Travel Insurance claim against any family member's death

Jonah1156

Just an enquiry if my one of partner's parent suddenly die either just before or while we are on holiday in October.

The insurance was booked a while ago and have just had news that my partner's mum has got AAA (Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm) and has been given a indefinite date of when this is likely to rupture. So in esence she's a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off and because of her poor health, surgery is not an option and has a DNAR in place should she sudenly takes a turn for the worse.
What we would like to know is where do we stand if:-

a) she dies before we take our holiday; and
b) what happens when the inevitble happens once we are in Spain. Would we be allowed to curtail our vacation and catch the flight back home earlier or not?

I know some will point out that ther T&Cs are with the policy but what is the general views of the insurance companies

In essence, we did not know her state of health would get this bad when taking out the policy at first and that she has slightly detiorated recently.

Thanks for any views one may have on this delicate topic.

jonesMUFCforever

If you booked the holiday BEFORE your mother in law 's diagnosis (doctors notes will prove this) then an insurance company should pay out if need to.

If she was under medical investigation when you booked (without a formal diagnosis) then the situation might not be so clear - I can only suggest that you contact the insurer to see what they say.

woodys_wonders

You should really contact your Insurers and tell them of the change in circumstances as you are now aware of an event which could be likely to result in a claim

Jonah1156

Further to my previous query, the inevitable has come with my fiancee's mum passed away this morning (28th) which bring me to ask what am I covered for now that the actual date of our departure is on Thursday 2nd October.

The next step is to wait and see what the certificate staes for the actual cause of death. If it reveals that it was the AAA then I feel we may not be covered as it was an existing condition she suffered from in the past. However, she was admitted on thursday with a slight heart attack which may have accelerated the AAA. Of course, the death certificate wil reveal the cause.

What would like to know is whether the travel insurance will cover the cancellation of the holiday and what will we be covered for as we booked the flight, accommodation and car hire separately rather than as a package deal. MSE cover states in Section A1:-

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/travelinsurance/policy/Prim_PW_010808.pdf

There is also a mention about existing conditions for which I would need advice on.

Failing that I could always re-schedule my flight to a week later and pay Ryanair (yes them!) which would cost £28 pp each way and it comes to £112 which perhaps would be a cheaper option than to lose the whole holiday as long as I contact te people who let the accommodation and to explain to them what has happened. I have checked their availability and they don't have any more bookings until Xmas! Finally, there's the car hire company and I have paid up fron by CC and would they, under the circumstances, consider us moving the hire period aweek later.

Any grateful advice would be appreciated.

many thanks

Jonah

SandC

Jonah sorry to hear about your loss and obviously moreso for your husband.

I would ring the insurance company today and let them know what has happened and see what they say. We can only make suppositions in light of the information you are waiting to receive - they will be able to give you some indication of what your options are.

Do you want to cancel fully or are you really okay with putting the holiday back a while?

Quentin

If you bought single trip insurance and you now alter the departure date you may need a new policy anyway.

Regarding the death certificate. Irrespective of what it has on it, if you make any claim because of the death, then the insurer will be contacting the deceased's doctor to establish if there were any conditions existing at the time the policy was taken out.

If you bought accomodation as a separate item, you should be able to cancel it (maybe with just the first night to pay for) - check the hotel cancellation policy.