Do I have a valid claim on my travel insurance?

pooley1986

Hi,

My family and I are due to fly to Hurghada on 1st April 2016.

My wife is heavily pregnant and is due on the 14th January. We are concerned about travelling due to vaccinations. The official government website states:

`Following an increase in cases of Hepatitis A infections in travellers returning from Egypt, pre-travel Hepatitis A vaccine is now recommended for all travellers.`

Our new arrival will be around 11 weeks old by the time we are due to fly (depending on him being on time) When we have looked into the Hepatitis A vaccine we have found on the NHS website:

`The hepatitis A vaccine cannot be given to babies under the age of one.`

With this being the case would this be eligible for a valid insurance claim for what we have paid for the holiday so far?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Keep_pedalling

Highly unlikely you can claim anything. At that age (s)he will not yet be on solids so the only Hep A threat to the baby would be be through contaminated water, so if breastfeeding the risk is zero.

tomtontom

That advice has been in place since 2013, presumably you booked your trip after this date?

Moto2

Once the baby is born, ask your doctor whether or not travel to Egypt is advisable.
Only then will you know if you need to look at a claim or go on holiday with the benefit of good advice

leylandsunaddict

You need to speak to your practice nurse for info about vaccinations and she/he will be able to advise. Only your insurance company would be able to tell you if your circumstances are valid for cancellation with a refund as the warning was in place when you booked. As your baby will be so young the risk from Hep A is minimal as it's unlikely to come into contact with anything they could catch it from.

peachyprice

It's highly unlikely that if even if you do have a valid claim you'd be able to make a claim until after the baby is born, from the insurance company's point of view things go wrong sometimes.

victor2

pooley1986 wrote: »

Hi,

My family and I are due to fly to Hurghada on 1st April 2016.

My wife is heavily pregnant and is due on the 14th January. We are concerned about travelling due to vaccinations. The official government website states:

`Following an increase in cases of Hepatitis A infections in travellers returning from Egypt, pre-travel Hepatitis A vaccine is now recommended for all travellers.`

Our new arrival will be around 11 weeks old by the time we are due to fly (depending on him being on time) When we have looked into the Hepatitis A vaccine we have found on the NHS website:

`The hepatitis A vaccine cannot be given to babies under the age of one.`

With this being the case would this be eligible for a valid insurance claim for what we have paid for the holiday so far?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

I'm just curious... How did you book a flight for an unborn baby? Children need their own passports these days and presumably it doesn't have one yet. Similarly, the baby will not be included in the travel insurance, so you would be hopefully claiming because of the conditions imposed on the baby you didn't have when you took the policy out? Sounds like an uphill struggle to me - especially as the mother was already pregnant when the booking was made?

Keep_pedalling

victor2 wrote: »

I'm just curious... How did you book a flight for an unborn baby? Children need their own passports these days and presumably it doesn't have one yet. Similarly, the baby will not be included in the travel insurance, so you would be hopefully claiming because of the conditions imposed on the baby you didn't have when you took the policy out? Sounds like an uphill struggle to me - especially as the mother was already pregnant when the booking was made?

You can't but as the baby does not need a seat so you can sort out the baby's ticket once he/she is born.

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/family-travel/planning-your-trip#infantnotyetborn

You also don't need the passport to book the ticket that info can added once you have received the passport.

Westin

@keep pedalling
As the OP is flying to Hurgarda and doesn't mention which airline they are flying with, I'm not sure your link to BA is relevant. Each airline is likely to have differing processes for adding an infant to a booking.

Keep_pedalling

Westin wrote: »

@keep pedalling
As the OP is flying to Hurgarda and doesn't mention which airline they are flying with, I'm not sure your link to BA is relevant. Each airline is likely to have differing processes for adding an infant to a booking.

As I was actually answering Victor2's question I think my link giving an example of how it can be done is perfectly relevant. The OP already seems to have that bit sorted.

stephb34

victor2 wrote: »

I'm just curious... How did you book a flight for an unborn baby? Children need their own passports these days and presumably it doesn't have one yet. Similarly, the baby will not be included in the travel insurance, so you would be hopefully claiming because of the conditions imposed on the baby you didn't have when you took the policy out? Sounds like an uphill struggle to me - especially as the mother was already pregnant when the booking was made?

Not sure about scheduled flights but if you are booking a charter flight then you book the unborn baby as inf tba tba or inf x x starting at £29 per baby depending on short, mid or long haul and its best to add them on as soon as you know as only so many infants are allowed per flight due to oxygen masks. On Tcook flights infants are allocated to the person in the middle seat of a plane with rows of 3 and 3.