Trip Refund if there is an emergency??

[kennezgirl]

Just out of curiosity, if during your trip there is a death in your family and you must leave, is your unused portion of your trip (room, tickets, dining plan) refunded if you later provide verification?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I believe so if you buy insurance.

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

Just out of curiosity, if during your trip there is a death in your family and you must leave, is your unused portion of your trip (room, tickets, dining plan) refunded if you later provide verification?

This just happened to us - DHs grandmother passed away the day we got there. We were able to stay a few days but still lost one night, 5 counter service, snacks and 2 days of tickets.

Concierge at the Contemporary told us that usually Disney is pretty good at working with people but she wasn't sure how they would handle this since it was "only one night" (do they not know how much it costs to stay at Club at the Contemporary?)....anyway, she informed me that usually Disney will call you after you check out and see how they can help or explain their process..... I'm still waiting for my phone call.

 

[drew64]

Trip insurance covers it, but otherwise no hotel, airline, Disney, etc. is obligated to do or credit anything.

Although the circumstances are tragic, it is not really thier fault so they shoudl not be expected to take a loss.

If you had say theatre tickets, etc. and had to cancel, you woudl not get a refund for those either.

 

[eccobleu]

This also happened to us. DH's father passed while we were at Disney. We were staying at POFQ and had to check out a day early. DH went to the front desk to let them know we were leaving early. When they found out the reason why, they refunded us the one night stay. We didn't ask, they just did it. We weren't really expecting anything, but I thought it was very nice of them to do that.

 

[ScrapperBelle]

We have had to leave early (by just one day) on 2 of our trips. Both times we were refunded the one night for the hotel. We always buy non expiring tix so no refund there. We've never asked, just checked out and were told we would be refunded for the night.

These were both room only ressies, btw. I don't know how it would work for pkgs.

 

[RMulieri]

Unless you have trip insurance they are under no obligation to do anything.If they do consider it a very nice gesture.Hence the reason I always buy the insurance.I have had to leave early due to a family death.

 

[DWFan4Life]

I also want to ask same question, thanks for the info coming here.

Have a nice day to all.

 

[kennezgirl]

Ok..thank you. I did not buy the insurance. I must admit that I just glanced at the info and it looked like it mostly applied to be people that were traveling by plane. My trip is paid off, though it is not until May. Is it to late to purchase it?

Thanks again!

 

[DISNEY FIX]

I wouldn't even want to think what the airfare home would cost if we ever had to leave early....

 

[KJ Luvs Pluto]

You can purchase trip insurance through a site called '"insuremytrip". I heard about it from the travel expert Peter Greenburg. I had never purchased trip insurance before but decided this year to do so for various reasons. I kind of waffled on it for awhile after I had purchased the vacation and declined Disney's insurance but decided to look at the website. The cost was much cheaper and included the airfare that was not purchased through WDW. I was glad I had it since we traveled at the first part of January and weather was so bad that we could have had canceled flights and ended up stranded somewhere and the insurance would have covered the hotel/food/etc. It definitely gave me some piece of mind for this trip. I probably wouldn't purchase it for every trip - depends on what is going on for that week - weather, family health etc.

 

[Gitts2008]

On our trip to WDW in Oct. We had to leave early due to DD and DH getting sick. The additional airfare was over $400. We had DDP and three days left on our tickets and did not use 1 day. We had trip insurance and we were able to recover about 1/2 the cost of our trip.

The only problem that I had was with Centra Care and us needing to satisfy the requirements of seeing a dr before Access America would cover the costs.
Access America was GREAT! I just wish that I could have had DD treated sooner at home and not delayed it by a day.

 

[plutolovr]

It's never too late to purchase trip insurance. The only stipulation is if you or any other member of your family has a pre-existing condition than you need to purchase shortly after your trip deposit (varies by company).

There are also some companies that will include kids under 16 free on the policy.

 

[eccobleu]

I wouldn't even want to think what the airfare home would cost if we ever had to leave early....

When DH's father passed, Southwest Airlines changed our flight for free. We did have to provide proof (funeral home info), though. I think most airlines would do the same in a situation like this.

 

[plutolovr]

When DH's father passed, Southwest Airlines changed our flight for free. We did have to provide proof (funeral home info), though. I think most airlines would do the same in a situation like this.

Don't count on it. SW has a fairly liberal policy on changing flights anyway. The legacy carriers and some of the smaller ones will squeeze every nickel out of you that they can.

 

[friendofgusgus]

Don't count on it. SW has a fairly liberal policy on changing flights anyway. The legacy carriers and some of the smaller ones will squeeze every nickel out of you that they can.

This is not the airline's fault.

Do you have any idea how many relatives "die" or "get sick" or have a "family emergency" every day only because someone didn't plan ahead?

Really, they get this request so much it makes you want to throw up when you find out that people can't even tell you the NAME of the person who died or as they try to explain why they should fly into Orlando when the relative who died lives in Mobile, Alabama.

Just like so many policies, the honest will often feel punished by the those who have broken the system by abusing it.

 

[Justsyd2]

I would purchase trip insurance ASAP. It's always good to not have to worry if there is an emergency!

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

Don't count on it. SW has a fairly liberal policy on changing flights anyway. The legacy carriers and some of the smaller ones will squeeze every nickel out of you that they can.

This past week when we had to fly out a day earlier because of DH's grandmother's passing, Continental charged us $375 each! They did waive the usual $150 flight change fee...