FCO advises against travel but tour and flights still going ahead

spookycooky

Hi all,

My first post on here so please bare with me if I take a while to get back to responses...

I'm due to travel to Madagascar in a couple of weeks, holiday (flights and tour, booked separately) and insurance has been sorted months ago. Alas, the country has gone into Civil Unrest with FCO advising "essential travel only" for UK citizens to the country. I have a few questions that I'd like help answering as I'm finding the tour operator I've booked with and my insurance wording a bit confusing:

1. I've booked a tour with Intrepid Travel. I've never had issues with them before, they are a great company but they are based in Australia (they do have a UK office and I believe they are ATOL protected for package flights, but I just booked a tour through them). They are stating the tour I have booked on is still going ahead, as other countries (AUS, NZ, US) are not advising against travel to Madagascar, only to "reconsider travel", so the majority of travellers are still going on the tour. It's too late for me to cancel and get a refund (as it is outside of their window for cancellation policy) but they have offered credit to use on this specific tour in the future.

As FCO are advising I can't travel, and the tour requires I have insurance to join it, should I not also be offered the option of a refund, seeing as if I do travel to join the tour, my insurance would be invalidated? (I did ask the tour operator this and they said I could join them on this occasion without insurance, but it would be at my own risk - this is not in writing just from a phone call I had with them when asking for advice).

For info, Intrepid T&Cs on insurance state:
"16. Travel insurance Travel insurance is mandatory for all our travellers and must be taken out at the time of booking.  Your travel insurance must provide cover against personal accident, death, medical expenses and emergency repatriation with a recommended minimum coverage of US$200,000 (or GBP equivalent) for each of the categories of cover. We also strongly recommend it covers cancellation, curtailment, personal liability and loss of luggage and personal effects. You must provide your travel insurance policy number and the insurance company's 24-hour emergency contact number on the first day of your trip; you will not be able to join the trip without these details. "

2. Flight to Madagascar has a stopover in Ethiopia, this leg of the journey is still operating daily as usual so doesn't look like it will get cancelled. I know I won't get a refund through Ethiopian Airlines but I also think I won't be able to claim anything on my insurance. My insurance is with Coverwise, and I take it I won't be able to claim anything from them as at the start of the policy it states:

"We will not pay for claims arising directly or indirectly from:

1. War risks, civil commotion and terrorism War, invasion, acts of foreign enemies, hostilities or warlike operations (whether war be declared or not), civil war, rebellion, terrorism, revolution, insurrection, civil commotion assuming the proportions of or amounting to an uprising, military or usurped power but this exclusion shall not apply to losses under Section B – Emergency medical and other expenses and Section C – Hospital benefit unless such losses are caused by nuclear, chemical or biological"

Have I interpreted this correctly?

3. My flight out of Madagascar was meant to be onwards to Seychelles for a short beach break but that's with Emirates and they are cancelling flights (they've cancelled everything up until today, so presume they will continue to cancel until things ease up in the country). I believe I will at least get this portion of money back from Emirates. Same as above, I take it my insurance won't cover me cancelling my flight from Seychelles (via Ethiopia) back to the UK as it is direct result of the civil unrest in Madagascar.

Again, have I interpreted my insurance policy correctly here?

I could fly directly to Seychelles from UK and just enjoy the short break, but it is just 5 days, and is a long way to travel now that the Madagascar portion of the trip is unlikely to go ahead and would require booking new flights from the UK. I'm a bit stressed by this situation as all in all I'm looking to be about £4k down (although a large portion of that will at least be wrapped up in credit to visit Madagascar one day in the future).

Any advice would be appreciated, thank you!

MyRealNameToo

Technically the FCDO are advising you shouldn't travel, not that you can't. 

Have you spoken to Coverwise? I know in other circumstances the Financial Ombudsman has generally ruled that insurers should pay out for cancellation due to a destination becoming a no go area by the FCDO even if not explicitly covered by the terms due to cover being excluded if traveling against FCDO advice. See https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-3193498.pdf as an example.

There are insurer that will cover travel against advice though, BattleFace being one (not a recommendation) though note that the reason for the advice itself is still excluded. So trip and fall and you're covered, get shot by police by accident as you're in a protest and you won't be. This may still give you problems with the return flight though. 

spookycooky

Thanks for the information and link, very useful. I've since had my tour cancelled (and they've offered a full refund) but my flights reinstated...so I've just cancelled the flights as it's a much smaller loss overall. I will contact Coverwise! 

Tim_L

Bit late to this, but I'd just say that it's always a bad idea to actively cancel unless you get a refund, since there is always the chance (and likelihood in this case) the airline will cancel. Shame for the trip, I went to Madagascar this year and it's a wonderful place.