[Paul Silasvaage]

My mother was diagnosed a few months ago with Glioblastomas terminal brain cancer the same cancer that Senator Edward Kennedy was diagnosed with, this cancer is terminal. The cancer victim goes through treatment weekly to slow or decrease the rate of the cancer growth, this is to both too extend the patient’s life and give the patient a quality of life. My mother who is battling this cancer wanted to come and see my new home in Texas, since her diagnosis she has not had the time to come. She spoke to the Doctor and he said she would be fine to travel. So I bought my mother and father tickets to come and visit her son and her grandchildren. I decided to buy her and my father tickets. Because of her condition I thought it would be prudent to purchase travel insurance in the case that she feel too ill to travel. My father purchased the tickets on 4/10 for 5/15. Unfortunately on 4/24 my mother took a turn for the worse and was emitted into a hospital.
I thought I would follow up on getting a refund for the airfare. Because my father was the person that went online to get the tickets he first looked into getting this refund. He was told that American Airlines uses a third party to handle their travelers insurance. He submitted a claim and was told that he had to fill out a claim form, this in itself a long a tedious process, for a service we paid for, but we understood that this was their policy; we had our doctor fill out the forms of her illness. We were told that this claim was denied because of her cancer was a preexisting illness. I called American Airlines they told me that they could not help me because they do not have “anything to do with the insurance company.” I then called the insurance companyAccess America 1-800-628-5404 your insurance vendor. They told me they could do nothing and that they denied the claim. I was also told that any preexisting case they do not cover. The person even went as far as to analogize, the fact that she has high blood pressure and went to a doctor for it in the last four months and if she had a heart attack before her flight she would not be able to be able to make a claim.
This is wrong! I have never been more upset at a situation and how it has been handled. My mother is going to pass but until then she had to live life with cancer, we were being prudent in paying for coverage; we had no idea she would fall ill so quickly, her doctor cleared her to fly. Under these policies of the insurance company anyone with cancer could not be covered, because you are doing weekly and monthly treatments to keep you alive I am appalled at this and that you use a company that can find a way to deny any claim with small print loop holes
Our family is very much hurting right now for funds because of the enormous weight of the financial pressure of this cancer and I believe, this is not the type of company you are. Since moving to Dallas I have made American Airlines my choice of carriers but I do not know if I can any longer. I work for a larger hotel chain and there have been many times that vendors have not done the right thing or their service did not work and because they represented the hotel, I did the right thing by my customer and guest.
Paul Chris Silasavage

[Paul Silasvaage]

Thank you all for listening

[mars6423]

i am very sorry to hear about your mother, and i hope you the best, and that you get to spend as much time with your mom as you can

but to the insurance company, they are just greedy ass's and i think it should be a crime to deny coverage or in your case not provide a refund even though you purchased the insurance for the purpose of knowing that a situation may occur. I think it is appalling how the insurance company can do that, it is just wrong and inhumane, in my own mind it is discrimination and unfair treatment but what can people do about it? they always find ways around everything, it is disgusting

i am very sorry to hear about your mom and when she passes that she is in peace

[azstar]

Also very sorry to hear about your Mother. Most airlines will issue a refund in the event of a passenger's death. You might have to provide proof of her passing, such as a letter from the funeral home, or hospital. They will probably refund both your Mother's and your Father's fare if you pursue this later. Check their "contract of carriage" which they will have posted somewhere on their website, and must, by law, provide to you in writing.

[PHXFlyer]

I too am very sorry to hear of you mother's illness. Cancer is a horrible disease. I lost my father to Leukemia last year and have lost too many friends, co-workers and family to the disease in the past. One can only have hope that someday they will have a cure. I know it probably isn't any consolation but a co-worker of mine had the same form of brain cancer and was initially given 6-12 months to live. He passed away almost three years after his diagnosis and his quality of life was relatively good until the last couple of months.

That being said, you already stated in your post that you are dealing with an insurance company and not the airline in this matter. Even though the insurance company has denied the claim you can still appeal to the airline which, from reading your post, it appears you have already done. Hopefully AA may have some compassion and work something out with you. Perhaps, for example, instead of a refund if it's not offered you can ask that the tickets be transferred so that you can visit your mother.

In addition to this all insurance companies are regulated by each state in which they do business. If the clause about pre-existing conditions wasn't clear at the time you purchased the coverage, I would suggest that you contact the Texas Department of Insurance. They may, however, refer you to the state in which your mother resides since the insurance was purchased for her.

Finally you should contact the issuer of the credit card used to purchase the tickets. Often there is some form of automatic travel insurance but the scope and restrictions vary from card to card. They, too, may have an "escape clause" where a pre-existing condition is involved.

Good luck.