Corona virus - country you plan to visit will not admit UK travellers

Murdina

I have tried asking the following of my insurer (Saga) but they do not appear to know the answer or even to understand the question (they kept referring me to FCO advice not to travel).

I am travelling to Peru for 3 weeks in June. I am due to pay the balance of the holiday cost this week. I understand Peru so far has only one case of coronavirus. What happens if they decide to ban all travellers from the UK (or Europe)? Would I get anything back from my insurer? I am NOT referring to a situation where the FCO say do not travel to Peru but where the Peruvian authorities say their borders are closed to everyone from UK. (another thread on here regarding Israel suggests insurance does not cover this).

Many thanks.

Aylesbury_Duck

Only Saga will be able to tell you, so I suggest you call them again and escalate to someone who can answer your question.

Murdina

I have now found someone to answer my question and for the benefit of others will share that answer.

If FCO say do not travel then insurance covers. They may extend this advice to countries who say you cannot travel there and/or mandate quarantine.

If FCO do not say anything and you can technically still travel there - even if you are going to be quarantined on arrival - you are stuck and insurance will not pay out.

So it all hinges on what FCO says. I do not think we yet have a live example of another country saying it will quarantine arrivals from UK/not let them in at all so we do not actually have evidence of what the FCO will say or do in such a situationl.

Westin

It would have been good to have kept the question and answer on one of the other two Corona Covid-19 threads. Not sure we needed yet another.

Murdina

I am sorry but it took me a long time to trawl through the threads already existing and I thought it would be clearer to start a new one. If I could delete this thread I would do so. However, I understand that is not possible. I have not had recourse to MSE forums in a long time and probably will avoid from now on in case I breach the etiquette again.

silvercar

@Murdina, stick around, all information is helpful at these times.

One of the board guides can always tidy up the forum, but I accept your point that individual threads mean information doesn’t get lost.

aroominyork

Murdina said:

I have now found someone to answer my question and for the benefit of others will share that answer.

If FCO say do not travel then insurance covers. They may extend this advice to countries who say you cannot travel there and/or mandate quarantine.

If FCO do not say anything and you can technically still travel there - even if you are going to be quarantined on arrival - you are stuck and insurance will not pay out.

So it all hinges on what FCO says. I do not think we yet have a live example of another country saying it will quarantine arrivals from UK/not let them in at all so we do not actually have evidence of what the FCO will say or do in such a situationl.

We now have an example - Israel. As the FCO website says "On 9 March 2020 Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that all arrivals entering Israel from overseas would be subject to home quarantine measures for 14 days on public health grounds, this decision will be reviewed in 14 days. We understand that visitors who are unable to demonstrate they can undertake the home quarantine measures will be refused entry in to Israel." There is no FCO advice (eg not to travel) linked to that statement.

I just called Nationwide, with whom I have travel insurance through my current account. The person I spoke with took advice and then said that if you cannot home self-quarantine and are therefore refused entry to Israel, the policy will not pay out because it does not cover refused entry to a country. She said that's ridiculous and of course we should be covered, so she will escalate to a manager and get back to me.

In the meantime, I have emailed them FCO asking them to recommend not to travel if you cannot home self-quarantine, as that might bring the situation within the current wording of the policy. Doubt it'll be done but can't hurt.

Edit: Murdina, what is the basis of saying "..then insurance covers. They may extend this advice to countries who say you cannot travel there and/or mandate quarantine" because that is not what Nationwide is saying they will cover.

Daniel1111

Yes, it is a ridiculous situation and as of today, quite a few countries are banning entry from UK visitors: Moldova is the latest, so it has even reached Europe now. As our cases grow, this will become a bigger issue.

I have also emailed the FCO about this as other countries are advising against travel if their citizens would get banned from entry effectively, but alas, nothing yet. But if they get lots of emails like this, maybe?

aroominyork

Do you please have examples of other countries advising against travel, Daniel?

It seems unsustainable for insurers to hide behind refusal of entry, which is clearly intended to address individual cases (undesirables, wrong paperwork, smuggling etc.) and not a situation like this.

Edit: Looking at Nationwide's policy, it covers cancellation for ""Court cases and quarantine: any insured person, your travelling companion or anyone outside your home area that you had planned to stay with is quarantined, called for jury service or as a witness in a court and a court official has refused to postpone it." So would they really say they would cover me if I was already in quarantine, but not if I would be put in quarantine immediately on arrival?! Honestly, how do these people sleep at night...

OneQuest

I raised this as a thread. The problem arise if a country bans UK visitors but the FCO do not issues an advisory.

Most insurance policies do not include this on the list of what is covered, and do not include it on the list of what is not covered. As a result claims would be considered on a case-bycase basis.  See the COVID-19 advice on the AXA website.

I am trying to find cover or an alternative safeguard before paying the balance on a holiday to the USA.  It only needs D Trump to wake up in the night and tweet that UK residents can not visit the USA.

The insurance industry needs to sort this out urgently.