COMING AND GOING
What's the Magic Word? 'Strike.'

Sunday, November 18, 2007

UPRIGHT AND LOCKED
What's the Magic Word? 'Strike.'

Could making a travel insurance claim be made any harder? Probably not for Jim Dvorak and his family. Their once-a-day evening flight on United, from Dulles to Argentina via Brazil, was canceled way back on March 30, when an air traffic control strike in Brazil closed all major airports. Additionally, the following day, their flight from Dulles was delayed long enough that they missed their connecting flight to their final destination.

The good news: The family had trip interruption insurance, up to $500 per person for the family of four. The bad news: Despite a six-month battle, Dvorak, of Woodbridge, has yet to see a dime.

Dvorak said he submitted copious documentation, including media reports about the strike. After many calls and e-mails, he was told he needed additional documentation from United about the cause of the flight cancellation.

United sent Dvorak a message stating that the flight delay was caused by "air traffic control problems." Not good enough. Access America, the insurer, said it required a statement from United saying that it was a Brazilian air traffic control strike. United said, to repeated pleas, that since it was not a Brazilian carrier, the airline couldn't write a note saying the cancellation was due to a strike.

Contacted by CoGo, Access America stuck to its guns, writing: "The report from United did not mention the strike. It referred only to air traffic control problems. The coverage Mr. Dvorak purchased covered delays due to "strike, natural disaster or bad weather. . . . Without documentation from the carrier confirming the delay was due to a strike or other covered circumstance, we cannot pay the claim."

But the strike was widely covered in the media. Not good enough, Access America says. "Media reports mentioned a 'one day' strike, but that does not necessarily equate to 24 or more consecutive hours and/or a complete cessation of services, which would have been required to trigger coverage," spokesman Mark Cipolletti wrote in an e-mail.

Dvorak quite naturally wonders if Access America is stonewalling . No, the company says."Our requests for further documentation were motivated by our desire to extend Mr. Dvorak coverage," Cipolletti wrote.

If United provided a note saying the delay was because of an air traffic control strike, would Access America consider the claim? "Yes, we'd look at the claim again," Cipolletti wrote. "To reiterate, we'd also need documentation that the strike resulted in a complete cessation of services for 24 or more consecutive hours." So in other words, a United note saying Dvorak's plane was canceled due to a strike now wouldn't be enough.

Dvorak says he'll continue fighting. "It's no longer about the money, it's about the moral of the thing," Dvorak says. CoGo will let you know what happens.

TURKEY RUSH
Going Home? Start Now.

Forget the 12 Days of Christmas. The 12 Days of Thanksgiving, which began Friday and won't end until Nov. 27, are the busiest time of the year at U.S. airports. An estimated 27 million people will fly during that period, up 4 percent from last year, said Jim May, president of the Air Transport Association, a trade association for airlines, at a press conference last week.

President Bush's plan to open military airspace to commercial planes between Wednesday and Sunday should help reduce the airspace crunch. The administration's plan, announced late last week, also includes a holiday moratorium on nonessential maintenance at air traffic control centers. Other things you should know:

* Planes will be 90 percent full, meaning that if you miss a flight, good luck getting on another one. To expedite departures, planes will leave the gate as soon as they are full and all ticketed passengers are on board, May said. CoGo advises: Don't dillydally at the airport, and try to get an advance seat assignment.

* Airports and airlines have added extra staff, additional kiosks and baggage check areas, but passengers should "prepare well" for the onslaught, May said, by arriving early, printing out boarding passes at home and knowing security rules. (If you haven't flown recently, check rules at http://www.tsa.gov.)

* Book ample time between connecting flights. If you've already bought your tickets with tight connections, you can ask your carrier to make a change, but CoGo is hearing that airlines are charging hefty change fees. But if connections are tight on tickets already bought, consider flying standby earlier in the day. On the day of the flight, a $25 fee will get you a confirmed seat on an earlier flight, if seats are available, on most airlines.

* Bring or program into your cellphone contact numbers for your travel agent and airline, and sign up online with your airline for alerts about delays, suggested AAA President Robert Darbelnet.

Drivers: "Wednesday will be the commute from hell" as holiday travelers join commuters, said AAA spokesman John Townsend. Rush "hour" in the Washington area will begin about noon, said Townsend, who recommended that if you can't leave Wednesday morning, rest up and leave after 8:45 p.m. His advice about driving home: Ask for an extra vacation day and return Monday, but avoid normal rush hours.

TRAVEL TICKER

You can now reserve a specific seat and get priority boarding on Greyhound and Peter Pan buses on select routes, including from Washington to Baltimore and New York. The $5 fee is paid at the ticket counter, even if you buy tickets online at http://www.greyhound.com. . . . If you're in midtown Manhattan between Nov. 23 and Dec. 2, check out the "Gift on 5th," where holiday displays are presented, along with free gift wrapping, free coffee and cocoa, a play area for kids, bathrooms and a deck for resting. Sponsored by BankAmericard Rewards, the center is at Fifth Avenue and 36th Street.

BARGAIN OF THE WEEK

Fly from BWI or Reagan National to Manchester, England, for $498 round trip (including $170 taxes) with a deal from US Airways. Travel through Dec. 20; three-day advance purchase required. Some dates are sold out. Fare on other airlines starts at $588. Purchase at www.usairways.com by Nov. 19, or pay $35 more by calling 800-622-1015.

Reporting: Cindy Loose

Help feed CoGo. Send travel news, road reports and juicy tattles to cogo@washpost.com. By mail: CoGo, Washington Post Travel Section, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.