Saga under a cloud over travel insurance claim

I was interested in the letter in Bachelor & Brignall a few weeks ago about the travel insurer Swiftcover, which refused reimbursement for extra expenses because the correspondent had not checked in for his crossing. I had a similar experience with Saga travel insurance when my flight from Bergen to Newcastle on 21 May was cancelled because of the volcanic ash cloud. Rather than wait for the next available flight, which was tentatively booked for 24 May, I took a ferry on 21 May, which cost £100. The next day I took a train from Aberdeen to my nearest station, Darlington. This cost £63.05. My claim has been refused because I did not check in for my flight, which was, of course, impossible because it was cancelled before I arrived at the airport. MH, Barnard Castle Here at B&B, the ash-related claims are starting to appear with some regularity, and yours is fairly typical. We were somewhat surprised that Saga didn't follow the example of HSBC and pay claims like yours, even though, technically, it didn't have to. Saga has always charged top prices and paid up in the past – but not this time. We asked Saga to look at your case and it seems you were wrongly told the reason your claim had been refused. It was not because you hadn't been checked in, but because you simply weren't covered for such an eventuality. Saga has rung you and explained the situation. However, it said it is now exploring how such eventualities will be covered in future. We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at [email protected] or write to Bachelor & Brignall, Money, The Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number