Travel insurance - Covid cancellation cover

worriedowner

 Most travel insurance claims to provide cancellation cover which I assumed to provide for otherwise irrecoverable travel costs if you don’t travel because you or member of travelling party test positive for Covid in the days before travel and it seems a sensible feature at the moment. But on closer look at conditions I am struggling to see how in practice it will ever pay out.

First, they tend to require a diagnosis from a medical practitioner. Does that mean your doctor, which would be difficult to obtain in those circumstances as doctor would just say stay at home until you recover.  Or would a paid test at the local pharmacy be sufficient? I understand why insurers might not regard a home LFT as adequate.

Second, as I read it, the cancellation has to be because you are unable to travel as a result of Covid. But now that the legal requirement to self-isolate has been scrapped, you could travel if you weren’t too ill to do so even if Covid-positive so strictly the condition is not met as nothing is actually preventing you from doing so. But surely that would be irresponsible and you’d want to cancel in those circumstances? Or am I being naive about what other people are doing?

Any experiences with Covid cancellation claims? Thanks.

eskbanker

In the midst of the pandemic, a positive PCR test was enough to warrant cancelling travel and making a claim, but now that rules have been relaxed, we're effectively back in the steady state situation where anyone seeking an insurance company to cover illness as a reason not to travel has to provide medical evidence that they're unfit to travel, which means consulting a doctor.

Worth checking the small print of policies though, as detailed wording will vary from one to another....