First, we would like to apologize for the delay you've experienced from our travel insurance provider, ORION. The COVID-19 Pandemic has created an unprecedented volume of travel insurance claims (ORION received almost 11,000 claims in 90 days –typically they expect to receive in 11,000 claims over 3 years!). Thank you for your patience. They are working hard at processing every claim.

This week, ORION Travel Insurance will be sending letters to many of the claimants created by the global travel advisories related to COVID-19. Our goal is to provide you with clarity and support surrounding your claim and to ensure you know you can reach out to us at any time.

The letter you receive regarding your claim, will fall into one of three categories. Click the category that's relevant to you below:

1) I received a travel credit/voucher or a full refund for my trip from my airline or travel supplier

2) I received a partial refund or credit/voucher for my trip

3) I made a claim for a trip I cancelled, and it did not relate to COVID-19

1) I received a travel credit/voucher or a full refund for my trip from my airline or travel supplier

If you received a refund OR a future travel credit for the full amount of the trip that you purchased travel insurance for – you will receive what is described as an indemnification letter. You will not receive a payment from ORION at this time. The reason you are not due a refund from ORION is that your trip cancellation insurance policy provides coverage for cancelled trips that are non-refundable and non-transferrable to another travel date. So, if you received a future travel credit from the airline, or cruise line, or tour partner – in insurance terms, you have not lost any of the value of the trip. Your ORION insurance remains valid on the future travel credit, meaning when you do take the trip using the travel credit or voucher, ORION’s trip cancellation insurance will apply to that trip (so if you suffer a financial loss on that trip and no travel voucher or refund is given, then ORION will cover that loss).

Example: I purchased a $2000 Air Canada Vacations trip to Dominican Republic and ORION Travel Insurance – Trip Cancellation. I was due to travel April 1st, but Air Canada Vacations cancelled my flights due to travel advisories related to COVID-19. Air Canada Vacations issued me a $2000 future travel credit that I can use to book a trip in the future when the travel advisories are lifted.

Outcome: This claim will not be paid out because you still technically have $2000 – the full value of what you paid. The policy you purchased only covers financial losses that are non-refundable. Since Air Canada Vacations is giving you the full value of your vacation as a future travel credit, there is no financial loss on your part and therefore the claim will not be paid. When you use the $2000 travel credit with Air Canada Vacations in the future – your ORION Travel Insurance will cover that new trip – so if you have to cancel that trip, the insurance will be in place.

What to do if... your indemnification letter suggests that you have a full travel credit but that is NOT the case, you may appeal to ORION. Provide the documentation required to show that the trip was indeed fully cancelled with no refund, and ORION will review the claim. Our CAA Travel Consultants will help you with that if you wish.

2) I received a partial refund or credit/voucher for my trip

If you received a partial refund or a partial future travel credit for the trip that you purchased travel insurance for – but you lost some value of the portion of your trip, you will receive an indemnification letter for part of the trip that remains as a travel credit. If you are asked for documentation in that letter, you will need to provide documentation to show the value of the future travel credit, or refund or voucher from the travel entity (airline, tour company, river cruise company) so that ORION can assess the partial loss.

Money due from ORION is money that you have lost. Your trip cancellation insurance policy provides coverage only for the non-refundable and non-transferrable amount. So, if you received a partial future travel credit from the airline, or cruise line, or tour partner – but suffered a financial loss for another portion of the trip for which you purchased insurance, such as hotels that did not issue a refund or credit, then you need to provide documentation to show the financial loss portion only, so ORION can assess the claim accurately.

Example: I purchased a $3000 WestJet Vacations trip to Mexico and bought ORION Travel Insurance – Trip Cancellation. I was due to travel April 1st, but WestJet Vacations cancelled my flights due to travel advisories related to COVID. WestJet Vacations issued me a $2000 credit to a WestJet Travel bank that I can use to book a trip in the future when the travel advisories are lifted. However, I lost $1000 on the hotel booking and cannot recoup this money. I sent ORION a claim and want to be paid $1000 by ORION for the hotel portion of my trip, where I suffered a financial loss.

Outcome: The portion of the trip that suffered a financial loss (the $1000 hotel portion) is covered by the ORION Travel Insurance policy. If you have not already received payment, you will need to provide documentation from the hotel stating that there was no future travel credit or refund made to you and that you suffered a $1000 financial loss as a result.

You will be covered by ORION for the future trip you will take with the $2000 WestJet Travel Bank credit.

If you require assistance obtaining any relevant information related to your claim, we encourage you to call your CAA Travel Consultant.

What to do if... your indemnification letter suggests that you have a partial travel credit but that is NOT the case, you may appeal to ORION. Provide the documentation required to show the portion of your trip you lost and ORION will review the claim. Our CAA Travel Consultants will help you with that if you wish.

3) I made a claim for a trip I cancelled, and it did not relate to COVID-19

If you made a claim for a trip that was cancelled for a reason other than the travel advisories related to COVID-19, and you received a letter denying your claim, please consider using the appeals link to re-submit the documentation related to your claim so that ORION can reassess it. With a substantial number of claims being reviewed and processed, we are aware that some claims were incorrectly assumed to fall into category 1 or 2 (received a full or partial refund or future travel credit) but were unrelated to COVID-19 and therefore did not receive a credit from the airline or travel partner.

_{*CAA North & East Ontario provides this information for support only. All claims must be processed by CAA Travel Insurance for accuracy against the actual policy purchased. Please refer to your policy documents for actual coverage. CAA Travel Insurance is underwritten by Orion Travel Insurance Company, a CAA Company.}