Travel insurance when booking flights and accommodation separately

l.c.elliott

I am looking to book for us to go on holiday next year. My son has additional needs so due to this, we find package holidays don't really meet his needs, so I like to buy flights and accommodation separately.

Today I was chatting to someone who warned me to be careful, as apparently travel insurance wouldn't pay out if there was an issue with the flight that affected us staying in the accommodation, and vice versa. For example, she said that if there were an issue with the return flight eg it was cancelled and we had to wait the following day for a flight, the insurance wouldn't cover additional accommodation for the extra unexpected night.

Does anyone know how much true there is to this? I don't want to book flights and accommodation separately and then get my insurance as soon as I've booked only to find we won't have certain cover in certain situations. I don't want to feel coerced into buying a package holiday even though it's not right for us (and often more expensive than buying flights and accommodation separately).

DullGreyGuy

l.c.elliott said:

I am looking to book for us to go on holiday next year. My son has additional needs so due to this, we find package holidays don't really meet his needs, so I like to buy flights and accommodation separately.

Today I was chatting to someone who warned me to be careful, as apparently travel insurance wouldn't pay out if there was an issue with the flight that affected us staying in the accommodation, and vice versa. For example, she said that if there were an issue with the return flight eg it was cancelled and we had to wait the following day for a flight, the insurance wouldn't cover additional accommodation for the extra unexpected night.

Does anyone know how much true there is to this? I don't want to book flights and accommodation separately and then get my insurance as soon as I've booked only to find we won't have certain cover in certain situations. I don't want to feel coerced into buying a package holiday even though it's not right for us (and often more expensive than buying flights and accommodation separately).

Firstly remember that just buying flights and accommodation together is considered a "package", not just things advertised by traditional package holiday sellers. Unless you are wanting an AirB&B or such it's fairly likely after finding the hotel you want that you will find someone who sells both flights and stays at that hotel. 

Insurance will cover insured perils and this is where the problem is, so you get sick just before your holiday and cannot go, the insurance will cover any unrecoverable costs irrespective if you bought a package holiday or separates. However, lets say your airline goes bust instead, thats not covered by most insurers these days and therefore there is no cover for the accommodation whereas with a package with one being cancelled the other can be too. 

These can be significantly mitigated by at least booking accommodation that can be cancelled, depending on your choice of stay it may make it a little more expensive or a lot more expensive. 

l.c.elliott

DullGreyGuy said:

l.c.elliott said:

I am looking to book for us to go on holiday next year. My son has additional needs so due to this, we find package holidays don't really meet his needs, so I like to buy flights and accommodation separately.

Today I was chatting to someone who warned me to be careful, as apparently travel insurance wouldn't pay out if there was an issue with the flight that affected us staying in the accommodation, and vice versa. For example, she said that if there were an issue with the return flight eg it was cancelled and we had to wait the following day for a flight, the insurance wouldn't cover additional accommodation for the extra unexpected night.

Does anyone know how much true there is to this? I don't want to book flights and accommodation separately and then get my insurance as soon as I've booked only to find we won't have certain cover in certain situations. I don't want to feel coerced into buying a package holiday even though it's not right for us (and often more expensive than buying flights and accommodation separately).

Firstly remember that just buying flights and accommodation together is considered a "package", not just things advertised by traditional package holiday sellers. Unless you are wanting an AirB&B or such it's fairly likely after finding the hotel you want that you will find someone who sells both flights and stays at that hotel. 

Insurance will cover insured perils and this is where the problem is, so you get sick just before your holiday and cannot go, the insurance will cover any unrecoverable costs irrespective if you bought a package holiday or separates. However, lets say your airline goes bust instead, thats not covered by most insurers these days and therefore there is no cover for the accommodation whereas with a package with one being cancelled the other can be too. 

These can be significantly mitigated by at least booking accommodation that can be cancelled, depending on your choice of stay it may make it a little more expensive or a lot more expensive. 

Thanks for your reply, we would be booking with British airways so highly unlikely they will go bust 😅 never say never I suppose!
It is actually the case that we do sometimes choose airbnb, can that cause issues when it comes to insurance if there is an issue? Or is it the non-cancellable aspect?

DullGreyGuy

l.c.elliott said:

DullGreyGuy said:

l.c.elliott said:

I am looking to book for us to go on holiday next year. My son has additional needs so due to this, we find package holidays don't really meet his needs, so I like to buy flights and accommodation separately.

