Travel Insurance - First Directory

JOBEN

Hi
Not sure this is the right board, so will probably post on insurance/banking board as well and see which one the moderators leave it on LOL

anyway have just booked virgin flights/villa in Orlando for June, and want to sort travel insurance. As we bank with First Direct I wondered whether anyone could advise if it would be worth upgrading our account to the First Directory where travel insurance is included along with a host of other benefits

The charge is £12 per month but at the mo you get the first 3 months free. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Regards
Jo

Goldflash

Wow! This is the reason I am perusing these pages. One of the family was persuaded to change their bank account within the Halifax to an account that cost £12 per month that was sold as having travel insurance amongst the benefits. He had a skiing holiday booked and had to get to Gatwick from Edinburgh. He booked early with BA to get to Gatwick the day before the holiday. BA cancelled his flight at 2.30 so he got rebooked on the 8.30, the last flight scheduled that day and they cancelled that as well due to the weather. The sleepers were full,and the roads chaotic so he couldn't get there. BA will refund their fare, but did the travel insurance pay, despite stating they pay for public transport failure? You bet they had an exclusion! The fault actually lies with the Halifax for mis-selling the policy as part of the account. Be very careful about going for this insurance.

Jake'sGran

In my opinion it would be better if you just book insurance with a good company. I'm sure that many people do not use the "extras" in these packages the banks offer.

Many buiding societies offer good value insurance. We, as a family, always used Direct Insurance who were very good. I no longer travel abroad but my daughter and family still use them every year and have done for 20 years. If you get a Sunday paper you will find that there are many insurers listed in the holiday section. Make sure you get all the cover you require and the excess is not too steep.

Alan_Bowen

I also bank with FD but £144 a year seems a very high price for insurance and once you have been on holiday you just keep paying the £12 a month, not a moneysaving idea in my books...don't you have to sign up for at least 12 months?

barginunter

You don't just get Travel Insurance - you also get Breakdown Cover and Mobile Phone insurance. We have a joint account with FD and think £12 per month is reasonable. We actually had to use the breakdown cover on the very first day it became active! We've only just started paying £12 - it was quite a bit lower for a year. FD are a great bank - you get to talk to a person 24/7 or you can bank online.

unsure

I would check very carefully what the bank's insurance covers. My wife had an account with Lloyds that included travel insurance. A couple of years ago we were going on a family skiing holiday and checked the cover which, sure enough, excluded winter sports- fair enough,but the amount they then wanted us to pay as an upgrade for a week's skiing cover (over £80 at the time) was more than it cost us to get a year's multi-trip travel insurance policy for the whole family which included winter sports. That seemed a bit cheeky so my wife now has a different account and we just buy the cover we need.