Travel insurance - when to take out?

[Kath2003]

To be honest, there's not much that you would even need cover for more than a year out as most of the reasons for gaining your money back if you had to cancel wouldn't be covered if it's that far in advance. Most regular flights are released 11 months out, if you want to shop around.

 

[2Tiggies]

Hi all

Insurance fully confuses me, we have annual trip insurance with post office at their highest cover.

No where does it say that our flights out covered if we can not take the trip, or that we can get covered for the difference in flights if we have to change the time due to deployment,

I was told you needed to take out a separate cancellation cover?
So I'm lost lol as we have the insurance from last yr and have just ha to pay £800 to change our flights due to military work, Virgin would not waive the change fee.
Can I claim?

I know fine print is a pain in the backside, and there is usually so much of it that it is daunting; but it is really important to read it before you sign anything or enter into a contract with an insurer, just as it is to be aware of what your airline/travel provider, etc has in their terms so that you can ensure that the insurance you have is appropriate.

I wouldn't think that VA would cover your costs. Unless you bought tickets which allow changes, you would need to pay for it so that part sounds right. Now it comes down to your insurer so yes, give them a call and see. Does it say anything in the your fine print? Often it may not specifically fall under what is covered but might be detailed in the exclusions. Either way, insurance would be your best option if you are covered for this and I'd go with that first.

 

[DLPDreams]

Hi all

Insurance fully confuses me, we have annual trip insurance with post office at their highest cover.

No where does it say that our flights out covered if we can not take the trip, or that we can get covered for the difference in flights if we have to change the time due to deployment,

I was told you needed to take out a separate cancellation cover?
So I'm lost lol as we have the insurance from last yr and have just ha to pay £800 to change our flights due to military work, Virgin would not waive the change fee.
Can I claim?

I am so sorry to hear this. You honestly would have thought VA would have done something to lessen the blow with it being a military issue causing change .

I am surprised too that your insurance doesn't appear to cover it but like Tiggies says, it pays to read the small print (and I appreciate how onerous that is!).

Failing that, is there anything your DH can get done at work to lessen the financial blow? I doubt it but it may be worth a try?

BTW Tinkerpea - I sent you a PM the other day - not sure if you got it?

 

[tinkerpea]

I am so sorry to hear this. You honestly would have thought VA would have done something to lessen the blow with it being a military issue causing change .

I am surprised too that your insurance doesn't appear to cover it but like Tiggies says, it pays to read the small print (and I appreciate how onerous that is!).

Failing that, is there anything your DH can get done at work to lessen the financial blow? I doubt it but it may be worth a try?

BTW Tinkerpea - I sent you a PM the other day - not sure if you got it?

I know we was really disappointed as Virgin waived the fees a few years back when dh leave was cancelled, and that was done due to there fbook page which you no longer can write and receive reply's on.

His work are looking into paying us back the fee's but it all comes down to wether they have the budget and aload of other rubbish! Its cost us £900 to Change the flights

Plus we're having to go in the busy June-July time instead of early May so I'm to be honest completely dreading the trip!
Universal will be packed due to the opening of Diagon alley, and disney well because we're there for July 4th lol!!

Sorry about the Pm I did reply an thought it had gone through?
But my signal has been awful lately as we're actually in welfare accommodation as I moved house a couple of weeks ago to Wyton and the house had problems so we have spent a wk in a hotel and another in the contact house! Until our 22days is up for another property, been such a crappy time!

 

[crabbie1]

To be honest, I don't really want to start justifying (again!) the whys and wherefores of where we want to fly from and whether it fits our budget or itinerary and where it flies to. I am really just asking if anyone knows of insurance policies which can cover from 16 months or so out, either by personal experience or from prior knowledge . Thanks to those who have come up with some suggestions - I will definitely check out the Post Office and I have now been informed that Thomson can offer flight only insurance at booking, and also some direct insurance brokers seem to offer it too . So, at least I know I can cover the flights should we book early!

Did not mean to offend you sorry. Have you looked at marks and spencers? They tend to have good cover. Our last one was with "options" and they were very good. Columbus travel as well do flight only cover but not sure of their conditions.

