Trip insurance

[Alex2kMommy]

We had to cancel our trip (which was to begin today) for medical reasons. The travel agency is going to get the necessary insurance paperwork for me, and indicated I could either cancel or change.

According to Disney, the change means they would charge a $75 fee, but cancellation will cost us 1/2 our package cost. Either way, we are out the airfare. The trip insurance supposedly reimburses us for our loss, whether it is airfare + $75, or airfare + 1/2 package cost, so it seems it won't really matter to us either way.

Since I am in the position of having to research a whole new trip (the TA wasn't knowledgeable as I'd expected, so I did all the research, then told the TA what we wanted and she booked it), I am feeling less inclined to book again with the same agent. Now that I have much more information, I'm thinking we'd be better off going with AAA (we are already members.) I think a 'change' means I still work through the TA, a 'cancellation' means the deal is done and I am free to re-book with whomever I choose.

Has anybody done this before and can offer a little guidance? Am I right that, thanks to the trip insurance, it won't matter to us financially whether we cancel or change?

 

[seattlebusymom]

I am in your area and was a TA for 12 years. I still book via an agaency in Bellevue but also have a AAA guy I could tellyou about. Sorry you have to rearrange your trip and hope you are feeling better!

 

[samkj]

If you used Disney's trip insurance, here is the website you can check for more information on the policy. http://www.insureamerica.com/wafulfill/ Also check what happens if you change the dates, but then need to reschedule again at the last minute. What is your coverage? It sounds like you want to cancel the trip and rebook with another agency. I don't see anything wrong with that since the first agency took your booking and left you to do all the work. As a TA (I'm still relatively new at this) I would be hurt at the loss of a client, but if my client was not happy with the service provided it would be my own fault.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

I would love to book with AAA, but we are still waiting to hear what kind of proof the insurance co. needs for our trip cancellation. I just looked through DH's docs from the hospital, and NOTHING says he can't travel, or even that he should take it easy the next several days, though they told him that verbally. That may mean the insurance will not cover our loss, and in that case we'd just do the trip 'change' (to minimize our loss) and re-book with the same agency.

Either way, I won't be booking any other trips with them. They were nice, but we spent a lot of money with them (paid more than we should have, I think), and I don't think got very good service.

I would love to know a good AAA agent if you have it. (I know there's an office in Redmond and another in Bellevue, but don't know anyone at either.) Feel free to send info via private message, if you would be so kind.