Travel delay insurance (for return part of journey)

YorkshireTraveller

We have a specialised annual worldwide travel policy that includes cover for pre-existing medical conditions. This suits us well and has been tailored to meet our medical requirements.

On a recent trip to the USA our return flight was cancelled due to a technical problem with the plane and we were in effect ‘stranded’ and left to fend for ourselves for a couple of days until we could find seats on a flight back home (most flights were full as there had been previous cancellations due to snow).

We were flying on American Airlines who (along with all US based airlines) were not liable to look after us under EU261/2004 as this was a flight back to the UK on a non EU carrier.

Fortunately our flights+car hire were booked through British Airways Holidays who have agreed to refund our extra hotel and meal costs.

On checking our travel insurance policy our insurers would have only refunded £20 each towards our expenses as the delay was on our return journey.

Having looked at several insurance policies on-line that cover pre-existing medical conditions they all seem to be lacking in cover should a return flight home be cancelled – by definition their policies are geared to the medical aspect of the insurance.

For future trips it would seem prudent to take out additional insurance cover should we experience delays on our return. Can any forum members suggest a suitable add-on policy that would be appropriate?

dacouch

What extra's are you looking for?

Are you just after a policy with a higher level of travel delay payment on the off chance history repeats itself

YorkshireTraveller

dacouch wrote: »

What extra's are you looking for?

Are you just after a policy with a higher level of travel delay payment on the off chance history repeats itself

Yes - an add on policy to cover any expenses incurred should we encounter a delay on our return again.

ThinkingOutLoud_2

So flight related claims can get complex, but here you booked flights through BA in the UK and so your contract was with BA.

So they were liable and paid out (good result, well done).

Typically insurers don't any to provide cover where and airline is responsible. That might only create confusion for you and then you would be bounced between the pair of them!

You suggest this was because you had a policy to cover pre-existing conditions. I am not sure that is relevant as his was not a medical claim - or am I missing your point that you think other insurers would have paid?

YorkshireTraveller

wrote:

You suggest this was because you had a policy to cover pre-existing conditions. I am not sure that is relevant as his was not a medical claim - or am I missing your point that you think other insurers would have paid?

No - that wasn't my point. What I was trying to say is that there are annual policies out there that do provide significant cover for hotels/expenses if you are delayed on your return (say £500 each for hotel and meals) - but these are standard policies and exclude pre-existing medical conditions.

The policies that provide for pre-exisiting medical conditions (at a premium!) focus on this particular aspect of the insurance and don't seem to provide much in the way of compensation if your return flight is delayed.

We need to have a policy that includes pre-existing medical conditions (and our current policy is tailored for this) but has a £20 each limit on claiming expenses in the event that our return flight is delayed.

I'm trying to find a stand alone additional policy that we can purchase to cover us for expenses should a future return flight be delayed.

ThinkingOutLoud_2

Yorkshire_Traveller wrote: »

We need to have a policy that includes pre-existing medical conditions (and our current policy is tailored for this) but has a £20 each limit on claiming expenses in the event that our return flight is delayed.

Ok got you.

So as with all these things there is a price to pay for extra benefits. But, there are quite a few premier policies which will cover many / most medical conditions.

But you are right, some more specialist pre-ex companies offer a more cut down benefits set.

Do you mind telling us who you were insured with and who you liked but for their refusal to cover your medical conditions. Then, we can take a look?

YorkshireTraveller

ThinkingOutLoud wrote: »

Do you mind telling us who you were insured with so and who you liked but for their refusal to cover your medical conditions. Then, we can take a look?

Currently insured through Rothwell & Towler (and previously with Staysure) who cover our pre-existing medical conditions.

Nationwide FlexPlus account (free) insurance would have paid out up to £1000 each (just checked with them and it does cover the return journey). However, we've never activated this as previously they wouldn't cover our pre-existing medical conditions. Having just spoken to them they will now cover us at a very reasonable supplement so this may be the way forward.

Are there any other insurers that you can think of that we should consider either for a full or standalone extra policy?

ThinkingOutLoud_2

Ok so each insurer sets their "threshold" by which I mean what level of pre-existing condition risk they will cover.

As you have found, there are specialist who will cover higher condition risks, but they don't always offer beyond core levels of cover or extras. To be fair, those with conditions can see high premiums and having such extras adds to the price and affects affordability for some.

In the past mainstream insurers were and to be honest remain a mixed bag as regards their "appetite" for medical condition cover.

This situation remains, however with online screening capabilities some improvements exist and at least you don't need a 30 minute phone call to get a quote. This includes American Express and Santander for example who also offer some delay cover (remember to check limits are per person or not and compare the exact terms). There are more, I am sure.

And of course, the MSE site lists the pre-existing condition specialists and gives its stance.

Overall, it is afact that delay claims represent a very tiny % of the claims made or paid. I get that this happened to you and could repeat of course - BUT you could end up paying a lot of money for something that is proportionally less likely to trigger a claim than medical expenses, baggage, cancellation and so on...

And if you buy via an EU airline as you found - you have a spice of recompense.

Good luck