IndiGo Crisis: Stuck at the airport! Travel insurance will be your shield, recover your expenses..

India's largest airline, IndiGo, is currently facing a major operational crisis. Continuous flight cancellations and delays have left passengers in a difficult situation. Long queues of passengers are visible at airports. In the last four days, more than 1,000 flights have been affected, leaving thousands of people stranded at airports.

IndiGo's crisis is taking a heavy toll on passengers. Food, hotel stays, rebooking, and many other expenses suddenly increase due to delays. But there's one thing that people often overlook: travel insurance, which is often hidden within your credit card benefits or automatically added when booking tickets through online travel aggregator (OTA) platforms.

How does travel insurance save you money?
Travel insurance covers losses from non-refundable tickets, hotels, and pre-booked activities in case of trip cancellation or interruption. It also provides a flight delay allowance, where a fixed amount is paid without requiring bills if the delay exceeds a certain time. Typically, the claim amount for domestic flights ranges from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000.

First, check your credit card.
Many premium and mid-tier credit cards already include travel insurance. This usually provides benefits ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 for flight delays, missed connections, cancellations, and baggage delays. Most people are unaware of this benefit. According to the CEO of Insurtech company CoverSure, this benefit is available in about 8% of the 650 card variants in India, but very few people utilize it. The condition is that you must have booked the ticket using that same card.

Insurance purchased through OTAs also helps.
Many people unknowingly purchase travel insurance when booking tickets through MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, and Yatra. These policies definitely help. What are the airline's responsibilities?
Even before insurance comes into play, passengers have certain rights. If a flight is cancelled, the airline must provide a full refund or offer an alternative flight. It is also the airline's responsibility to provide food, drinks, and basic amenities to passengers at the airport.

Disclaimer: This content has been sourced and edited from News 18 hindi. While we have made modifications for clarity and presentation, the original content belongs to its respective authors and website. We do not claim ownership of the content.