Flights available but no insurance is currently valid

onwards&upwards

It’ll never be mandatory, because not having it only puts yourself at risk, it doesn’t cause harm to others, like car insurance.

Ganga

AlexMac said:

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

As long as the occasional added cost is not major surgery in say the USA or even worse having to be repatriated back to the UK by an air ambulance with doctors and nurses in attendance , still they can always sell their house , a few of the kids and a spare kidney to pay for it   

NoodleDoodleMan

onwards&upwards said:

It’ll never be mandatory, because not having it only puts yourself at risk, it doesn’t cause harm to others, like car insurance.

Not having it can put close family/relatives in an invidious position if you need significant financial assistance to get out of a jam.

NoodleDoodleMan

Ganga said:

AlexMac said:

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

As long as the occasional added cost is not major surgery in say the USA or even worse having to be repatriated back to the UK by an air ambulance with doctors and nurses in attendance , still they can always sell their house , a few of the kids and a spare kidney to pay for it   

God forbid anybody needing significant medical treatment in America without travel insurance.

The single biggest cause of personal bankruptcy in the USA results from the inability to pay medical bills.

onwards&upwards

NoodleDoodleMan said:

onwards&upwards said:

It’ll never be mandatory, because not having it only puts yourself at risk, it doesn’t cause harm to others, like car insurance.

Not having it can put close family/relatives in an invidious position if you need significant financial assistance to get out of a jam.

Yeah but that's a personal thing, not something that will ever be legislated for.  

silvercar

According to an article in The Sunday Times today, renewing annual insurance with the same insurer should mean your cover continues. That means generally that you booked the holiday before the pandemic/. advice not to travel began. The article also states the only insurer offering new cover for covid19 occurring while you are abroad is Safe Sure, but they won't cover you for cancelling if you booked after covid19 was known about.

boatman

silvercar said:

According to an article in The Sunday Times today, renewing annual insurance with the same insurer should mean your cover continues. That means generally that you booked the holiday before the pandemic/. advice not to travel began. The article also states the only insurer offering new cover for covid19 occurring while you are abroad is Safe Sure, but they won't cover you for cancelling if you booked after covid19 was known about.

In other words, if you book now, you are not covered, which is exactly what i said in my initial post.

If you booked back in January and bought insurance at the time, then yes, of course you are covered.

But that doesn't help anyone who wants to book now when flights are getting back up and running. As stated on the Staysure website:

So, until the government lift that advice, any insurance is invalid..

When will it change?

https://www.staysure.co.uk/discover/coronavirus-latest/#now

NoodleDoodleMan

Regardless of Corona virus - if you travel against HM Government advice then your travel insurance policy won't cover you for anything.

It appears a few people are unaware of that scenario.