Advice before cancelling very expensive holiday

monty4paws

Hi,

We booked a couple of years ago on the trip of a lifetime, costing over £40k. Unfortunately my mum's health has deteriorated rapidly in the last 6 months, and has been in and out of hospital.

Right now she's in hospital again although hopefully coming out soon. She has a number of medical issues and the situation is extremely worrying, I simply cannot be going away right now. I would not enjoy a trip away it would simply be stressful being away, plus my parents very much need me as they have no one else to support them.

So I'd like to cancel. Due to how close the trip is, unfortunately the holiday company has said they cannot allow us to change the dates. So our only option is to cancel outright.

Before I do this and contact our travel insurer, I have read through all the Ts and Cs of the policy. It says cancellation is covered for:

"The death, injury due to an accident, illness, disease, or pregnancy complication of you, your travel companion, your close relative or your colleague."

My mum has multiple illness issues so it is that clause I would be claiming under. Under exclusions, it excludes any illness of a close relative which requires 'treatment'.

My mum has an ongoing progressive condition which we knew about, but which at the time of booking the trip was not affecting her badly nor getting any worse. Clearly this condition falls under the 'exclusions'.

However, as a result of the ongoing medical condition, she has just had a fall and done some serious damage which will take months to recover from. She also has a number of other issues very recently identified, which are NOT related to the ongoing progressive condition.

It is the combined impact of ALL of these issues which is making me not want to travel. It is not unlikely that she could end up in hospital yet again shortly after being discharged, as the situation is very precarious.

I suppose really I'm after any insights from people who have been in a similar situation, as to whether I am likely to have issues with getting cancellation cover paid out or not. The situation is complicated given the multiple medical issues, and whilst the ongoing progressive condition I am quite sure is not covered, the other things have arisen separately since.

Thanks.

Robin9

Was this condition known about at the time of renewal and was it declared? 

phatbear

You are asking for opinions when you need facts.

You need to talk to your insurance company not randoms on a forum

eskbanker

monty4paws said:

It says cancellation is covered for:

"The death, injury due to an accident, illness, disease, or pregnancy complication of you, your travel companion, your close relative or your colleague."

That seems an extraordinarily vague clause that's open to many interpretations, one of which is any illness technically qualifying, but I don't believe for a second that it would pay out if cancelling because a colleague had a cold!

monty4paws said:

We booked a couple of years ago on the trip of a lifetime, costing over £40k. 

Just to check, does the policy definitely cover the full cost of that booking anyway, as most wouldn't?

DullGreyGuy

monty4paws said:

We booked a couple of years ago on the trip of a lifetime, costing over £40k. Unfortunately my mum's health has deteriorated rapidly in the last 6 months, and has been in and out of hospital.

Right now she's in hospital again although hopefully coming out soon. She has a number of medical issues and the situation is extremely worrying, I simply cannot be going away right now. I would not enjoy a trip away it would simply be stressful being away, plus my parents very much need me as they have no one else to support them.

So I'd like to cancel. Due to how close the trip is, unfortunately the holiday company has said they cannot allow us to change the dates. So our only option is to cancel outright.

Before I do this and contact our travel insurer, I have read through all the Ts and Cs of the policy. It says cancellation is covered for:

"The death, injury due to an accident, illness, disease, or pregnancy complication of you, your travel companion, your close relative or your colleague."

My mum has multiple illness issues so it is that clause I would be claiming under. Under exclusions, it excludes any illness of a close relative which requires 'treatment'.

My mum has an ongoing progressive condition which we knew about, but which at the time of booking the trip was not affecting her badly nor getting any worse. Clearly this condition falls under the 'exclusions'.

However, as a result of the ongoing medical condition, she has just had a fall and done some serious damage which will take months to recover from. She also has a number of other issues very recently identified, which are NOT related to the ongoing progressive condition.

It is the combined impact of ALL of these issues which is making me not want to travel. It is not unlikely that she could end up in hospital yet again shortly after being discharged, as the situation is very precarious.

I suppose really I'm after any insights from people who have been in a similar situation, as to whether I am likely to have issues with getting cancellation cover paid out or not. The situation is complicated given the multiple medical issues, and whilst the ongoing progressive condition I am quite sure is not covered, the other things have arisen separately since.

Do you have a link to the policy book? 
When are you due to travel?
When did you book the holiday?
When did you buy the policy? If its an annual policy, when did you first buy this product with the supplier without any breaks?

Without seeing the exact terms we can only talk in generality and the problem is that these are terms that vary widely between providers. What will also be critical is ultimately what the doctors are going to say. 

What is the doctors current prognosis?


At the budget end of the market they will simply exclude any condition that the person suffered before the policy was bought. In the theoretical top end you could declare non-travelling family conditions and they can say up front if they are covered or not. Some do however cover pre0existing of non-travelling without declaration as long as there is an unexpected and sudden deterioration. 

Part of your problem, if you did buy the holiday years ago, will be what you should have considered reasonable with the condition over such a long duration. It's easy to say something like Parkinson's probably won't change too much in 3 months but over 2 years its harder to be so certain. 

heatherw_01

I hope she declared the medical conditions otherwise they may not cover it as all pre existing conditions must be declared.

You need to speak to your insurer and ask them. They can tell you straight away if you are covered or not.

monty4paws

Robin9 said:

Was this condition known about at the time of renewal and was it declared? 

