Laima was due to go on holiday but cancelled her trip because she was tested positive for Covid-19 on her lateral flow tests. She contacted us to complain because her insurer refused to accept a lateral flow test as evidence of Covid-19.
What happened
Laima booked a holiday abroad. At the time, the country she was travelling to require a negative PCR test for entry.
Laima took a PCR test two days before she was due to travel. The day before she was due to travel, Laima felt unwell and took 2 lateral flow tests. Both of these tests were positive for Covid-19. Laima’s PCR results didn’t come back before she was due to fly, so she cancelled her trip based on the positive lateral flow tests.
Laima’s PCR test results were returned to her as negative, but she made a cancellation claim under her travel insurance policy and provided photographs of her two positive lateral flow results, and confirmation that she’d logged her positive lateral flow test results with the NHS in line with the guidance in force at the time.
Laima’s insurer declined her claim. It said it wouldn’t accept a positive lateral flow test as evidence of Covid-19, as it didn’t consider these tests to be reliable. The insurer said it would only have provided cover based on a positive PCR result, which Laima didn’t have at the time she cancelled her trip.
Unhappy with the insurer’s response, Laima made a complaint to the insurer. The insurer said in its final response that their decision is still the same, so she referred her complaint to us.
What we said
We looked at the policy terms and noted these said the insurer provided cancellation cover in the event of ‘a positive Covid-19 test result’.
We didn’t think it was fair or reasonable for the insurer to insist on a positive PCR result as evidence when the policy wording didn’t state this. It wasn’t clear from the policy wording that a lateral flow test wouldn’t be acceptable.
We didn’t think photographs of positive lateral flow tests alone were sufficient evidence in support of Laima’s claim, but we noted that she’d registered her test results in line with the NHS guidance at the time. So, we asked the insurer to accept her claim.