Travel insurance is supposed to help you when things go wrong — not get in the way. But for Lee Aubry, travel insurance became a major problem when it presented her with an insurmountable paperwork obstacle.

Aubry had booked a southern Africa tour through Smithsonian Journeys. But United Airlines canceled one of her outbound flights, and she couldn’t catch up to the group. She had to return home.

When she filed a claim with her travel insurance company, a representative told her it would only cover a fraction of her expenses. The reason: United sent proof that her trip was interrupted, but not canceled, which is only covered for up to $1,000.

“I would like my claim paid in full,” she says.

Well, that makes two of us. 

One of the reasons you buy travel insurance is for peace of mind. There’s an expectation that if you miss your tour because of a flight cancellation, your policy will cover you.

Her case raises a few questions:

Before we get to that, let’s have a look at Aubry’s claim.

The trip to southern Africa was a real bucket list tour. The “Treasures of South Africa” features a safari, a rail journey and a trip through South Africa’s famous wineries. Zimbabwe and Botswana were on the itinerary, too. Aubry had been planning this special trip for a while and couldn’t wait to see this scenic and fascinating part of the world.

But on the day of her trip to Johannesburg, she flew from Washington, D.C., to New York, and that’s as far as she got.

United Airlines canceled her flight to Johannesburg.

“United couldn’t offer an alternative flight,” she said. “At that point I would have been willing to pay for a different flight on a different airline. Unfortunately, there were no options available. All flights were full.”

Aubry reluctantly asked United to fly her back home, but it couldn’t even do that. The airline paid for a train back to Washington.

“I spoke to a woman at Smithsonian and she offered to start my claim with Travel Guard,” she recalls. 

Travel Guard replied with some bad news.

“They’ll only pay me $1,000 of a $12,000 claim because they say the problem was a missed connection,” she says. “This wasn’t a missed connection. My flight was canceled and there were no other connections, and no options.”

So does that mean Aubry will lose $12,000 on a technicality? Let’s find out.

If you’re on a tour and it looks like you’re going to miss your flight, here’s a checklist.

You want to open several channels of communication to see if you can get rebooked on the next available flight to your destination.

: If your airline can’t offer you an alternative flight, ask it to endorse your ticket to another carrier — in other words, fly you on a different airline. They can sometimes do that. 

If you’ve booked a pricey tour, chances are you worked with a travel agent. Now is the time to call the agent because that person may be able to find a way to get you to your destination. (Remember, they received a commission for your booking, and you may have also paid them a fee, so this is not an act of charity.)

Sometimes they may have a creative idea for how to get you to your destination, like rerouting you through Chicago or London. But you definitely have to keep the tour operator in the loop so that they know whether or not you’re coming.

Again, if you’ve plunked down $12K, you almost certainly have travel insurance. Many travel insurance companies can help you find a better flight or help you get home. At a bare minimum, your travel insurance company needs to know that your trip is off and that you need to file a claim. Someone can help guide you through the process.

Aubry mentions that she asked United for help and eventually contacted Smithsonian, but there’s no mention of a travel advisor or direct contact with Travel Guard. It’s possible that one of those parties could have helped fix this before it became a $12,000 claim.

Aubrey had a standard Travel Guard insurance policy. The coverage can apply in several ways.

kicks in once your journey starts. It offers financial protection if an “unforeseen covered event” ends your trip. This benefit reimburses you for the unused portion of your trip and covers the cost of alternative transportation to resume your itinerary or return home. Covered reasons for interruption can include unforeseen medical emergencies, natural disasters, or significant travel delays.

coverage reimburses you for nonrefundable trip expenses when a covered cancellation happens. While specific coverage varies by plan, common covered reasons for cancellation often include unforeseen work obligations, jury duty, and illness of the insured or a close family member.

The bottom line is, if you have an insurance policy from a reputable and licensed company, you should be fully covered when an airline cancels your flight and you can’t catch up to your tour.

In Aubry’s case, the interruption benefit maxed out at $1,000, a representative told her. But a look at her policy said otherwise. It promised coverage of up to 100 percent of the cost for a cancellation and 150 percent for an interruption.

It looks like something got lost in translation.

Aubry initially went through Smithsonian Journeys, which helped her file a claim. A Travel Guard representative asked United Airlines about the circumstances of her cancellation.

And then our advocate Dwayne Coward found the problem. Travel Guard claimed United sent it a message that failed to fully explain the circumstances of her cancellation. Yes, United had canceled her flight from New York to Johannesburg.

“But United didn’t address the lack of alternative flights,” she added.

A closer look at her Travel Guard policy reveals that it covered mechanical and equipment failure of a common carrier (like an airline) that results in a delay of your trip for at least 72 consecutive hours.

Travel Guard just needed the evidence.

And that brings us to the best way to get an insurance company to pay a valid claim. You have to send it all the paperwork. 

Fortunately, Travel Guard hadn’t officially turned down her claim — a representative had only told Aubry by phone that it would only cover $1,000 of her claim. There was still time.

Dwayne recommended that Aubry ask for a second letter with more detail. United then sent Travel Guard more information, but it wasn’t quite enough.

“It didn’t mention when the next available flight was,” she says. “It also stated there was extreme weather. That’s not true. We were cleared for takeoff. We had to wait because there was a bit of a backup. While we waited, United discovered a mechanical issue on the flight and we went back to the gate where we sat for three hours until the flight was canceled. United didn’t explain any of that in the letter.”

Our advocacy team has a few connections over at United, so we contacted the airline on her behalf to get the correct documentation. Finally, United sent the needed proof directly to Travel Guard. 

The company then paid the full claim.

Aubry’s case is an important reminder that when your insurance claim is denied, you need to find out why — and then take action. But it’s also a lesson about contacting the right people when your trip gets delayed. Aubry didn’t know that her travel insurance company could have possibly helped her when she was stuck in New York. But now she does — and now, so do you.

Related reads on travel insurance

• Do I need travel insurance for my summer vacation?
• This is what travelers forget when they buy travel insurance for spring break