China-Singapore Jingwei Client, July 12th (Wei Wei, Changtao) On the evening of the 11th, the strongest rainstorm in North China came.
Affected by thunderstorms, Beijing Capital Airport and Daxing Airport cancelled some flights on the 12th.
Capital Airport planned to cut 285 flights ahead of schedule on the 12th, and planned to implement 806 flights throughout the day. As of 10 am, 128 flights have been implemented and 21 flights have been cancelled.
Daxing Airport has launched a consultation mechanism with the Transportation Management Committee and reduced 156 flights throughout the day. Today, Daxing Airport plans to implement 598 flights.
In the face of extreme weather such as heavy rains, people who often fly by plane have one trick, which is to purchase "flight delay insurance" (hereinafter referred to as flight delay insurance) in advance.
However, the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client found that some insurance companies have quietly raised the threshold for claim settlement of the flight delay insurance, and some have lowered the insured amount.
Beijing's weather in the next three weeks Source: China Weather Network
Pay 1 yuan for a delay of 10 minutes
Zhou Xiang (pseudonym) is an employee of an internet company in Hangzhou. Seeing that the heavy rainfall in Beijing has no intention of stopping, he decided to buy flight delay insurance temporarily when he planned to travel to Beijing on the 13th.
"I was on a flight from Hangzhou to Beijing at 6pm on the 13th. A friend told me that it was raining heavily in Beijing these two days. The possibility of flight delays on the 13th was extremely high. I suggested that I buy airline delay insurance. My friends also told me that I often travel on business. You should get an airline's platinum card so that you can pay 1,000 yuan for a delay." Zhou Xiang said.
However, it is not easy to get the "wool" of flight delay insurance. Zhou Xiang observed that some flight delay insurances have a maximum compensation of only 100 yuan. For this reason, he bought four flight delay insurances from two insurance companies in one go.
Source: Provided by the respondent
China-Singapore Jingwei reporter combed and found that if the flight delay is not long, the compensation amount is generally low.
A customer service officer of ZhongAn Insurance said that if you only buy flight delay insurance, the insurance coverage is generally not high.
Some flight delay insurance has the selling point of "compensation for 10 minutes of delay", but in fact the compensation amount for 10 minutes of delay is only 1 yuan.
For example, the best-selling version of a flight delay insurance launched by Tianan Property & Casualty Insurance is divided into 10 yuan and 28 yuan.
Take 10 yuan as an example, the insured amount is 1 yuan if the take-off delay is more than 10 minutes (inclusive); the take-off delay is 10 minutes-4 hours (inclusive), and every additional 10 minutes (inclusive) delay is paid an extra 1 yuan; take-off delay 4 hours to 6 hours (inclusive), the cumulative compensation is 50 yuan; the take-off delay is more than 6 hours, the cumulative compensation is 100 yuan.
The maximum compensation limit for this 10 yuan payment is 100 yuan.
The 30 yuan flight delay insurance underwritten by PICC Property and Casualty Insurance needs to be purchased 8 hours before departure. If the delay is 1 minute to 3 hours, only 1 yuan will be paid; if the delay is 3 hours-4 hours, 200 yuan will be paid; if the delay is more than 4 hours, 300 yuan will be paid ; If the flight is delayed for more than 3 hours and the flight is cancelled, 200 yuan will be paid.
In addition, some flight delay insurance also excludes flight cancellation.
As mentioned in a certain flight delay insurance of Tianan Property & Casualty Insurance mentioned above, flight arrival delays, flight cancellations, return flights, and alternate landings are not covered by this product.
Insurance companies worry about adverse selection risks
Flight delay insurance has always been the “severe disaster area” of the wool. In recent years, many insurance companies have raised the threshold for claim settlement, and even no longer introduce this insurance type. It is not easy for consumers to buy a flight delay insurance.
The Sino-Singapore Jingwei client called PICC P&C customers in the name of purchasing flight delay insurance and asked how to purchase flight delay insurance. The staff said that they could not be purchased separately, but could only be purchased together when purchasing air tickets.
When asked why it could not be purchased separately, the above-mentioned personnel revealed that the risk of adverse selection of this product is relatively high.
Adverse selection risk refers to the fact that the insurer or the insured purchases the corresponding insurance when the risk is known to occur, realizes the risk transfer, and obtains compensation.
"For example, after buying a ticket, if the weather is not good in the last few days, we will quickly buy a flight delay insurance, so that our loss ratio is really difficult to control." The above-mentioned staff member said.
Why are fewer and fewer insurance companies launching flight extension insurance?
