Swine Flu & Travel Insurance - Advise Us Please!!

Sarita

Hi MSE.com
With swine flu mutating it's only a matter of time before people want to cancel holidays, either for illness or as a precaution (a friend is already muttering about a UK yoga holiday she's booked in the autumn... does she really want to be breathing everyone's air twice a day in a hall if there's a nationwide pandemic by that point). So PLEASE get ahead of the game and advise us asap as to the best & cheapest UK 'cancel for any reason' travel insurance policies!

Thank you!

Sarita

McKneff

I rang up 3 companies not too long ago and they all made a point of saying their policies do not include cancellation or anything due to swine flu. I presume all of them have jumped on the bandwagon so i think you will find it hard to find one now.

purplepatch

That wasn't my experience McKneff.

I saw this article at moneysupermarket and did a travel insurance quote on that website. Then phoned one of the more competitive companies to ask specifically if swine flu was covered and they said it was.

Fairly obviously you aren't covered if you decide not to go just because you are worried about catching it, but if you do contract it and a doctor advises against travel, then you are covered for cancellation. And you are covered if you catch it whilst abroad.

That was PrimaryInsurance company's policy anyway. There were a couple of slightly cheaper providers (OUL and Insurewithease) but neither had a phone number, only email, so I didn't bother checking with them as I just wanted to get it booked. I have emailed OUL subsequently and will report back what they say.

purplepatch

This is what OUL said (and would no doubt also apply to insurewithease as seem to be same parent company)

You will be covered against any cancellation of your holiday due to the contraction of Swine Flu.

The cancellation section will not cover you for disinclination of travel due to fear of contracting Swine Flu.

However, as long as you are not travelling against Foreign Office advice, you would be covered for any medical treatment relating to this, following the policy terms and conditions.

Please refer to your policy wording for full terms and conditions.

soolin

I read an interesting article yesterday and I've managed to find a summary online:

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1200328/Holidaymakers-need-GPs-note-proving-swine-flu-cancel-trip-doctors-say-theyre-busy.html

Basically, GPs are not officially diagnosing swine flu and are suggesting people stay away from surgeries and rest at home, yet insurance companies need a signed GP note to prove the illness otherwise they may choose not to payout.

[Deleted User]

Why would you cancel a holiday based on swine flu?

I'm really sorry, but I can't help but laugh at how much the media is blowing this out of all proportion? Would you cancel your holiday because of the risk of normal flu? No? So, what's the difference? The odds of you croaking it are about the same!

soolin

Deleted_User wrote: »

Why would you cancel a holiday based on swine flu?

I'm really sorry, but I can't help but laugh at how much the media is blowing this out of all proportion? Would you cancel your holiday because of the risk of normal flu? No? So, what's the difference? The odds of you croaking it are about the same!

I do not believe the panic is about not going abroad because you might catch something, the issue is that once you appear to have the symptoms of swine flu you may be refused permission to board a plane. Obviously it depends how ill you appear and which airline it is but if you are either too ill to travel or are refused permission to travel you would then need to have insurance to cover the cost of cancelling the flight.

This by no means indicates that anyone is panicking, merely that they are taking normal sensible precautions to ensure that in the sad event of a holiday being cancelled due to ill health that the travellers don't lose out financially.

Quentin

If you are too ill to travel, and have cancellation cover, then swine flu would be covered, just like any other illness. You would need a letter from your doctor confirming that you shouldn't travel. The mail story saying doctors will refuse to supply such confirmation due to pressure of work seems scaremongering.

They will just have to miss a few rounds of golf/free lunches from the drug reps and do a bit of work!

dacouch

The Daily Mail and scaremongering...surely not

real1314

I wondered how travel insurance works in relation to cancellation - I have an annual policy that I renew each year. My current policy ends before I go on my next holiday but my new policy starts just before I go away.

So, let's say my new policy starts 01/08/09 and my holiday starts 02/08/09. My old policy ends 28/07/09.
If I'm declared unfit to travel on 27/07/09 and I'm told not to travel for 2 weeks, which policy pays out?
What if I'm told not to travel on 27/07/09 but haven't taken out a new policy at that point?

Would I be right in thinking that it's best to take out a new policy as soon as you book your nnext holiday, even though you might be asking for a start date almost 12 months ahead?

Quentin

You would claim off the policy in force when you incurred the loss.

There is a problem with annual policies when the departure of a booked holiday falls into the next insurance year. With annual policies you have to declare you are fit both at the time of taking out the policy (and renewing it) and at the time of making each holiday booking.

You have to declare fitness at the renewal, so should you develop a declarable condition between booking (when fit) and renewal, then at renewal they may refuse cover or seek an increased premium.