Now that the risk is announced policies will not cover this labor action.
If a United Airlines strike should occur, any travel insurance that was purchased after the announcement was made that it could happen will no longer be covered by standard policies.
It is important for travelers to know if they are covered if the action should happen.
Though travel insurance that was purchased far in advance will still provide coverage, if a strike is one of the covered risks, travelers should contact their insurers to make sure that they are covered if they purchased their policies very recently.
Squaremouth, for example, is not covering any trips that were booked this week or after. The CEO of that company, Chris Harvey, explained that “In order to claim the cancellation benefit of many travel insurance policies, the tickets must be purchased while a strike is completely unforeseen.” He went on to add that “Coverage will not be provided for tickets purchased after talks of a strike have been made public.”
Travel insurance has to be purchased while an event like a strike is still considered unforeseen.
This means that travelers need to buy travel insurance before a strike announcement has been made. Otherwise, that portion of the coverage is nullified as the announcement eliminated the unforeseen nature of the strike. As the United Airlines strike possibility is now common knowledge, it is no longer possible to purchase coverage that will include it.
It is similar to the circumstance relating to hurricanes. While storms are still unnamed, coverage can still be purchased and will include them. However, if a storm has been named and is headed toward land, then any travel insurance purchased after it was initially announced will not include any losses related to that weather event.
Ever since Continental and United Airlines merged in 2010, pilots have been continuing to work under agreements that continued from their different original airlines. However, the pilots are now seeking changes that would cause them to be joined under one contract. Negotiations have failed for two years and the pilots from United have now voted in favor of a strike.
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