Song Haosheng, vice president of Huize, said that firstly because of the high loss rate; secondly, the fixed payment method makes some criminals profitable and easy to cause risks. Some internal related staff such as ticketing platforms, travel agencies, airlines, etc., can advance Finding and predicting flight delays caused moral hazard to insure maliciously; third, the insurance company’s insufficient risk control capabilities, mainly manifested in the inability to obtain comprehensive flight delay data, the amount of insurance in the high-frequency delay season of thunderstorms and severe weather is greater than the amount of insurance in the low-frequency delay season. The compensation risk is difficult to control.
"(Buying flight delay insurance) is just a psychological comfort. It is not in line with the real insurance purpose." An insurance industry insider told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client that insurance must transfer risks, which is more valuable than taking risks yourself. Flight delays are such The most risky loss is the loss caused by the subsequent chain reaction. The risk of delaying oneself is limited, and it is completely unnecessary to deal with it or the customer keeps it.
Flight information map source: Photo by Zhang Yanzheng, China-Singapore Jingwei
Wang Xiangnan, deputy director of the Insurance and Economic Development Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client that every time the flight extension insurance is out of danger, each insured gets a small amount of compensation, which shows that the risk protection provided by each insurance policy is not very effective. Therefore, purely from the perspective of the function of economic compensation, which is the most basic function of insurance, the value of flight delay insurance is lower than that of insurance types with large guarantee leverage such as flight accident insurance.
However, Wang Xiangnan believes that voyage insurance does not violate the principles of insurance and risk management, and if the perspective is extended, voyage insurance has a lot of practical value.
First, there are many reasons for flight delays or cancellations. Often, individual or many passengers cannot agree with the reasons for flight changes or compensation measures, which affect the order of the airport. The compensation provided by air traffic accident insurance can relieve passengers’ dissatisfaction and show The social management function of insurance is similar to that in compulsory traffic insurance that does not cancel the property loss compensation limit.
The second is the convenience and clear responsibilities of flight extension insurance, which makes it easy for many people to contact and trust insurance. However, this role is declining with the popularization of various insurance products.
Thirdly, flight extension insurance is convenient for insurance companies, especially small and medium-sized companies, to provide policyholders with further insurance services, so it has market value.
Fourth, flight delay insurance has accumulated data and provided the public with analysis and evaluation of airlines, airlines, airports and other performance risks and management services from one aspect.
Wang Xiangnan pointed out that at present, the insurance provided by flight delay insurance is not sufficient for the insured, largely because, according to the existing information and technology, the indirect loss and some direct losses suffered by the insured due to flight cancellation or delay are not accurate. Metering.
With the continuous advancement of technology, flight delay insurance can improve the level of protection, involving "a thousand people with a thousand faces" protection, and give full play to the function of economic compensation.
Be careful to break the law
Flight delay insurance is a niche type of insurance, but some people have made crooked ideas and use the loopholes in aviation delay insurance to "get rich".
Last year, "women received 3 million yuan in compensation for 900 delayed flights" has aroused public concern.
According to the Yangtze Evening News, on April 27, 2020, the Gulou Police Station of the Gulou Branch of the Nanjing Public Security Bureau received an alarm from Mr. Chen, the person in charge of an insurance company, suspecting that the company may have encountered insurance fraud.
After investigation by the police, it was discovered that the suspect Li had worked in aviation services and had access to information about flight cancellations or delays in advance. For this reason, she selected a flight with a higher delay rate on the Internet, and then went to check the flight. Was there any extreme weather during the voyage?
After that, Li borrowed more than 20 ID numbers and passport numbers from relatives and friends. In order to avoid system verification, Li fictitiously bought tickets with different identities.
In order to be more concealed, Li uses four or five identities every time he buys a ticket.
For each identity, a maximum of 30 to 40 delay insurance can be purchased.
According to the police, the premium for buying a delay insurance is about 40 yuan, and the amount paid by insurance companies for aircraft delays ranges from 400 to 2,000 yuan.
If the delay is long, the cost of compensation can even reach more than 7000-8000 yuan.
According to preliminary statistics, since 2015, Li has committed nearly 900 frauds and received nearly 3 million yuan in compensation.
On April 29 of that year, the Nanjing police arrested the suspect Li Mou and brought him to justice, and took criminal coercive measures against him in accordance with the law.
In addition, what issues should be paid attention to when purchasing flight delay insurance?
Song Haosheng reminds consumers to pay attention to the following points: First, the insured flight restrictions; second, the time limit for insuring, generally need to be insured 24 hours before departure; third, the compensation point for delays, usually 3-4 Compensation starts in hours; fourth, whether the claim is automatic or non-automatic, and non-automatic claims should be paid according to the time limit requirements.
(Zhongxin Jingwei APP)
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