Thomson forcing people to buy travel insurance

DTDfanBoy

stephb34 wrote: »

Who foots the bill if you are taken seriously ill mid flight or die and the plane has to be diverted to the nearest country, then the crew run out of flight time so all the passengers are delayed so want drinks and feeding and compensation for being delayed hours?

The airline foots the bill, it's certainly not something covered by travel insurance

zagfles

PompeyPete wrote: »

A lot of people who find themselves in the following situation don't have appropriate travel insurance...

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g293918-i7560-k8375505-o10-Warning_Grim_but_true_Road_safety_on_Koh_Samui-Ko_Samui_Surat_Thani_Province.html#65847144

A lot of people don't even have insurance which covers them for drinking alcohol on holiday!

I've done paragliding and skydiving on holiday, both spur of the moment things which I doubt my travel insurance covered. I thought about the risk for about 10 seconds and then thought about the risk of dying. If I was prepared to take a tiny risk with my life I was certainly prepared to take a tiny risk with my money!

zagfles

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

So how much time before the OP comes back saying I have had to cancel my trip because............................ and Thomson won't give me my money back and I hadn't got any insurance.

Insurance will only cover trip cancellation for a small number of reasons. I've just been on a trip I almost cancelled - the problem was we were due to fly back during the French air traffic strike, and during the last strike Easyjet took 6 days to get some people back and there was no way we could wait that long (work, school, exams etc).

If we were in that situation we'd have to make our own way back by other means, and it would likely have cost over £1000.

The insurance said this would normally be covered, but not in our situation because there's an exclusion for industrial action which is announced before leaving home.

Also cancellation wasn't covered, because the flight wasn't yet cancelled.

So I had a choice of cancelling and losing the flight, accomodation and a few extras eg parking, trips which I'd prebooked, total loss of about £800, or going and risking having to pay £1000+ to get home.

We took the risk and went. It paid off - the strike was cancelled

But it shows that you can end in situations through no fault of your own where insurance doesn't cover you.

duchy

You are confusing disinclination to travel because of something that *might* affect your journey with inability to travel due to unpredictable causes.
If a non travelling parent was taken seriously ill or died right before a holiday - most people would cancel -and would need to be covered -likewise if you booked a holiday and before your departure you were diagnosed with an illness or injury that made it medically unwise to travel you'd be cancelling and need insurance.

Some people will always think "It will never happen to me" just like some people assume that because medical costs will be mostly covered within the EC they don't need insurance but forget that if they are hospitalized and miss their flight home a new flight will need to be purchased - or worse if they can't afford a medical escort to accompany them home (qualified doctor or nurse) and a private ambulance from the airport to their home NHS hospital they may need to stay in hospital abroad longer -naturally if they want family to remain with them - their accommodation and living expenses will need to be funded too after the holiday accommodation ends (if not before- the larger hospitals tend not to be in resort areas so it can be move to a closer hotel or pay for daily transportation to visit).

I used to work repatriating holiday makers who had disaster befall them on holiday for insurance companies - and after what I learned in that job- I wouldn't even go on a day trip abroad without insurance now !!

I've seen bills for tens of thousands of pounds - and I'm not prepared to take that risk for the sake of a cheap insurance premium.

zagfles

duchy wrote: »

You are confusing disinclination to travel because of something that *might* affect your journey with inability to travel due to unpredictable causes.

Are you replying to me?? Your reply doesn't look relevant to the OP so I'm assuming so...

There was no "disinclination to travel". We wanted to go, but needed to be back within a few days of the return flight. The insurance didn't cover this situation as I explained.

If a non travelling parent was taken seriously ill or died right before a holiday - most people would cancel -and would need to be covered -likewise if you booked a holiday and before your departure you were diagnosed with an illness or injury that made it medically unwise to travel you'd be cancelling and need insurance.

But if you needed to cancel for various other reasons, you wouldn't be covered. Generally there is a very small list of reasons for cancellation which are covered.

Some people will always think "It will never happen to me" just like some people assume that because medical costs will be mostly covered within the EC they don't need insurance but forget that if they are hospitalized and miss their flight home a new flight will need to be purchased

I've just taken that risk even with insurance...

- or worse if they can't afford a medical escort to accompany them home (qualified doctor or nurse) and a private ambulance from the airport to their home NHS hospital they may need to stay in hospital abroad longer -naturally if they want family to remain with them - their accommodation and living expenses will need to be funded too after the holiday accommodation ends (if not before- the larger hospitals tend not to be in resort areas so it can be move to a closer hotel or pay for daily transportation to visit).

Which can of course also happen if you're on holiday in the UK. Or even if you go on (eg) a day trip to London/Edinburgh/York/anywhere a hundred+ miles from home.

I used to work repatriating holiday makers who had disaster befall them on holiday for insurance companies - and after what I learned in that job- I wouldn't even go on a day trip abroad without insurance now !!

I've seen bills for tens of thousands of pounds - and I'm not prepared to take that risk for the sake of a cheap insurance premium.

Insurance isn't always cheap if you have pre-existing medical conditions...

pattycake

Certainly not cheap. See my previous post.

daveyjp

I take it the OP has also never lost or had a Passport stolen.

Getting a new document to allow you back in to the UK can cost thousands in extra travel, hotel stays, emergency document fees and you then have to buy a new passport.

A decent policy will cover these costs, cheaper ones may not.

duchy

This is addressed to zagflies (to avoid any confusion )

There will always be people like you who either assume they live a charmed life or are prepared to take a gamble -and pay the price if the gamble doesn't come off - however most people are genuinely risk adverse when presented with the potential risks involved.

Of course everyone is free to make their decision - and the purpose of threads like this are to ensure those decisions are informed decisions.

We've all seen the "What a scam I broke my leg and <holiday company/airline> won't refund my money" threads that frequently appear so it is clear some people don't understand the risk still.

zagfles

duchy wrote: »

This is addressed to zagflies (to avoid any confusion )

The usual way is to quote the post you're replying to. But then, you're not usual are you

There will always be people like you who either assume they live a charmed life or are prepared to take a gamble -and pay the price if the gamble doesn't come off - however most people are genuinely risk adverse when presented with the potential risks involved.

You really don't get it, do you? Why am I not surprised?

I had insurance. And quite a good one. But as with all insurances, there are situations which aren't covered and where you have to take a risk of financial loss. Like in the case I described.

zagfles

daveyjp wrote: »

I take it the OP has also never lost or had a Passport stolen.

I have. It cost nothing (other than a new passport when I got home, but the stolen one was due to expire in a couple of years anyway). Police report was enough to get me through passport control and home. However - this was several decades ago.

I see things have changed now and you have to pay around £95 for an emergency travel document https://www.gov.uk/emergency-travel-document

If that breaks the bank perhaps you shouldn't be travelling - loads of stuff could happen which isn't covered by any insurance which could cost more. Besides most policies have excesses of a good proportion of that.

Getting a new document to allow you back in to the UK can cost thousands in extra travel, hotel stays, emergency document fees and you then have to buy a new passport.

A decent policy will cover these costs, cheaper ones may not.

Thousands? Unlikely. I've just taken an uncovered risk of more than a loss of passport would have cost.