Cancellation due to pregnancy - Zika/Dengue

MJC90

Hi all

I booked a safari holiday to Tanzania, followed by a hotel stay in Zanzibar. This was all booked and paid at the beginning of May. We were due to fly on 11th June.

Last week we had the most exciting news that we were pregnant. Upon visiting the travel clinic, they have advised us it's not safe to travel due to Zika and Dengue. I contacted the Travel Agent, who advised we're past the cancellation period, so I can't cancel without excessive fees.

I then contacted Allianz - Worldwide Travel Insurance through my Lloyds Bank Account. They have advised that Tanzania is safe to travel as per - (link removed) gov website for foreign travel advice to Tanzania - so therefore my claim would be declined. I don't understand how we can be told by medical professionals not to travel, but there's no advice from FCDO regarding pregnant travellers to Tanzania, so this seems like a loophole for the insurance company to get out of helping us.

I've tried to cancel the holiday but the travel agent is saying everything is non-refundable. I don't understand how this is possible... When I contact the airline directly, they've advised there's a £150 cancellation charge per traveller as look as it's cancelled before 14 days, we're at day 15 so should be fine. When contacting the hotel, there's no charge as long as it's cancelled more than 24 hours before the stay, so again, should be no problem. I've checked the safari cancellation terms and between 7-21 days before, there's a 50% cancellation charge (which is excessive, but it is what it is). Why are these terms not passed on to us? Should they be?

Does anyone have any advise or guidance for me to try to recover as much money as possible from this holiday please? 

Thanks in advance

Matt

Ayr_Rage

Your contract is with the travel agent and the rates/cancellation terms will not be the same as if you have booked direct with the airline, hotels and the safari operator.

An unexpected pregnancy is not covered by most insurers.

DullGreyGuy

MJC90 said:

Hi all

I booked a safari holiday to Tanzania, followed by a hotel stay in Zanzibar. This was all booked and paid at the beginning of May. We were due to fly on 11th June.

Last week we had the most exciting news that we were pregnant. Upon visiting the travel clinic, they have advised us it's not safe to travel due to Zika and Dengue. I contacted the Travel Agent, who advised we're past the cancellation period, so I can't cancel without excessive fees.

I then contacted Allianz - Worldwide Travel Insurance through my Lloyds Bank Account. They have advised that Tanzania is safe to travel as per - (link removed) gov website for foreign travel advice to Tanzania - so therefore my claim would be declined. I don't understand how we can be told by medical professionals not to travel, but there's no advice from FCDO regarding pregnant travellers to Tanzania, so this seems like a loophole for the insurance company to get out of helping us.

I've tried to cancel the holiday but the travel agent is saying everything is non-refundable. I don't understand how this is possible... When I contact the airline directly, they've advised there's a £150 cancellation charge per traveller as look as it's cancelled before 14 days, we're at day 15 so should be fine. When contacting the hotel, there's no charge as long as it's cancelled more than 24 hours before the stay, so again, should be no problem. I've checked the safari cancellation terms and between 7-21 days before, there's a 50% cancellation charge (which is excessive, but it is what it is). Why are these terms not passed on to us? Should they be?

Does anyone have any advise or guidance for me to try to recover as much money as possible from this holiday please? 

Pregnancy is seen as a choice, if the holiday is more important to you then you technically have options not to proceed with the pregnancy.  Normal pregnancy is excluded from insurance because of this, if the pregnancy goes wrong then insurance will react. 

When booking holidays you often have a choice, pay for a non-cancellable flight, hotel etc and get a reasonable price or pay a premium to have cancellation rights, with flights and some airlines it can be more than double the price to have these options hence most people go with the cannot be cancelled option. 

There is a big difference between terms when you book directly and terms when you book via a tour operator etc. They often prebook rooms and seats on a no cancellation basis a year or more in advance based on their anticipated sales which they cannot later cancel if either they fail to sell all the slots or a customer pulls out. It's ultimately how they make their profit as the gap between self booking and tour operator is often small and yet the tour operator has a load of overheads to cover. 

Keep_pedalling

I don’t either of those locations currently have recorded cases of either disease, Asia, southern and central America are the current hotspots. 

DullGreyGuy

Keep_pedalling said:

I don’t either of those locations currently have recorded cases of either disease, Asia, southern and central America are the current hotspots. 

Zika, according to the CDC, has been in neighbouring countries but Tanzania itself is listed as having the mosquitos that are susceptible to it but no recoded cases of infection. 

Dengue, according to the CDC, is a continuous or frequent risk in Tanzania but they are not recommending any additional precautions for it outside of Sudan in Africa. 

Overall the only thing with an enhanced warning in Tanzania is MPox https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/tanzania

The obvious issue however is that these are unpleasant illnesses in adults but are something you recover from normally, their impact on foetuses can be much more long lasting. So low risk but higher impact

stuhse

Welcome to parenthood, its challenging and expensive, and for you looks like the expense bit starts now.  But don't worry the hardest part is just the first 18 years.

Flugelhorn

stuhse said:

Welcome to parenthood, its challenging and expensive, and for you looks like the expense bit starts now.  But don't worry the hardest part is just the first 18 years.

are you really sure it gets easier after that? felt like it got more expensive!

MJC90

Ayr_Rage said:

Your contract is with the travel agent and the rates/cancellation terms will not be the same as if you have booked direct with the airline, hotels and the safari operator.

An unexpected pregnancy is not covered by most insurers.

The problem isn't the pregnancy, it's the risk of Zika/Dengue the pregnancy and my partner.

My insurance covers being advised not to travel due to medical grounds, the issue is that the information given by GP/Midwife/Pharmacist, isn't reflected on the FCDO website, however it is on TravelHealthPro, FitForTravel etc. 

Flugelhorn

MJC90 said:

Ayr_Rage said:

Your contract is with the travel agent and the rates/cancellation terms will not be the same as if you have booked direct with the airline, hotels and the safari operator.

An unexpected pregnancy is not covered by most insurers.

The problem isn't the pregnancy, it's the risk of Zika/Dengue the pregnancy and my partner.

My insurance covers being advised not to travel due to medical grounds, the issue is that the information given by GP/Midwife/Pharmacist, isn't reflected on the FCDO website, however it is on TravelHealthPro, FitForTravel etc. 

I think you will still find it difficult with the insurance company, they would probably only respond if someone was considered "not fit to fly" and TBH some pretty ill people can get on aircraft.

If they paid out because of pregnancy and the risk of catching disease abroad, they would probably start excluding all women from 15-50 from their insurance cover 

NoodleDoodleMan

"The problem isn't the pregnancy, it's the risk of Zika/Dengue the pregnancy and my partner."

Surely it's the pregnancy AND the risk of Kika/Dengue ?

The former apparently can have serious consequences for unborn children, the latter less so, however still liable to be an issue in some cases.

Going against expert medical advice would be a serious error of judgement IMO.

TELLIT01

Travel insurers will go by the advice of the FCO regarding safety of travelling to a destination.  If there is no advice against travel they will not pay out.