Travel insurance for Cuba

Cathina

Hi
I am looking for some travel insurance in which the policy states that medical costs are covered - including air ambulance. The policy needs to be shown at the airport on arrival - according to our Travel Agent.

I have found one Policy to cover this - from The Post Office. But does anyone else know of other companies where 'air ambulance' is stated in the policy?

Thanks

LindaandNicole

Hi - I'm after some advice please. I bought a new Annual Travel Insurance Policy ('worldwide') from Direct TRavel on 13 January. (Its now 16 February). The cover page email didn't say anything about Cuba being excluded; but it contained a link to 53 pages of policy wording. My home printer wouldn't stand 53 pages so I waited until I could get a friend to print it out with some other documents, and then I didn't notice that it excludes Cuba until today - just over a month after I've bought it. It certainly didn't flag up anything online when I was buying it - I followed the links through this site to purchase a decent policy. I've just phoned them and their first response is that I'm out of the 14 day cooling off period so I can't have a refund. I'm thinking that this isn't really reasonable - surely I could reasonably expect 'worldwide' to mean just that - unless somewhere is dangerous and we are advised not to travel there...which surely isn't the case with Cuba?? We don't plan to go until next December, but this policy will still be in force then if we keep it. Any advice from other members?? Grrr....

Voyager2002

Cathina wrote: »

Hi
I am looking for some travel insurance in which the policy states that medical costs are covered - including air ambulance. The policy needs to be shown at the airport on arrival - according to our Travel Agent.

I have found one Policy to cover this - from The Post Office. But does anyone else know of other companies where 'air ambulance' is stated in the policy?

Thanks

Most policies include this, but you would have to go through the policy wording in some detail in order to find it.

Do you feel that air ambulance cover is something that you might need, or have you been told that it is a Cuban rule? If the second, then I suggest you check with the Cuban embassy. I would be VERY surprised if they made rules like that: after all, they have some of the finest hospital in the world, and earn a lot of foreign exchange providing medical care to foreign patients (they call it medical tourism).

Voyager2002

LindaandNicole wrote: »

Hi - I'm after some advice please. I bought a new Annual Travel Insurance Policy ('worldwide') from Direct TRavel on 13 January. (Its now 16 February). The cover page email didn't say anything about Cuba being excluded; but it contained a link to 53 pages of policy wording. My home printer wouldn't stand 53 pages so I waited until I could get a friend to print it out with some other documents, and then I didn't notice that it excludes Cuba until today - just over a month after I've bought it. It certainly didn't flag up anything online when I was buying it - I followed the links through this site to purchase a decent policy. I've just phoned them and their first response is that I'm out of the 14 day cooling off period so I can't have a refund. I'm thinking that this isn't really reasonable - surely I could reasonably expect 'worldwide' to mean just that - unless somewhere is dangerous and we are advised not to travel there...which surely isn't the case with Cuba?? We don't plan to go until next December, but this policy will still be in force then if we keep it. Any advice from other members?? Grrr....

The point of the 14-day cooling off period is to enable you to read the policy wording and decide whether it is suitable for you. So the company are being reasonable in saying 'no'. However, excluding a mainstream tourist destination without highlighting the fact is such bizarre behaviour that a complaint to the Ombudsman service might get you somewhere. So I suggest that you make a formal complaint, see where that gets you, and make it clear that if they say no you will refer the matter to the ombudsman. Make it clear that, rather than cancelling, you would be happy if they could exchange this policy for one that does cover Cuba.

luci

When selecting a policy online, under eligibility, it states

Will you or any member of your party be travelling to Afghanistan, Cuba, Liberia or Sudan during the period covered by this policy?

https://www.direct-travel.co.uk/Quotation/Eligibility/ekZ4bGNBaUVWOUc4dGFqSG9NUFQ0QXdTSjBVWWdCM2JZZXVGZXJOVUllNm9rdmtJR1NGZmRLVVVWTlAzbkJqWnhDRG5IUEM4ZnY0PQ2

If you had booked by phone this would have been made clear to you then too.

Cathina

Thanks all, we're all sorted, got insurance through TIA and phoned to double check everything.

LindaandNicole

:j
Thanks all - when I rang Direct Travel they said 'Oh we can't give you a refund, the company thinks it's dangerous to travel to Cuba'. So, I followed the advice above, and put it all in a letter to them. They got back to me today and have refunded the full cost of the insurance. They were very pleasant about it and said 'Oh it's clearly case of you buying a product that's not suitable so we'll refund you straight away'.
So, I'm happy, I just hope no-one else gets caught out :beer: