Holiday insurance- Cant claim despite fco advising not to go!

palmerasun

Hi everyone,
Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue with their insurance. Took holiday insurance out pre covid - FCO have now advised against travel to canary islands, due to go on Monday. Called my insurers ( cover to go ) and asked them where i stood on this as FCO have advised against.
they said if easyjet have offered to transfer flights or a voucher i cant claim from my insurance if I cannot travel! ( I have already changed flights from mainland to canaries before gov said canaries had to quarantine, cant transfer again as work is fully booked with other people taking holidays and i already have plans for next year)  I thought if FCO had advised against travel and i cannot accept easyjets offer i would have been able to claim! I feel completely stuck Because if i don’t go I will loose loads of money and if i do my insurance will be invalid. Although i have noticed i can get insurance for FCO advice. Anyone else had this issue, is insurance really worth it !

[Deleted User]

Yes, it's definitely worth it, but like everything else, you need to buy a product that suits your needs.

palmerasun

The product did suit my needs before covid! I just thought that as FCO has advised against travel I could have made a claim- maybe if the FCO had said do not go at all it may if been different!!

[Deleted User]

It didn't suit your needs. You wanted a product that would allow disinclination to travel due to advisory warnings, not just bans.

It appears yours doesn't do that but there are many that do.

sheramber

Insurance companies expect you to mitigate your losses before claiming from them  as a last resort. Offers of vouchers or rebooking are considered acceptable options.
If you are not happy with your insurance company's  decision you can follow the complaint procedure which will be shown in your policy document.   

CPatts2010

Sigh....I hope someone may be able to help.  Sailient points and kind answers please:

>  Booked flight with Ryanair in October 2019 (no Covid-19)
>  Due to depart to Spain on 15th August, to 1st September, 2020
>  FCO Advice:  do not travel unless essential; quarantine for 14 days on arrival in UK
>  Cannot quarantine
>  Ryanair will not let us move flights, fee free as we booked before the pandemic (oddly if booked in the pandemic you can alter your flights fee free) - we stopped counting when the ammendment fees hit £600
>  We were insured up until 28th July, 2020; we were insured during the period of time that the FCO announced none essential travel should be avoided and the need to quarantine
>  Holiday Insurance has now expired as did not re-new given no insurance company covers against COVID related claims, in any event.  Virgin upped their annual policy premium (no loyalty discount there); and depending on the FCO advice I was going to shop around, if the advice changed.
> Insurance company saying NOT COVERED because the dates of our travel are outside the policy; which has now expired and we did not renew.  Have pointed out that the advice NOT to travel; at Government request; was while the policy was live and therefore should be covered; especially as when we took it out, COVID-19 was not on the horizon.....(think this was around July 2019)

I have logged a) complaint with Ryanair and b) complaint with Virgin 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.......

[Deleted User]

Your options are to go, to postpone or cancel.

DCFC79

CPatts2010 said:

Sigh....I hope someone may be able to help.  Sailient points and kind answers please:

>  Booked flight with Ryanair in October 2019 (no Covid-19)
>  Due to depart to Spain on 15th August, to 1st September, 2020
>  FCO Advice:  do not travel unless essential; quarantine for 14 days on arrival in UK
>  Cannot quarantine
>  Ryanair will not let us move flights, fee free as we booked before the pandemic (oddly if booked in the pandemic you can alter your flights fee free) - we stopped counting when the ammendment fees hit £600
>  We were insured up until 28th July, 2020; we were insured during the period of time that the FCO announced none essential travel should be avoided and the need to quarantine
>  Holiday Insurance has now expired as did not re-new given no insurance company covers against COVID related claims, in any event.  Virgin upped their annual policy premium (no loyalty discount there); and depending on the FCO advice I was going to shop around, if the advice changed.
> Insurance company saying NOT COVERED because the dates of our travel are outside the policy; which has now expired and we did not renew.  Have pointed out that the advice NOT to travel; at Government request; was while the policy was live and therefore should be covered; especially as when we took it out, COVID-19 was not on the horizon.....(think this was around July 2019)

I have logged a) complaint with Ryanair and b) complaint with Virgin 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.......

Should really start your own thread.

CPatts2010

 Yes, I already know that, but was hoping for advice or experience in dealing insurance companies in relation to covid claims and whether anyone had similar experience to us. Nonetheless thanks for taking your time to comment. 

[Deleted User]

Your problem us that you have no insurance and didn't claim on it when you did.

macman

How on earth do you think you can claim on your insurance for cancelling a trip that is after the expiry date of your policy? It doesn't matter that you want to cancel prior to that date, it's the 'event' date that is relevant.