Tui won’t allow us to alter/change/amend/postpone our flights. Advice on my rights please

la531983

If its a renewal its the same company, surely? 

chapea

not maybe look at the possibility of using a mobility scooter to get around and see if you can tie in the injections around your travel date. 

I have severe arthritis and go to Orlando most years with my adult children.   I manage the flight with a combination of strong painkillers and also moving around on the plane to stop seizing up. As above don’t know if you’re doing the parks but they are all set up well for scooters/wheelchairs even in most queues for the rides   I find the heat also helps a lot and keeps the swelling down better than at home with all our damp weather. I also book assistance at the airports 

chapea

Sorry seems to have lost the top of my post and can’t alter

if you can’t get your money back through your insurance 

Voyager2002

FrankFalcon said:

Just discovered that I have another insurance policy that goes direct debit from my bank but crucially the dates here are very imprtant.
Flights booked: 1st Feb
Medical Diagnosis: 1st May
Insurance Policy runs out on: 6th June
Insurance Policy auto renews on 7th June
Today is 10th June
So, if I was to try and claim on this particular insurance, would I claim on the one that has now expired 4 days ago? Can you claim on an expired policy 4 days ago?
Do I try to claim on this new policy, that I obviously haven't declared the condition because this auto renewed itself.

Within the year leading up to 6 June just gone...
1. You took out or renewed that policy. At that time there was no illness to declare;
2. Father began to feel unwell, but did not know what the problem was. From then onwards, when taking out travel insurance the family should have declared an undiagnosed condition being investigated, otherwise any future insurance would have been invalid;
3. Flights were booked;
4. Diagnosis given, and in the light of this diagnosis the decision not to travel;
5. More than a month after the diagnosis, the insurance expires. 

So you should be covered under this policy.

Brie

Crucial dates are
Annual travel insurance 7/6/23
Medical problem advised to Doctor - late December 23
Flights booked - 1st Feb 24
Medical Diagnosis - 1 May
New policy - 7/6/24

And now you're going to tell the insurers that there's an undeclared medical condition which they likely will be cover.  The medical condition usually needs to be declared at the investigation stage but should certainly have been declared at diagnosis.  

The problem is that despite Father having a painful but undiagnosed condition Mother went ahead and booked tickets.  And despite the diagnosis the insurers were never informed at any stage.  

Obviously you need to check with the insurers but I suspect that even if there was something sudden and unexpected (like a heart attack due to unsuspected medical issues that have never been raised) the only people who would be covered would be the immediate family and not the boyfriend.  

FrankFalcon

Thanks all.  Totally respect your answers...Not what I wanted to hear, but I guess that's life.  

DullGreyGuy

FrankFalcon said:

Thank you all for your comments.  I take on board everything you have all said.  I am not saying Tui have done anything wrong etc.  The dates here are just unfortunate.

Father had ongoing medical problems since Christmas THAT WERE NOT DIAGNOSED BY THE SPECIALIST UNTIL 1st May 2024 as inflammatory arthritis.  This is a very painful problem.  On 1st May the doctors letter states that there will be a plan of treatment going forward.

Mother booked and paid for flights on 1st Feb by Credit Card.

On 1st Feb we didn't know what the diagnosis to the severe pains was so there was no way we could have declared it to the insurer.

We have insurance in place that is tied to a bank account.

DullGreyGuy...You got it spot on...The injections are required every 3 weeks and are those intra-joint steroid injections...But, as you will know, you can't just top up like a tablet etc.  I have to wait at least 3 weeks whether the pain is level 1 or level 10.  It wouldn't be much fun on holiday with said pains with no way of getting another injection until we arrived home.  These injections are not available over the counter.

An insurer wouldn't have touched an undiagnosed condition, though it should have been declared anyway. 

Injections can take up to 3 weeks to take full effect, I was told they are maximum every 3 months but then mine went into a small joint so maybe major joints are different. Was fortunate that it reduced the pain 95% or so and has only deteriorated a little in the following months. 

Actually getting another one out there would probably be much easier than in the UK but naturally it would cost your circa $750. Mine was done privately and whilst now under the care of the NHS as a chronic condition I've no idea what I'm supposed to do if there is a flare up other than wait for the next 6 monthly appointment. 

The bank policy presumably predates the condition, you may still have issues that you booked travel after already suffering symptoms. 

Archergirl

You do need to get in touch with your Insurance company, only they can tell you what is covered Joe Bloggs (no relation) on here can't really tell you.
If you are covered great, if not please don't lose the money and go ahead with the holiday, the heat in Florida my even do you good, My aches go away in the winter if we go to Spain.

Leavemealone

I am still struggling with ‘father’ having no expectation of the undiagnosed symptoms to get worse. I am of (probably) a similar age to this gentleman and have similarly booked in January for trip to Florida later this year and am being investigated for what are Arthritis related symptoms. All has been disclosed to insurance who just want to be kept in the loop. Unless I took a sudden turn for the worst I would not consider cancelling as With these conditions a good dose of sunshine works wonders far better than staying at home missing the holiday or worse still everyone losing both money and a holiday, treatments can be arranged so as no injection would be required whilst away from home. 

Indout96

HampshireH said:

Also totally understand mum and dad not wanting to go. But there isn't really any reason why the rest can't go. 

Probably because they were expecting parents to pay for the Villa / car (OP say was going to book via AirB&B) and if they are anything like my grown up offspring were expecting them to pay all food & drink costs ect as well.

The main problem is I am assuming the rest of then have their own Insurance but will definitely not be covered for Fathers illness as it is not a life threatening event so they will lose anything they have paid towards it (if anything)

My with has these injections into her knee and it needed to be specified on our insurance (Staysure)