Cancelled Holiday, Insurance not paying the whole amount and trying to reclaim airline tax

r_n_carpenter

Morning folks,

So instead of sitting on a beach on `Tenerife, I’m sitting in a Starbucks in Chandler’s Ford typing this 😷.

My stepson tested positive for COVID-19 2 days before we were due to fly away on Monday. Due to it being the weekend, we couldn’t talk to anyone.

We called the holiday company and insurance company on Monday morning and cancelled the holiday. Obviously no refunds due to it being on the same day.

We then discovered we only had £3k insurance cover for a £3.7k holiday and also lost £150 in excess (so effectively £850 lost).

We were also advised (by the holiday company)to try and reclaim the airline tax (to make up for some of the £700 shortfall).

Also we had extended the insurance cover last week to include our holiday to Thailand in April, but now (once we actually read the T&Cs, we discovered it only covers us for £3k, not £7.5k needed).

questions

1) is it wise to try and reclaim the airline tax whilst we are claiming the insurance and can we claim for both flights (including the one already gone)?
2 we want to cancel the additional insurance element (to make it worldwide multi trip), and we only have around 7 more days to do so, can we do this when we are claiming against the ‘original’ policy?
3) any other advise?


Thank you so much

Richard

Caz3121

insurance is to cover the costs that cannot be recovered elsewhere, it is common for them not to refund the taxes as these can be claimed from the airline - this would likely be £13 per person 16+ however some airlines may charge a fee for this (the airline website may have information on APD refunds)

[Deleted User]

You can cancel the insurance and continue to claim. As long as you don't retroactively cancel the bit that covered you when you were unable to travel it's fine.