Urgent - Travel insurance to cover cancellation due to bereavement

Incapuppy

Janie2008 wrote: »

Did you read the rules completely, under the bit where it says you can pospone for a year it says you can also get a full refund.

* If a passenger already has a booking with us and is either unable to travel at all or needs to postpone their trip due to bereavement, compassionate reasons or hospitalisation, we will cancel their booking, and they will have a year from the date of issue to use the ticket.

* If the passenger wishes to cancel their reservation completely then we will give them a full refund on any published fare.

Could you please provide a link to the above info?

Caz3121

I think this is the link referred to - however it is from the Virgin US site and I cannot yet find similar on the UK site
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/us/corporateandtrade/backstage/bookingandticketing/bereavementcompassionateillnessfares.jsp

dacouch

Travel Insurance also tends to exclude "Undiagnosed Conditions"

diddyangel

You can't buy insurance to cover a cancellation that can be anticipated (is expected). This illness will be in the grandmothers medical notes that will be dated before your policy started - these will be required should you need to claim. If your partner is insured your best chance of getting your money back is if he is able to claim for both of you.

SpadgeBoo

I am buying insurance anyway, not for the reason that I expect to cancel, because I don't. There will be nothing in her medical notes because she has no medical notes - she hasn't even seen a doctor. She has no medical conditions, she is simply old. This aside, I'm aware that I won't be covered.

My current problem seems to be getting insurance at a reasonable price considering I have a pre-existing condition of tonsillitis which I get every couple of months. Having just been let down by an insurance company who originally told me my premium wouldn't be affected, only to increase it after I'd taken out the policy, I'm back to square 1 on the insurance front. I'm aware that they won't pay out, so I know I won't be able to make a claim for that particular illness. Yet they still want to hike up the premium (after they said it would be unaffected!) Any decent insurance companies out there?!

jeanniebeanie_2

My experience of having to cancel flights with Virgin after a medical emergency. We were covered by insurance, but there was a significant excess, so we decided to explore the options.

I was lucky and got a really helpful guy who told me that we could take what we had spent as a sort of 'credit' which we could spend against any Virgin flight within 12 months. Because flight prices are subject to change, you cannot be guaranteed a flight to the same destination at the same price you originally paid. You didn't have to choose dates at that time.

That bit was standard policy.

Where he went the extra mile for us was that we had to wait 6 weeks for test results before we would know if we would be able to fly later or not. He then searched for dates we might be able travel and the best available flight prices if we were given the ok to fly. He then reserved them with no obligation.

He made sure we had his name and direct number and after speaking to him several times the test results came back ok and we got our trip.

We were really happy, but I guess it's a bit hit and miss as to whether everyone would get that level of service.

Should add- the tickets were non -refundable. We would have had to claim on the insurance had we not found this solution.

jeanniebeanie_2

SpadgeBoo wrote: »

Any decent insurance companies out there?!

You could give the Post Office a try. There are 5 screening questions and if you can answer those ok (which you should) then you are covered. They are underwritten by Fortis who get good reviews on here.

Tip- for me the annual cover was £15 cheaper than the single trip, so check both!

mogadon

SpadgeBoo wrote: »

My current problem seems to be getting insurance at a reasonable price considering I have a pre-existing condition of tonsillitis which I get every couple of months.

Elect (White Horse) Travel Insurance on Money Supermarket have tonsillitis as one of the accepted medical conditions that you don't have to notify them about. They are generally pretty cheap, but I've no idea if they are any good or not.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/travelinsurance/policy/Elect_PW_010210.pdf

dacouch

White Horse have a very bad reputation

SpadgeBoo

Hi everyone

Just like to say thanks for all your replies...some were more helpful than others. And update if anyone is interested.

I have spoken to Virgin today and after they looked into what type of ticket was purchased (I originally thought it was non-refundable, non-changable), I have been assured that should the worst happen, right up until the second we step on the plane, we are eligible for a full refund (both money and air miles) as Grandparents are included in their refund due to bereavement policy. A death certificate and proof of relationship has to be provided (I'm not sure what could class as proof of relationship - they require it in case there is a different surname, which there is between my partner and his Grandmother, so a bit unsure on what I would provide, but will cross that bridge IF I come to it).

On the insurance for my pre existing condition front, I have found a company called essential travel which covers tonsillitis. Does anyone have any experience of this company? Thanks for the previous suggestion of White Horse, but after dacouch's comment, I looked up reviews and found that yes, this company does seem dire.