Travel insurance cover if travel companion can't travel

Baled

Hi all

I've travelled solo a lot over the last 12 years and always buy medical travel insurance for each trip so I've only ever had to think about myself. Luckily I've not had to make any claims so far.

I'm trying to think of possible scenarios cropping up on a group holiday booked last weekend for July 2023 with 3 friends. I purchased my travel insurance the day after. This holiday is for my friend who has been treated for cancer since last June. Her consultant has recently put her on tablets for the next 2 years and has said she is ok to go abroad from May.

Just trying to get people's thoughts or experiences that if her situation changes and she cannot go and we decide not to go either would my insurer refuse to cover my holiday cost? I called them today to try to clarify this - the advisor told me that problems for travelling companions would be covered but then she asked me if I knew about my friend's condition/treatment at the time of booking and I said yes, I definitely knew as we are very close. She then said that could bring into question what decision is made.

I'm not really any the wiser as it seems a bit of a grey area? Thoughts or advice please? I know I can cancel the insurance and repurchase elsewhere as it's a 14 day window but would it be the same vagueish answers if I try elsewhere?

peb

Most policies won't cover it.  I had a situation where a friend was in a car accident a couple of days before we were to travel, she was covered but I wasn't.  She was well enough to go fortunately in that instance.

onashoestring

You need to purchase group insurance policy to ensure that you are all  covered if you wish to cancel the trip because one in the party if one is unable to travel. Your friends conditions for which she has had treatment would have to be declared. 

With individual insurance policies- most would expect the trip to go ahead for the others in the party = they would not pay out for not travelling if someone else in the party can’t travel . Only the individual unable to travel would be able to claim for themselves on their policy .

Booking a  hotel which allows you to cancel and get a full refund is another way to reduce the risk of loosing your money if the trip couldn’t go ahead. 

Have a lovely holiday with your friend. I’m sure that looking forward to this is just what she needs after her treatment. 

sheramber

You need to check the policy document very carefully.

e.g Staysure say

Important limitations Anyone your trip depends on – Cancellation & Cutting Short Your Trip Cover is extended to claims relating to pre-existing medical conditions if the persons medical practitioner is able to confirm that at the time you bought the policy or booked the trip (whichever is later), there would not have been any substantial likelihood of the condition deteriorating so that cancellation or cutting short your trip would become necessary. If the medical practitioner cannot confirm this in writing, your claim will not be covered. You should also refer to what is not covered under Sections 1 and 2 and the General Exclusions. 

400ixl

Couple of things at play here as mentioned above.

Quite surprising that they would cover cancellation due to travelling companions inability to travel. Sounds like a decent policy if that is the case as normally you would likely need to be on a group insurance policy where the risks of the group as a whole are assessed and priced.

Individual or with a group, the pre-existing medical conditions will need to be declared which may (depending on the policy) cover the group for the friend not being able to travel based on that condition. Equally that may be excluded, so even on an individual or group policy that risk would not be covered.

Personally I would a) ensure everything booked (or as much as possible) is refundable as part of the booking b) go down the group insurance route to ensure the correct level of cover is in place and there are no grey areas around this.

If you have mitigated the major costs with a) then you may want to take the risk of an individual policy if it is significantly cheaper. For example it may be cheaper to not be able to claim than the additional cost to cover the pre-existing conditions in the group policy and the policy excess (which will be per person in likelyhood).

You may not be able to do a) if you have already booked and did not take this approach.

Baled

Thanks everyone. We booked the holiday through a travel agent - it's a Jet2 package. Two of my friends have paid in full, another friend paid a third off. I myself have only paid the £60 deposit so far.

I think we'll have to have a chat amongst us to figure out what we should do. I will comb the policy wording also. The advisor did mention about the possibility of my friend requiring a fit to fly letter from the consultant or doctor but I don't want to put too much undue pressure on her at the moment.

