We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Thomson forcing people to buy travel insurance
Options
Comments
-
When booking a FLIGHT ONLY to another EU country with Thomson, they ask you to tick a box reading
As a condition of booking with us, you’ll need to ensure that all members of your party take out a travel insurance policy before you depart.
What's their reason for forcing me to buy extra insurance, either with them or someone else? Aren't there certain basic rights that I get automatically through EU regulations/ATOL etc? When I book a flight only with EasyJet, I never buy extra insurance. My mum got a full refund after a flight that was cancelled due to snow even though she didn't have travel insurance - she got a refund directly from Easyjet. So why do I need to buy extra cover when booking a flight with Thomson, but not when booking with Easyjet? Fair enough if I was booking a package holiday, but I was only booking a flight, just the way I would have done with Easyjet.
I'm only travelling with hand luggage and not bringing any valuables so seems unnecessary to take out cover for events such as delayed or lost luggage, as it's very unlikely that I'll need to make a claim if I don't bring checked bags in the first place. As for medical, I have the European Health insurance card. As for flight delays, I could probably live with them unless we're talking more than 12 hours.
So are Thomson effectively opting out of ATOL by asking people to buy separate insurance cover? Can they deny me boarding if I can't show an insurance certificate?
If the airline cancel your flight, for whatever reason, they have to refund you. It's got absolutely nothing to do with whether you have travel insurance. It's entirely different to you having to cancel your flight.
Buying insurance and Atol (even if the flight was Atol protected) are again two completely separate things, covering for different things.
EHIC only covers certain aspects of treatment. The treatment may not be free, and it's only free if they deem it to be an emergency. Some countries are stricter on this than others. It doesn't cover for repatriation which can run into tens of thousands.
Everyone has a choice whether to buy insurance. Having been on the receiving end of abuse from people who have had to cancel, or fork out expenses etc while away, who had no insurance and can't get their money back, to me it's a no brainer.
Even the EHIC website tells you it's not a replacement for travel insurance.
Lost of documents, money, phone, personal accident, personal liability, legal expenses etc etc. Insurance covers for a multitude of things. If you book accommodation separately and airspace is closed, or your flight was cancelled and you couldn't get another (strikes, weather etc), who would reimburse you for the cost of your accommodation and any other prepaid services you'd booked?
Thomsons have had a tick box for quite a while now. It's nothing new, and even before the tick box, you still agreed to take out insurance by agreeing to their booking terms and conditions/conditions of carriage. All they did was make that aspect clearer.
Your choice. If you are prepared to self insure, but don't feel happy saying you will take out insurance if you're not going to (even though it's been the case for years) then fly with a different airline.0 -
My own experience is that the problems I've encountered so far, did sort themselves out even though nobody in my party had insurance (stolen bags were found intact, cancelled flight was refunded by Easyjet despite not having taken out insurance cover). This implies that there were certain rights we got 'automatically' when staying at that particular hostel or flying with that particular flight operator. So I wondered if Thomson were somehow opting out of these otherwise 'automatic' liabilities.
If Thomson cancel your flight they owe you a refund. Depending on the reason (if it's deemed within their control) they may also owe you compensation. This is law that they can't opt out of.
Same if they lose your bag. There are international agreements governing this too.
These are not why Thomson are making you take insurance. They are also not the primary reasons you should take out travel insurance (although they may be benefits in some policies).Ultimately it should be my choice whether to risk it or not
Not if you book with Thomson (and want to stay within the T&Cs anyway). Your choice comes into it... You have the choice of using this operator or not if you feel that strongly about it.0 -
Anybody who insists on ALWAYS taking out cover even for day trips must be either obsessive or paranoid0
-
PeacefulWaters wrote: »Do you know what day your heart attack is going to happen?
LOL. Talk about picking out fragments to pick on. Did you READ my post or just the fragment? I explictly stated that "I did NOT say this but this is to illustrate that the circumstances do need to be taken into account - somebody may have a rational reason for taking out cover for a daytrip, just as somebody may have a rational reason for going on a 1 week trip with only the basic rights that one gets automatically)."
FYI, I've got a clinically proven extremely low risk of cardiovascular diseases, including heart attacks/stroke. Young and fit. Surprisingly low cholestorol, low blood fats etc. Based on my age and my lab results, I'm much more likely to get murdered or die in a bus crash than of a heart attack. In which case, I would not need to worry about insurance policies.0 -
FYI, I've got a clinically proven extremely low risk of cardiovascular diseases, including heart attacks/stroke. Young and fit. Surprisingly low cholestorol, low blood fats etc. Based on my age and my lab results, I'm much more likely to get murdered or die in a bus crash than of a heart attack. In which case, I would not need to worry about insurance policies.
That same bus crash, or any other unforeseen incident could land you in hospital and needing repatriation to the UK with escorted medical care. The costs of which are frightening.
No one can make you buy travel insurance. Not anyone on this board, nor Thomson in reality. But, the general concensus is that it is unwise to travel without it. And that's more than just people on this thread, any type of advice you find will advise that travelling without insurance is not a good idea. This forum alone probably has a thread every other week with someone having issues that travel insurance would have solved had they purchased it.
The EHIC is good. It's not the answer to every medical issue in Europe though.0 -
The only thing this thread proves is that Forrest (Gump) was right !I Would Rather Climb A Mountain Than Crawl Into A Hole
MSE Florida wedding .....no problem0 -
LOL. Talk about picking out fragments to pick on. Did you READ my post or just the fragment? I explictly stated that "I did NOT say this but this is to illustrate that the circumstances do need to be taken into account - somebody may have a rational reason for taking out cover for a daytrip, just as somebody may have a rational reason for going on a 1 week trip with only the basic rights that one gets automatically)."
FYI, I've got a clinically proven extremely low risk of cardiovascular diseases, including heart attacks/stroke. Young and fit. Surprisingly low cholestorol, low blood fats etc. Based on my age and my lab results, I'm much more likely to get murdered or die in a bus crash than of a heart attack. In which case, I would not need to worry about insurance policies.
If I'd listed every other illness known to man and overlaid juggernauts sideswiping you maybe you'd have got the point.
Basic rights are exactly that. Basic.
Basic healthcare costs are expensive and, in some scenarios, can ruin you financially.0 -
PeacefulWaters wrote: »And that's all well and good.
If I'd listed every other illness known to man and overlaid juggernauts sideswiping you maybe you'd have got the point.
Basic rights are exactly that. Basic.
Basic healthcare costs are expensive and, in some scenarios, can ruin you financially.
That was my point early on in the thread but the OP seems unable or unwilling to grasp it.0 -
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? So what happens to your body if you have died and is another country and you have no insurance?
Why would you care if you were dead ???0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 351.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.7K Spending & Discounts
- 244.2K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177K Life & Family
- 257.6K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards