Flights available but no insurance is currently valid

mattyprice4004

Arthurian said:

I did not realise it was possible to travel without insurance - I usually book packages which require it.  You learn a lot at MSE.

Some packages do indeed require it, and I've seen a few - that'll be why I've never seen it, as I tend to book things individually (flights, hotel etc). 
Every day is a school day!  

Sea_Shell

Have the FCO lifted travel restrictions yet, or is it still essential travel only?

I was under the impression that traveling AGAINST this advice would invalidate your insurance anyway.

silvercar

Sea_Shell said:

Have the FCO lifted travel restrictions yet, or is it still essential travel only?

I was under the impression that traveling AGAINST this advice would invalidate your insurance anyway.

You need to check with your insurers. If you booked before the FCO advised against non-essential travel, you may find the insurer will still cover you or will pay for cancellation. 

twopenny

Many travel insurance policies don't cover for pandemics. It's something we only noticed when we got one and no one expected one that would affect the world and even personal liberty.

However quite a few big names have stopped selling travel insurance altogether at the moment.

A few are beginning to offer cover. Not sure what the cost will be. More will introduce  more favourable cover when there is almost no chance of getting the virus - or when they need to sell policies. Insurance to be at an affordable price needs to be based on likelyhood and the majority of people needing little or no treatment to make it worth their while to pay their staff.

You are able to travel without insurance. But you need to be prepared to shell out hundreds for something regular and thousands if you are seriously injured or suffer illness that requires not only hospital treatment but hotel for family that stay, a nurse or more on the plane to get you home and their return to their country. All of which you have to arrange with no insurance. I remember one couple who had to re mortgage their house to get their son home. A friend was a loss adjuster and specialised in repatriation arrangements. After listening to her I would never travel without it.

silvercar

This week's MSE email contains a section that the FCA have rules that renewing annual insurance should include the same corona cover as it did before. 
"However the Financial Conduct Authority, has confirmed to us that if you had an annual policy before mid-March and renewed with the same insurer since, you SHOULD still be covered for coronavirus issues (as long as you were covered before you renewed). All the insurers we've spoken to - including all those listed in the table below - have confirmed this. So if you're rejected, go to the financial ombudsman and argue the firm isn't following 'standard industry practice'."
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/02/coronavirus-travel-help-and-your-rights/#insurertable

NoodleDoodleMan

Today's MSE "Coronavirus Travel Rights" also contains the following advice, which I presume has been included from when this section started off ?

QUOTE "In fact, even if you have an existing annual policy, it likely won't cover any new trips booked. Sadly, and disastrously for the travel industry and their employees, that means most people would be sensible to avoid booking any holiday for now." UNQUOTE

Text in bold is my emphasis.

silvercar

We usually book hotels separately to flights and have found that a lot of hotels are now offering cancellations up to the day before, which does put our mind at ease.

boatman

The travel industry need to be pushing the government on changing their guidance on all but essential travel, otherwise no one is going anywhere, you would be crazy to travel abroad without insurance, ehic is not enough..

AlexMac

Arthurian said:

I did not realise it was possible to travel without insurance - I usually book packages which require it.  You learn a lot at MSE.

How times change; for the first 20-odd years of my travels (hitching, driving, ferrying and flying to France, Spain, Greece, USA...) I didn't bother with travel insurance.  The thought never even crossed my mind, because when you're young, you are invulnerable!

Once I hit my 40's I began to think about it, and took out the occasional policy...

And then, when I reached my 50's, and for the past 20-odd years. I grew up, maybe got cautious, and tended to get a cheap annual policy (multi-trip for about £40 a year for both of us) or used the cover on my premium Bank account... 

And the irony is, I've almost never had to claim (OK- a token £40 per person for delay when the flight from Gorona was delayed a couple of days 20 years ago- but all that meant was another 2 nites cheap holiday; very enjoyable... plus a couple of hundred quid when a ferry to Spain was cancelled and we had to drive via France; but again, all that meant was we had a slightly longer and more enjoyable holiday).

So you could just say- book cheap holidays, don't get ill (we never have, in several hundred trips), assume the worst never happens and if it does, just swallow the occasional added cost?

A bit like AA car recovery insurance; I've never bothered taking it out in over 55 years' motoring, and never been stuck yet.  So if the worst happened now and I broke down in deepest Kent, I could afford to pay to get helicoptered off the M25 and as I've saved gazillions in premiums, I'd still be ahead financially

NoodleDoodleMan

I'd go as far as to say that travel insurance should be mandatory to travel outwith the UK, especially in light of our EU departure when the EHIC becomes null and void.

Assuming a medical drama can be avoided by acting responsibly won't prevent (for example) the potential of being the innocent victim of an accident of any nature or cause.

You'll still need hospital treatment regardless of who is at fault.

Better to have it, and not need it, than vice versa.