'It’s a borderline scam': ₹249 travel cover turned into 3 weeks of chaos, says Delhi founder

It’s just ₹249 at checkout -- click “Add insurance” and move on. But when a Delhi-based startup founder actually tried to claim a small payout after a flight delay, he found himself trapped in a Kafkaesque loop of portals, customer care, and vague instructions. 

“It’s a borderline scam,” Ayushman Pandita wrote in a LinkedIn post.

Pandita’s ordeal began with a three-hour flight delay from Bangalore to Delhi. The insurance he bought for peace of mind quickly turned into a source of frustration. The airline app had no claim option. Customer service sent him to his inbox. The email pushed him to a portal. The portal asked him to download an app. The app? No clear way to file anything.

“I had time, so I downloaded the app, made an account, logged in… and still no clue how to claim,” Pandita wrote. “Just 100 clicks taking me to every possible window.”

Two calls, six agents, and multiple documents later, he was told to upload files via a WhatsApp link. Weeks passed. No payout.

The claim? Just ₹3,000.

“They make the process so long and painful that I’m somehow convinced this isn’t a flaw—it’s by design,” he said. “Because when millions give up on small claims, that’s big profit for insurance companies.”

The post has resonated widely online, echoing a familiar frustration with micro-insurance add-ons bundled into online purchases—cheap enough to ignore, but painful to redeem.

“I didn’t buy insurance for this drama,” Pandita concluded. “But now I’m left wondering—was it even worth it?”