered under national health insurance often must purchase their own travel medical policy for foreign travel. In such cases, the tendency seems to be to just buy full travel insurance to cover other contingencies too. However, many of us with employer provided "private" health insurance in the USA (but AFAIK not standard Medicare and usually with severe limitations for those in HMOs and other managed care restricted networks, where often only dire emergencies are covered away from one's home area) have excellent coverage worldwide, including (in my case) for emergency chartered air ambulance service back to suitable facilities the USA. When medical coverage is already present, it doesn't seem worthwhile to pay to insure hotel 24-48 hour cancellation policies or airline change fees that IMO never exceed $500 (plus a potential difference in fare--note that I fly enough so that the difference between a refund and an airline credit doesn't matter at all), but I don't take cruises, book tours, or take long vacations in isolated resorts with rules that require cancellation far in advance. For me, it makes sense to self insure, although those buying discounted (even business class) plane tickets exEurope almost always face fare rules saying that the entire ticket value is lost if the flights are not flown exactly as purchased.