Will my travel insurance be valid in Corfu?

timww

I'm flying to Corfu on Tuesday. Despite Greece being on the Amber list, the latest FCDO advice is "against all but essential travel to Greece, except for the islands of Rhodes, Kos, Zakynthos, Corfu and Crete". Source: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/greece

In order to have valid travel insurance I must agree that I am not travelling against FCDO advice. Does the recent exclusion for select islands stand up? It could change at any moment and was different when the flights were booked. What is the relevant point in time at which the advice applies? The time I buy the policy?

I also have to agree that I'm unaware of any reason the trip would be cancelled or cut short. The pandemic means this is always a likelihood. 

I know I can ask the insurance company this, but wondering if anyone has had any first hand experience recently!

timww

Just to clarify, I've not got a current insurance policy and am searching now. Just wondering if there's any point getting insured of it's void before the plane's taken off.

Sandtree

timww said:

I also have to agree that I'm unaware of any reason the trip would be cancelled or cut short. The pandemic means this is always a likelihood. 

At any stage there is a long list of scenarios that would result in your trip being cut short and so if thats exactly how they've worded it then its bad wording... anyone could have a close relative be taken seriously ill, their home burn down whilst on holiday and a list of other things.

There is normally a threshold of probability around the event, so yes anyone with living parents could get the call to say their parent had been run over and is critically ill but they are more wanting the fact you know a parent has stage 4 terminal cancer so a more material risk of needing to return if they take a turn for the worse.

timww

Actually it says "unaware of any reason why the trip would be cancelled". This was the wording on Compare The Market. Not directly any insurer. 

I think the key word is "would". I don't think this is the same as any reason it could be cancelled. I'm agreeing that a cancelled trip would be unexpected. Under Covid it's not that unexpected.

Sandtree

timww said:
Under Covid it's not that unexpected.

Since covid really hit the news circa Jan 2020 I think I've been overseas about 6 times for a total of circa 4 months... not one of those trips have been cut short or cancelled so personally to me it would be unexpected however my flights and accommodation are flexible so cutting short or cancelling is of minimal loss and personally what I want out of my travel insurance is medical cover, medical evacuation etc which can easily get into 6 figure bills.

timww

Agreed re medical cover, especially as we're travelling with a 11mo old.

I guess the first point regarding FCDO advice is more pertinent. Mainly I'm worried that this little detail about exempt islands won't stand up.

I'm also unsure about situations unrelated to Covid. i.e. If my baggage goes missing. Is the whole policy void because Gov said you shouldn't be going in the first place?

Sandtree

timww said:

Agreed re medical cover, especially as we're travelling with a 11mo old.

I guess the first point regarding FCDO advice is more pertinent. Mainly I'm worried that this little detail about exempt islands won't stand up.

I'm also unsure about situations unrelated to Covid. i.e. If my baggage goes missing. Is the whole policy void because Gov said you shouldn't be going in the first place?

It will depend where exactly it states the condition, if it is in the general terms and conditions then those apply to the whole policy and so the whole policy becomes null. If its only in the cancellation section then it only applies to that section.

In most cases I would expect it to appear in the general T&Cs... there are one or two insurers that do cover travelling against FCO advice in general and one of the mainstream distributors a while back said they'd cover european trips against FCO advice (not sure if they still are). The former you do pay for though as they cover people going to very high risk places for work etc.

user1977

timww said:

In order to have valid travel insurance I must agree that I am not travelling against FCDO advice. Does the recent exclusion for select islands stand up? It could change at any moment and was different when the flights were booked. What is the relevant point in time at which the advice applies? The time I buy the policy?

At the time of travel I expect. That's the only interpretation which makes sense. After all, if I booked a trip now to somewhere which is currently prohibited, but restrictions are removed by the time I travel, why should the cover during my trip be affected?

timww

Update: I took out a policy with Esure. Just for the medical cover really.

Their wording is that I confirm that I am "not aware of any reason that could give rise to a claim".

Utterly stupid wording. Of course I'm aware of a reason that COULD give rise to a claim. A global pandemic that changes travel and quarantine rules on a daily basis COULD give rise to a claim. But I am not aware of any reason that WILL give rise to a claim.