Today I was chatting to someone who warned me to be careful, as apparently travel insurance wouldn't pay out if there was an issue with the flight that affected us staying in the accommodation, and vice versa. For example, she said that if there were an issue with the return flight eg it was cancelled and we had to wait the following day for a flight, the insurance wouldn't cover additional accommodation for the extra unexpected night.

Does anyone know how much true there is to this? I don't want to book flights and accommodation separately and then get my insurance as soon as I've booked only to find we won't have certain cover in certain situations. I don't want to feel coerced into buying a package holiday even though it's not right for us (and often more expensive than buying flights and accommodation separately).

Firstly remember that just buying flights and accommodation together is considered a "package", not just things advertised by traditional package holiday sellers. Unless you are wanting an AirB&B or such it's fairly likely after finding the hotel you want that you will find someone who sells both flights and stays at that hotel. 

Insurance will cover insured perils and this is where the problem is, so you get sick just before your holiday and cannot go, the insurance will cover any unrecoverable costs irrespective if you bought a package holiday or separates. However, lets say your airline goes bust instead, thats not covered by most insurers these days and therefore there is no cover for the accommodation whereas with a package with one being cancelled the other can be too. 

These can be significantly mitigated by at least booking accommodation that can be cancelled, depending on your choice of stay it may make it a little more expensive or a lot more expensive. 

Thanks for your reply, we would be booking with British airways so highly unlikely they will go bust 😅 never say never I suppose!
It is actually the case that we do sometimes choose airbnb, can that cause issues when it comes to insurance if there is an issue? Or is it the non-cancellable aspect?

No, its just you cannot combine AirBNB with a flight whereas were you to select a hotel then its fairly likely you could look to book both through British Airways Holidays and thus have a package. Clearly you'd want to price it up -v- buying from different suppliers to see what price difference there is and if thats worth it for the added protection. 

Just read through the policy book and ensure you are comfortable with the perils covered for cancellation or delay remembering anything not listed isnt covered... financial failure is only one possible scenario but its the most obvious one where a package would respond 

l.c.elliott

DullGreyGuy said:

l.c.elliott said:

DullGreyGuy said:

l.c.elliott said:

I am looking to book for us to go on holiday next year. My son has additional needs so due to this, we find package holidays don't really meet his needs, so I like to buy flights and accommodation separately.

Today I was chatting to someone who warned me to be careful, as apparently travel insurance wouldn't pay out if there was an issue with the flight that affected us staying in the accommodation, and vice versa. For example, she said that if there were an issue with the return flight eg it was cancelled and we had to wait the following day for a flight, the insurance wouldn't cover additional accommodation for the extra unexpected night.

Does anyone know how much true there is to this? I don't want to book flights and accommodation separately and then get my insurance as soon as I've booked only to find we won't have certain cover in certain situations. I don't want to feel coerced into buying a package holiday even though it's not right for us (and often more expensive than buying flights and accommodation separately).

Firstly remember that just buying flights and accommodation together is considered a "package", not just things advertised by traditional package holiday sellers. Unless you are wanting an AirB&B or such it's fairly likely after finding the hotel you want that you will find someone who sells both flights and stays at that hotel. 

Insurance will cover insured perils and this is where the problem is, so you get sick just before your holiday and cannot go, the insurance will cover any unrecoverable costs irrespective if you bought a package holiday or separates. However, lets say your airline goes bust instead, thats not covered by most insurers these days and therefore there is no cover for the accommodation whereas with a package with one being cancelled the other can be too. 

These can be significantly mitigated by at least booking accommodation that can be cancelled, depending on your choice of stay it may make it a little more expensive or a lot more expensive. 

Thanks for your reply, we would be booking with British airways so highly unlikely they will go bust 😅 never say never I suppose!
It is actually the case that we do sometimes choose airbnb, can that cause issues when it comes to insurance if there is an issue? Or is it the non-cancellable aspect?

No, its just you cannot combine AirBNB with a flight whereas were you to select a hotel then its fairly likely you could look to book both through British Airways Holidays and thus have a package. Clearly you'd want to price it up -v- buying from different suppliers to see what price difference there is and if thats worth it for the added protection. 

Just read through the policy book and ensure you are comfortable with the perils covered for cancellation or delay remembering anything not listed isnt covered... financial failure is only one possible scenario but its the most obvious one where a package would respond 

Thank you, I never buy accommodation through the same operator as the airline cos the accommodation still isn't suitable. So that's why I go through airbnb or booking.com or similar. Hopefully there will be some insurance somewhere that will cover us when buying flights and accommodation separately even if I have to pay more for the 'gold' package or whatever, I'm happy to do so.