 

[joolz1910]

Hi Patsy, I booked a flydrive (as you know) and we paid £750 deposit. We will book WDW in April (again, a deposit) and then I will arrange my travel insurance in September this year. I got insurance with my building society last year (Nationwide) and it was good cover and a competitive price. If I had paid for my flights in full, I would have taken out an annual policy and then renewed it to continue the cover.

 

[DLPDreams]

I know we was really disappointed as Virgin waived the fees a few years back when dh leave was cancelled, and that was done due to there fbook page which you no longer can write and receive reply's on.

His work are looking into paying us back the fee's but it all comes down to wether they have the budget and aload of other rubbish! Its cost us £900 to Change the flights

Plus we're having to go in the busy June-July time instead of early May so I'm to be honest completely dreading the trip!
Universal will be packed due to the opening of Diagon alley, and disney well because we're there for July 4th lol!!

Sorry about the Pm I did reply an thought it had gone through?
But my signal has been awful lately as we're actually in welfare accommodation as I moved house a couple of weeks ago to Wyton and the house had problems so we have spent a wk in a hotel and another in the contact house! Until our 22days is up for another property, been such a crappy time!

I really thought Virgin would be more helpful. I wouldn't let it lie with them, I would push to take it further up the chain tbh.

Your post made me have a good look at the PO insurance and for certain people, like yourselves, it actually isn't a good policy at all. The military restrictions are ridiculous!

Another thing I've noticed is a lot of policies only cover up to £5,000 total for cancellation cover, while this will pay the bulk of a WDW holiday, it won't cover our 3 weeks considering we are flying mid August and have 3 weeks accom (mostly in WDW to cover!).

Did not mean to offend you sorry. Have you looked at marks and spencers? They tend to have good cover. Our last one was with "options" and they were very good. Columbus travel as well do flight only cover but not sure of their conditions.

I will check them out thank you. Sorry, didn't mean to sound snappy but I did feel I'd already justified my possible decision on this and a previous post. I will look at the insurance - would think M&S would be a good one.

Hi Patsy, I booked a flydrive (as you know) and we paid £750 deposit. We will book WDW in April (again, a deposit) and then I will arrange my travel insurance in September this year. I got insurance with my building society last year (Nationwide) and it was good cover and a competitive price. If I had paid for my flights in full, I would have taken out an annual policy and then renewed it to continue the cover.

Even £750 is quite a bit to lose but appreciate it is nowhere near the whole amount, I guess once you add your Disney deposit though, you are over £1000. The thing is, I am not sure you can do that with an annual policy - the ones I've checked out, you have to be taking the holiday within the annual period iyswim. I have found a few brokers who will do single trip insurance that far out, so that is an option. An annual policy would be cheaper though, and as we have a few UK holidays booked this year, it would have been nice to cover those - although not imperative as they aren't Disney ££££ holidays, so not the end of the world if something happened!

 

[Elise79]

I really thought Virgin would be more helpful. I wouldn't let it lie with them, I would push to take it further up the chain tbh.

If you book flight only the terms and conditions are very clear. Book a non-refundable ticket and you are stuck if you need to change.

It doesn't matter the circumstances - that's what you need good insurance for.

Double check for annual policies - we have annual insurance and we often book in one period and travel in the next - there isn't much we can do really as we travel multiple times a year. As long as you renew and don't let cover lapse it should be OK.

 

[tinkerpea]

If you book flight only the terms and conditions are very clear. Book a non-refundable ticket and you are stuck if you need to change.

It doesn't matter the circumstances - that's what you need good insurance for.

Double check for annual policies - we have annual insurance and we often book in one period and travel in the next - there isn't much we can do really as we travel multiple times a year. As long as you renew and don't let cover lapse it should be OK.

We thought we had good insurance considering that fact we have annual insurance with post office at their highest cover!

 

[DLPDreams]

We thought we had good insurance considering that fact we have annual insurance with post office at their highest cover!

I really feel for you. I bet there are a lot of people out there that think their insurance policy is more than adequate when in reality, it is not. However, unfortunately it's not until you have to try and claim that you realise that it's not what you thought it was. Let's face it, the small print on a lot of these things is totally incomprehensible . I have taken to reading all the small print and even then I sometimes can't understand what it means and wonder if we would be covered for certain things!

I never did get your pm btw, but no worries, I can tell you are having a bit of a time right now