UPDATE: I found this in the policy wording in both the cancel before you go section and cutting short your trip section -

"Health of non-travelling people. You may have to cancel due to the poor health of an immediate relative, travelling companion or someone you are planning to stay with. For cover to apply 

we require that a medical practitioner confirms in writing that when you purchased this policy or booked the trip: 

- The non-insured party was not seriously ill in hospital or receiving palliative care and 

- There was no reason to expect their state of health to deteriorate so much that you would need to cancel."

It's the palliative care that is giving me pause - it's such a wide ranging term. 

DullGreyGuy

Baled said:

UPDATE: I found this in the policy wording in both the cancel before you go section and cutting short your trip section -

"Health of non-travelling people. You may have to cancel due to the poor health of an immediate relative, travelling companion or someone you are planning to stay with. For cover to apply 

we require that a medical practitioner confirms in writing that when you purchased this policy or booked the trip: 

- The non-insured party was not seriously ill in hospital or receiving palliative care and 

- There was no reason to expect their state of health to deteriorate so much that you would need to cancel."

It's the palliative care that is giving me pause - it's such a wide ranging term. 

Well thats a badly worded section.... health of non-travelling people including your travelling companion?

Insurance ranges from bargain basement bare coverage to full fat with all the bells and whistles. I would argue that a standard policy does cover cancellation due to one of your travelling companions being unable to travel. Aviva for example have this clause:

You will also be covered if a cancellation is unavoidable because your travelling companion is unable to travel due to any of the reasons listed above.

IE its a mirror for your rights of cancellation. 

However; there is a pre-existing condition exception for both travelling companions and close family members and so if they are in a car crash, no problems covered. Your friends cancer however isnt covered unless its been declared and accepted however most insurers dont give you the ability to declare medical conditions of anyone not to be covered by the policy and so in effect all pre-existing conditions are excluded

Baled

DullGreyGuy said:

Baled said:

UPDATE: I found this in the policy wording in both the cancel before you go section and cutting short your trip section -

"Health of non-travelling people. You may have to cancel due to the poor health of an immediate relative, travelling companion or someone you are planning to stay with. For cover to apply 

we require that a medical practitioner confirms in writing that when you purchased this policy or booked the trip: 

- The non-insured party was not seriously ill in hospital or receiving palliative care and 

- There was no reason to expect their state of health to deteriorate so much that you would need to cancel."

It's the palliative care that is giving me pause - it's such a wide ranging term. 

Well thats a badly worded section.... health of non-travelling people including your travelling companion?

Insurance ranges from bargain basement bare coverage to full fat with all the bells and whistles. I would argue that a standard policy does cover cancellation due to one of your travelling companions being unable to travel. Aviva for example have this clause:

You will also be covered if a cancellation is unavoidable because your travelling companion is unable to travel due to any of the reasons listed above.

IE its a mirror for your rights of cancellation. 

However; there is a pre-existing condition exception for both travelling companions and close family members and so if they are in a car crash, no problems covered. Your friends cancer however isnt covered unless its been declared and accepted however most insurers dont give you the ability to declare medical conditions of anyone not to be covered by the policy and so in effect all pre-existing conditions are excluded

Thank you. I think the advisor I spoke to was basically inferring your last paragraph to me when she said knowing at the time of booking about my friend's cancer/treatment would put things 'in question'.

Going to have a chat with the group this weekend and make them aware of the pitfalls. The only other outside possibility I can think of is to ask Jet2 if we could postpone or get a credit but I think they'd just tell us to claim on the insurance. 

DullGreyGuy

If you were to get a group insurance policy you avoid the issue of not being able to declare the medical conditions of someone not directly covered by your policy and so if someone is willing to take on their cancer as a pre-existing condition it then gives you all protection however 1) it may be expensive and 2) no guarantees that an insurer will take on the cancer but can only tell that by shopping around.

diystarter7

Hi
Group insurance required, check T&C's and I always ask about stuff like this. About the cna't travell, the ins co will need evidence of this from gp/etc

Thnaks