The long term condition was known about so I'm not expecting that to be covered, well I know it won't. There was no option to declare for family members- I did declare my own conditions.

But my question is that there are now other issues, in addition to the original known condition. And it is the amalgamation of these I would hope to be covered for.

My worry is, take a silly example like your family member breaks a leg, we'll I'm sure you couldn't expect to cancel a holiday on that basis and claim for it. My mum now has a number of different issues, in isolation not life threatening, but in total makes her in a very poor state and we are seriously worried about how long she may have.

It's how that situation would be viewed by the insurer  - excluding the known about lifelong condition. 

monty4paws

phatbear said:

You are asking for opinions when you need facts.

You need to talk to your insurance company not randoms on a forum

Yes of course I do, I know that. But I was hoping for any helpful advice from people who may have gone through similar, so that I can aim to approach the insurance company in thr most optimised way, tongue the best chance of them being helpful, as I am conscious that our particular situation is really rather open to interpretation  - it's not just black and white, but rather grey.

monty4paws

DullGreyGuy said:

monty4paws said:

We booked a couple of years ago on the trip of a lifetime, costing over £40k. Unfortunately my mum's health has deteriorated rapidly in the last 6 months, and has been in and out of hospital.

Right now she's in hospital again although hopefully coming out soon. She has a number of medical issues and the situation is extremely worrying, I simply cannot be going away right now. I would not enjoy a trip away it would simply be stressful being away, plus my parents very much need me as they have no one else to support them.

So I'd like to cancel. Due to how close the trip is, unfortunately the holiday company has said they cannot allow us to change the dates. So our only option is to cancel outright.

Before I do this and contact our travel insurer, I have read through all the Ts and Cs of the policy. It says cancellation is covered for:

"The death, injury due to an accident, illness, disease, or pregnancy complication of you, your travel companion, your close relative or your colleague."

My mum has multiple illness issues so it is that clause I would be claiming under. Under exclusions, it excludes any illness of a close relative which requires 'treatment'.

My mum has an ongoing progressive condition which we knew about, but which at the time of booking the trip was not affecting her badly nor getting any worse. Clearly this condition falls under the 'exclusions'.

However, as a result of the ongoing medical condition, she has just had a fall and done some serious damage which will take months to recover from. She also has a number of other issues very recently identified, which are NOT related to the ongoing progressive condition.

It is the combined impact of ALL of these issues which is making me not want to travel. It is not unlikely that she could end up in hospital yet again shortly after being discharged, as the situation is very precarious.

I suppose really I'm after any insights from people who have been in a similar situation, as to whether I am likely to have issues with getting cancellation cover paid out or not. The situation is complicated given the multiple medical issues, and whilst the ongoing progressive condition I am quite sure is not covered, the other things have arisen separately since.

Do you have a link to the policy book? 
When are you due to travel?
When did you book the holiday?
When did you buy the policy? If its an annual policy, when did you first buy this product with the supplier without any breaks?

Without seeing the exact terms we can only talk in generality and the problem is that these are terms that vary widely between providers. What will also be critical is ultimately what the doctors are going to say. 

What is the doctors current prognosis?


At the budget end of the market they will simply exclude any condition that the person suffered before the policy was bought. In the theoretical top end you could declare non-travelling family conditions and they can say up front if they are covered or not. Some do however cover pre0existing of non-travelling without declaration as long as there is an unexpected and sudden deterioration. 

Part of your problem, if you did buy the holiday years ago, will be what you should have considered reasonable with the condition over such a long duration. It's easy to say something like Parkinson's probably won't change too much in 3 months but over 2 years its harder to be so certain. 

I agree and am only after General advice at this point  I've purposely not been too specific so as not to be identifiable.

I am clear that the lifelong condition will not be covered, which is fine. But there have since been a number of other, veey recent, additional issues which in isolation probably wouldn't be viewed as serious enough to cancel a holiday.

But in total these issues mean a potentially very bleak and uncertain future and that is the reason I cannot travel right now. It is that which I'm worried about.

There was no option to declare family medical issues when I took out the policy, only my own- which I declared. 

We have no formal prognosis, which is to say, each issue is being referred for specialist teams to look at individually but in reality it is clear that mum could end up.back in hospital again very soon, or worse. It's not like having say cancer , where you get a prognosis and have some formal steer.  It's less clear than that, as lots of separate issues add up to overall a huge impact on mum. 

eDicky

heatherw_01 said:

I hope she declared the medical conditions otherwise they may not cover it as all pre existing conditions must be declared.

Even if she herself was not travelling? It's not specifically stated, but sounds to me like she was not part of the trip...

monty4paws

eskbanker said:

monty4paws said:

It says cancellation is covered for:

"The death, injury due to an accident, illness, disease, or pregnancy complication of you, your travel companion, your close relative or your colleague."

That seems an extraordinarily vague clause that's open to many interpretations, one of which is any illness technically qualifying, but I don't believe for a second that it would pay out if cancelling because a colleague had a cold!

monty4paws said:

We booked a couple of years ago on the trip of a lifetime, costing over £40k. 

Just to check, does the policy definitely cover the full cost of that booking anyway, as most wouldn't?

Yes full amount covered. With an expensive trip like this you buy a main policy, then buy an additional 'top up policy from a separate insurer for the extra. 

The top up policy us very straightforward, it simply pays out if the main insurer pays out.