# Will the Airliner Crash Insurance Pay the Victoms Families? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2001, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331 "2001-09-13T13:37:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wildest\_Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/1 "2001-09-13T13:37:31Z")
You know the insurance you get when you travel by paying by your credit card or flight insurance purchased at the airport. Will they pay the families of the victoms or will they try to skip out by saying it was a act of war? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/2 "2001-09-13T14:08:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wildest Bill \* > \*\*You know the insurance you get when you travel by paying by your credit card or flight insurance purchased at the airport. Will they pay the families of the victoms or will they try to skip out by saying it was a act of war? \*\* \ Will you please quit using loaded language? Credit Card insurance (at least as regards rental cars) is fairly explicit about not covering acts of war (or, I believe, terrorism). I’m fairly certain that flight insurance will have similar (and probably stronger-worded language). Should they not pay, it’ll hardly be “skipping out”, it’ll be following the terms and conditions of the contract. Or are you saying that what happened on Tuesday _wasn’t_ an act of war? Fenris ---
**Author:** ![ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/3 "2001-09-13T14:11:34Z")
I’m sure the families of the missing, dead, or injured are worried about more important things than getting the cost of a plane ticket reimbursed. Perhaps you should worry about more important things as well. ---
**Author:** ![Wildest\_Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/4 "2001-09-13T14:13:08Z")
Well fenris, Here is the way I look at it. The airlines were suppose to protect its customers. It was done from “inside” the plane. If a missile from a fighter hit them then I could see them not paying out. If a terrorist act in not covered, then you are right of course. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/5 "2001-09-13T14:16:31Z")
**Sexy Writer** , **Wildest Bill** isn’t talking about ticket cost reimbursement. He’s talking about life insurance (or more accurately, death benefits) payable for dying while flying using a ticket purchased by a credit card, or the “insurance” you buy at an airport. The answer, of course, depends upon the policy language, which in almost all states is interpreted in favor of the policy holder. Policies excluding death by terrorist act will not be paid; policies excluding death by “act of war” will probably be paid, if for no other reason than the fact that few companies, if any, will want to risk the bad publicity of trying to escape payment on that basis in this particular case. ---
**Author:** ![Oblong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c0e974/32.png) [@Oblong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblong)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/6 "2001-09-13T14:17:49Z")
I guess the answer lies in whether or not the terms cover terrorist acts? ---
**Author:** ![Wildest\_Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/7 "2001-09-13T14:18:08Z")
Sexy writer, I don’t think I deserved that what so ever. Don’t you think I know that this is probably the last think on the victoms familes mind right now? And I wasn’t talking about the cost of the stupid ticket. I am talking about 100k up for the claims. Don’t you realize that there were alot of breadwinners for the victom families on board? ---
**Author:** ![ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/8 "2001-09-13T14:20:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DSYoungEsq \* > \*\ ***Sexy Writer** , **Wildest Bill** isn’t talking about ticket cost reimbursement. He’s talking about life insurance (or more accurately, death benefits) payable for dying while flying using a ticket purchased by a credit card, or the “insurance” you buy at an airport. > \*\* Well, that certainly makes more sense. However, Bill’s near-accusation of people for something that hasn’t yet happened isn’t exactly an appropriate response to tragedy. The answer – that the wording of the policy likely determines the outcome – is obvious. Any other questions about whether someone might try to “skip out” on something can’t be answered unless someone has a working crystal ball. -L ---
**Author:** ![ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/9 "2001-09-13T14:22:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wildest Bill \* > \*\*Sexy writer, > > I don’t think I deserved that what so ever. Don’t you think I know that this is probably the last think on the victoms familes mind right now? \*\* How do I know what you think is the “think on victoms minds”? How do I even know what a “victom” is? Or “familes” for that matter. Isn’t there anything better to do today than ask stupid questions that can’t be answered? -L ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/10 "2001-09-13T14:52:50Z")
You’re way out of line here, and attacking typos isn’t helping your case any. If you don’t like Bill’s question, and you think the answer to your own question > [@](#): > > Isn’t there anything better to do today than ask stupid questions that can’t be answered? is “yes”, then why not just move on to another thread? -j ---
**Author:** ![JohnW77707](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@JohnW77707](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnW77707)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/11 "2001-09-13T15:19:06Z")
IAAL. Policy controls. If there is a terrorist exclusion, no coverage. The trickier question is whether this was an “act of war”. Some of you may have seen the same clip I did of some gov’t official being asked if this was an act of war and him saying “we’re going to leave that to the lawyers.” Whether or not this was an act of war is going to affect millions if not billions of dollars worth of insurance coverage. Our firm handled a somewhat-similar situation involving the destruction of a factory in West Africa. InsCo denied coverage and the legal fight was over whether it was part of a “civil war”. The same fight will go on in USA between InsCos and their insureds over whether this was an “act of war” (generally excluded from coverage) or an intentional but unexpected act (generally included in coverage). ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/12 "2001-09-13T16:07:17Z")
This is a legitimate General Question, even if the actual answer cannot be known until families start filing claims. Does someone have the text of a credit card or airport-purchased insurance policy as it relates to these events? ---
**Author:** ![JohnW77707](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@JohnW77707](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnW77707)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/13 "2001-09-13T16:17:38Z")
AMEX policy (I have a case against them on another issue) excludes: 1. Suicide or self-destruction or any attempt threat, while sane or insane; 2. war or any act of war whether declared or undeclared; however, any act committed by an agent of any government, party, or faction engaged in war, hostilities or other warlike operations provided such agent is acting secretly and no in connection with any operastion of armed forces in the country where the injury occures whall not be deemed an act of war . . … Sorry for the typos. T ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-airliner-crash-insurance-pay-the-victoms-families/81331/14 "2001-09-13T16:17:50Z")
Well, couldn’t they also sue the country that did the hijacking? If they can find out who it was personally, they could probably sue them too. Insurance plans must vary, but here is one: [http://www.atlastravelweb.com/globustoursinsurance.shtml](http://www.atlastravelweb.com/globustoursinsurance.shtml) Accidental Death & Dismemberment ``` $100,000 -or- $25,000 These benefits are paid should a loss occur within 365 days of a covered injury that takes place while on your Globus tour. The maximum benefit while in flight is $100,000. The maximum benefit in other circumstances is $25,000. Accident Medical Expense Benefit $10,000 You will be reimbursed up to $10,000 for reasonable and customary medical expenses (other than dental or air transport expenses) incurred within 365 days of a covered injury that occurs while on your Globus tour. ```