Travel Insurance - Booking a holiday now for later on, but it's currently on the amber list?

lukeynewman

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can help and I'm sure there are others out there that are in the same position but can't find the answer.

I booked our honeymoon in March which is scheduled for September. Currently it is against the FCDO to travel to the locations we have booked. The booking is flexible and we can get a full refund up to 30 days before. However I am having difficulty finding a suitable insurance and confirming if I will be covered because at the time of booking the honeymoon it was against FCDO advice.

I understand that but what I wonder is if I am covered if the advice changes to allow me to go and does that include cancellation cover? Do I need to wait to book the insurance once the locations are permitted for travel? Would it still be a problem that I booked the holiday when the locations per against the advice? Which would mean I'd have to cancel and rebook once the travel advice has changed.

I've looked the policy wording of a few insurers as well as phoned them and I can't get a straight answer. If you have to book the holiday and the insurance only once you are permitted to travel to the locations you want to go, surely that means no one should be booking holidays right now until the locations on the green list? Which doesn't seem right to me, surely I can book and just get the insurance once it travel there is permitted?

eskbanker

You need to consider what events you're hoping to insure against, but in general insurers won't cover cancellation due to Covid-related travel restrictions if booked during the pandemic, but should cover against illness, etc, once there, provided you're not travelling against FCDO advice.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/02/coronavirus-travel-help-and-your-rights/#alreadybooked

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cheap-travel-insurance/#covid

Marmaduke123

I'm not sure if this will help! We booked a holiday in Portugal last October, for travel this coming August. We didn't  take out travel insurance at the time because we weren't sure if we would be covered for anything covid related.

We paid a deposit on booking, but haven't paid the balance as the travel company told us not to. They won't  run holidays to amber list countries. We are expecting them to cancel our holiday as it doesn't  look likely that Portugal will return to the green list any time soon. If it does go ahead we will take out travel insurance when we have to pay the balance, in the meantime only our deposit money is at risk if we have to cancel ourselves for any reason. We do have the option to reschedule up to 45 days before, but we wont be doing that, we'll hang on for a refund when they cancel.

sheramber

 surely that means no one should be booking holidays right now 

That is what Boris and co keep  saying.

Thrugelmir

Travel insurance needs to be in place before booking or immediately the booking is made for the cover to be valid. 3 months later is going to cause issues in the midsts of an ongoing global pandemic. 

meishka

Avanti, Staysure and Battleface will cover if you travel against FCDO advice

sheramber

meishka said:

Avanti, Staysure and Battleface will cover if you travel against FCDO advice

You need to check the details not the headline.

e.g Staysure - you need to have completed your vaccinations.
                       You need to take out an additional policy
                       You are covered if advice is against all but essential travel but not if FCDO advice is against all travel.

meishka

Yes thats correct, but it does cover you. You add on the extension bit. An amber is not against all travel so you are covered

eskbanker

meishka said:

An amber is not against all travel so you are covered

Probably worth bearing in mind that the traffic light system is unrelated to FCDO advice, even though there's quite a lot of overlap....

sheramber

meishka said:

Yes thats correct, but it does cover you. You add on the extension bit. An amber is not against all travel so you are covered

Should also add it is only for Europe.