Zika virus risk and our rights?

noxynova

Good afternoon. 

We booked our late honeymoon in Jan 2025, for December 2025 - travelling to Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

We unexpectedly found out we are pregnant, and I would be around 19-21 weeks when the travel should occur. 

We have travel insurance (only taken out last week, before we found out we were pregnant). 

We are assuming our midwife will tell us not to travel to the above areas because of Zika virus risk to baby. We have currently only paid our deposit for the holiday, not the remaining balance. 

If we had a letter from a medical professional to state they don't advise the travel, is it potentially likely we might be able to claim the deposit back on our holiday? 

Thankyou 

la531983

You would need to read the terms of the travel insurance you purchased.

eskbanker

The holiday booking itself will have a cancellation policy, so you'd need to ascertain what that looks like, but, assuming you're not entitled to a full refund of monies paid, then any further recovery will be dependent on the terms of your travel insurance policy.

Westin

Agree with above replies that you already have received. 

I would not have thought that your wife's pregnancy would give you any special 'rights' to getting a refund on monies paid unless the tour operator's T&C state otherwise.  What might be possible is to change your holiday to another destination or another date or obtain a credit. That said, it will also depend on the airline ticket rules on changes. 

If you are unable to make changes to your holiday, and your travel insurance doesn't cover your circumstances, then you may be faced with losing your holiday deposit.

Congratulations on your news.

Ayr_Rage

Unless there is government advice not to travel then it is highly unlikely that your insurance will cover your disinclination to travel due to the very small risk of contracting the Zika virus.

The devil will be in the detail of the insurance policy.

As for cancellation with the travel company, time to dig out those Ts and Cs too.

Keep_pedalling

I would think that your insurance will not cover this as at the time you took out the policy it was a pre existing condition that would very likely to be showing symptoms at the time you took out the policy. Had you taken out a policy at the time of booking then you would probably be covered. 

TELLIT01

I think any travel insurer will be very suspicious of a situation where a holiday was booked in January but insurance wasn't taken out until several months later and, entirely coincidentally, a couple of days later pregnancy was discovered.  Irrespective of that, I don't see any basis for claiming on insurance without Government recommendation for pregant women not to travel to the area.

MyRealNameToo

noxynova said:

Good afternoon. 

We booked our late honeymoon in Jan 2025, for December 2025 - travelling to Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

We unexpectedly found out we are pregnant, and I would be around 19-21 weeks when the travel should occur. 

We have travel insurance (only taken out last week, before we found out we were pregnant). 

We are assuming our midwife will tell us not to travel to the above areas because of Zika virus risk to baby. We have currently only paid our deposit for the holiday, not the remaining balance. 

If we had a letter from a medical professional to state they don't advise the travel, is it potentially likely we might be able to claim the deposit back on our holiday? 

Presumably only one of you is pregnant?

What does the FCDO give as travel advice at the moment on Zika to the areas you are going to? 

What have you committed to pay as a deposit so far (sometimes this more than you have actually paid) and is that total or per person? What is your per person excess on your insurance?

There are a lot of cases on the Financial Ombudsman website about zika and pregnancy. It seems a reasonable proportion of insurers have initially declined a claim given that pregnancy is ultimately a choice and that simply being pregnant doesnt count as a medical condition in itself. The end result has depended on a number of factors but particular focus is given on the FCDO, where they have stated pregnant women should not travel the complaints have almost always been upheld. Where its been more ambiguous then factors like if they were actively trying to get pregnant etc start getting taken into consideration. 

Being pregnant doesnt give you special cancellation rights but sometime people can be sympathetic so it's worth asking if you could defer the holiday if you'd still be up for going after you have a new born. 

strawb_shortcake

My Niece had a similar issue but different destination. 
They'd booked with TUI and were allowed to change their destination, could this be an option through your travel provider?

NoodleDoodleMan

Keep_pedalling said:

I would think that your insurance will not cover this as at the time you took out the policy it was a pre existing condition that would very likely to be showing symptoms at the time you took out the policy. Had you taken out a policy at the time of booking then you would probably be covered. 

Is pregnancy considered as a standard medical condition to be declared for travel insurance purposes ?

Below is how Google AI responded.

No, pregnancy itself is generally not considered a medical condition by travel insurers and does not need to be declared as a pre-existing condition. However, you must declare any specific complications or related medical conditions arising from the pregnancy. Most travel insurance policies cover unexpected complications like ectopic pregnancies but typically exclude cover for normal childbirth and may have restrictions on coverage for the later stages of pregnancy.

35har1old

Keep_pedalling said:

I would think that your insurance will not cover this as at the time you took out the policy it was a pre existing condition that would very likely to be showing symptoms at the time you took out the policy. Had you taken out a policy at the time of booking then you would probably be covered. 

Pregnancy is not considered a pre existing condition by most insurance companies unless you develop other conditions due to it