TUI holiday (14/05/2020) cancelled by TUI, should I cancel my travel insurance?

diesel_doglet

Hi everyone,

First and foremost I hope everyone is keeping well.

I know I will not be the only person in this situation however I have searched the forums for some advice and cannot find a specific answer to my question.

We have a package holiday booked to fly on 14/05/2020 with TUI.  We have received the generic email from TUI stating that all Holidays up to and including 14/05/2020 are cancelled and that they will contact us within 28 days of our holiday date to give us vouchers equivalent to our original holiday price.  obviously all holiday as most are is quite a large sum of money and so we are quite anxious to either receive the vouchers or refund however we have not received anything as of yet.

Due to some pre-existing medical conditions we have quite an expensive single trip travel insurance policy.  our travel insurance company has contacted us to advise that due to the current situation, should our holiday get cancelled we are able to cancel the insurance policy and they will issue a full refund.

My question is whether it would be sensible to keep the insurance policy just in case something happens to tui and we do not get our vouchers, a refund or an alternative holiday?

It is worth noting that none of our holiday was paid on a credit card, it was all paid by debit card.

Thank you very much for reading through our question and thank you in advance for any replies and advice.

 

DD

TELLIT01

I can't help on the insurance, but under current UK law TUI cannot insist on giving credit vouchers.  They are required to refund if requested.

Rainbowgirl84

What makes you think you can cancel the insurance? You started 'using it' having cover benefit the moment you took it out.

philip1988

Rainbowgirl84 said:

What makes you think you can cancel the insurance? You started 'using it' having cover benefit the moment you took it out.

diesel_doglet said:

Due to some pre-existing medical conditions we have quite an expensive single trip travel insurance policy.  our travel insurance company has contacted us to advise that due to the current situation, should our holiday get cancelled we are able to cancel the insurance policy and they will issue a full refund.

Alan_Bowen

Congratulations on using an insurer who has offered a refund, take it as your holiday money is protected by the ATOL scheme, not by your insurer. ATOL will not discriminate on the basis of how you paid, and TUI is Europe's largest tour operator, if they go there will be very little else left either!

twopenny

I would first forward the wording of Tui's email to your insurers with a covering note and asking their advice on timing. It will save complications later and you need something in writing from the insurers to state that they will refund you.

Ask for a refund and expect to wait. They need to get the money back from the hotels and flights before they can forward it. Along with staff shortage, lockdown and general uncertainty of the businesses that's going to take a lot longer than usual. But you need that promise.

Before thinking of keeping it have you read the T&C's to see if it covers for Covid?  Call me suspicious but I'm guessing that is doesn't specify pandemics and that's why they are keen to refund. I could obviously be wrong. New policies are not covering for the virus.

Also there is the chance that by refunding now they are not covering you for any claims you might want to make. A real minefield.