A father who said he cancelled a family holiday to Fiji amid concerns over his newborn son’s health will not be covered for his losses after he failed to provide evidence his son was unfit to fly.

The man told Nib Travel Services he called off the trip because he could not obtain a passport for his son before departure. There was a delay receiving a birth certificate to aid the passport application because the child was born later than expected and had to stay in hospital for an extra week.

The insurer said cancellations due to delays obtaining travel documents were not covered by its policy. However, the man then cited his child’s medical issues as the reason for not travelling.

Nib accepted the policy covered serious illness to a travelling party member, but only if a medic certified the person was unfit to travel.

The man submitted hospital discharge records and his own written statement that his family “reasonably concluded that international travel posed an unacceptable health risk”.

He said the requested medical information “could not be reasonably obtained”.

But in a dispute ruling, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority says Nib’s request was fair and proof of such a medical issue “should be reasonably available to the complainant”.

“I acknowledge from the complainant's perspective it was a reasonable decision to cancel the trip due to concerns about his child’s health,” an AFCA ombudsman said.

“However, that does not mean he has established a claimable loss.”

See the ruling here.