DullGreyGuy

l.c.elliott said:

DullGreyGuy said:

l.c.elliott said:

DullGreyGuy said:

l.c.elliott said:

I am looking to book for us to go on holiday next year. My son has additional needs so due to this, we find package holidays don't really meet his needs, so I like to buy flights and accommodation separately.

Today I was chatting to someone who warned me to be careful, as apparently travel insurance wouldn't pay out if there was an issue with the flight that affected us staying in the accommodation, and vice versa. For example, she said that if there were an issue with the return flight eg it was cancelled and we had to wait the following day for a flight, the insurance wouldn't cover additional accommodation for the extra unexpected night.

Does anyone know how much true there is to this? I don't want to book flights and accommodation separately and then get my insurance as soon as I've booked only to find we won't have certain cover in certain situations. I don't want to feel coerced into buying a package holiday even though it's not right for us (and often more expensive than buying flights and accommodation separately).

Firstly remember that just buying flights and accommodation together is considered a "package", not just things advertised by traditional package holiday sellers. Unless you are wanting an AirB&B or such it's fairly likely after finding the hotel you want that you will find someone who sells both flights and stays at that hotel. 

Insurance will cover insured perils and this is where the problem is, so you get sick just before your holiday and cannot go, the insurance will cover any unrecoverable costs irrespective if you bought a package holiday or separates. However, lets say your airline goes bust instead, thats not covered by most insurers these days and therefore there is no cover for the accommodation whereas with a package with one being cancelled the other can be too. 

These can be significantly mitigated by at least booking accommodation that can be cancelled, depending on your choice of stay it may make it a little more expensive or a lot more expensive. 

Thanks for your reply, we would be booking with British airways so highly unlikely they will go bust 😅 never say never I suppose!
It is actually the case that we do sometimes choose airbnb, can that cause issues when it comes to insurance if there is an issue? Or is it the non-cancellable aspect?

No, its just you cannot combine AirBNB with a flight whereas were you to select a hotel then its fairly likely you could look to book both through British Airways Holidays and thus have a package. Clearly you'd want to price it up -v- buying from different suppliers to see what price difference there is and if thats worth it for the added protection. 

Just read through the policy book and ensure you are comfortable with the perils covered for cancellation or delay remembering anything not listed isnt covered... financial failure is only one possible scenario but its the most obvious one where a package would respond 

Thank you, I never buy accommodation through the same operator as the airline cos the accommodation still isn't suitable. So that's why I go through airbnb or booking.com or similar. Hopefully there will be some insurance somewhere that will cover us when buying flights and accommodation separately even if I have to pay more for the 'gold' package or whatever, I'm happy to do so.

Well booking.com do flights so you can package via them. 

No need to pay for a higher tier just because you are booking it separately

elsien

The advices to look at travel insurance that covers consequential loss. Something I’ve not really been able to find. 

You have to trawl through all the different providers just to find out they won’t cover what you want anyway. This may be one where a broker could be worth paying for?

Having a cancellable booking probably isn’t going to help if things go pear-shaped at short notice because you normally have to confirm it within a specific time period before you travel which is no use if your flight doesn’t go on the day.

Bigphil1474

OP, if you go through AirBnB, look for places you can cancel late on. Some allow cancellations up to the day before. At least if you can do that, you'll save yourself a bit if your flight is cancelled.
It's worth looking at somewhere like Expedia which has ATOL cover if you book flight and accommodation at the same time. I'd suspect most of the others are similar. You need to book both elements through the same company at the same time to basically make your own package to get the extra protection. 

DullGreyGuy

elsien said:

Having a cancellable booking probably isn’t going to help if things go pear-shaped at short notice because you normally have to confirm it within a specific time period before you travel which is no use if your flight doesn’t go on the day.

Depends on the period, most hotels we book require at most 24hrs notice, some can be as little as 4pm on the day. 

So sure, if my 8pm flight is cancelled at the gate I lose one nights stay but I can cancel the rest of my stay with the 24hrs notice. It's not the case that if the 14 night stay has started that you cannot cancel any of it. 

sheramber

Anything that affected only flights or only accommodation would  not cover the other part of the holiday.

If your booked flight was cancelled at the last minute and there was no alternative flight available your accommodation is still available so there would not be any claim for refund of accommodation costs.  

If your accommodation was flooded  the day before travelled and no longer available. You may not have anywhere to stay so   do not travel.  
Your flights would still be available  so there would not be any claim for the flight costs

DullGreyGuy

sheramber said:

If your booked flight was cancelled at the last minute and there was no alternative flight available your accommodation is still available so there would not be any claim for refund of accommodation costs.  

But you could on the insurance, less any compensation paid by the airline.