Struggling to get a travel insurance claim paid

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 Airlines, from Washington's Dulles International Airport 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 next 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, Va., 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.

When we contacted them, 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.

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."

Dvorak says he'll continue fighting. "It's no longer about the money, it's about the moral of the thing," Dvorak said.