Request refund for fights

iceman786

Hi
I purchased tickets via Skyscanner to travel to Pakistan. We live in Kashmir & it is advised by FCDO to not travel there unless emergency. The travel agent has advised the tickets are not cancellable & they can only refund minimal amount airport taxes or fuel taxes. Can I take out travel insurance now & request remining amount of what I've paid even though I have requested a refund already from travel agent. We don't fly until next month.
Thanks

Brie

travel insurance won't cover a risk that is already known when you take out the policy and won't cover you simply cancelling.

I would have thought your best bet was to wait it out and hope that the flight is cancelled by the airline thus making it necessary to refund your money.

flaneurs_lobster

You can't get insurance cover - for travel or for anything else - for an event that has already occurred.

So no, buying insurance cover in this case would be a waste of money.

Exodi

No, you can't take out travel insurance for an event that has already occurred - that would be bonkers!

This applies to all forms of insurance, it completely defies the point of insurance.

You pay a relatively small amount each month for your home insurance in case your house falls down. In reality most peoples houses won't fall down so you and most other people will pay a small mount each month for nothing. However very rarely, someone will have their house fall down so all of the other people will have effectively paid to rebuild it.

Same concept with health insurance, car insurance, etc.

The model doesn't work if people only take out insurance when they want to claim.

iceman786

The event is still happening, ongoing situation.

The airline won't cancel the flight either as it lands in Pakistan & the dispute is in Kashmir.

Just going to lose out. I can change date but they won't let me move further 12 months from booking date.

Exodi

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82061436#Comment_82061436

I understand now, then I'm not sure what you expect from the airline. The flight is not cancelled and the destination is not under travel restrictions. It sounds like the restrictions are relevant to an entirely separate (to them) part of your journey.

There are travel restrictions against many regions of many countries, but presuming you're not physically flying into one then it is not their problem. I presume even if you had travel insurance before the restriction, it would not cover the flight in this situation (though I could be wrong and I guess it depends on how you were getting to Kashmir).

Egypt has travel restrictions within 20km of the Egypt-Libya border, but that didn't stop us and 1.5 million other tourists enjoying an all inclusive holiday to Egypt last month.

Personally I think allowing you to move it 12 months from the booking date is very reasonable (I believe they would have been within their rights to do nothing?), I think it's a bit defeatist to look at that you're "just going to lose out", why can't you go later?

iceman786

kids in school so anything apart from summer holiday is difficult.

Also Kashmir doesn't have it's own airport, everyone has to fly into Pakistan first.

Thanks for clarifying, just bad timing. Normally never any issues.

eskbanker

We live in Kashmir & it is advised by FCDO to not travel there unless emergency

If you live there, what's the relevance of the UK government's view?

iceman786

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82061482#Comment_82061482

you tell me, you bought it up?

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82061489#Comment_82061489

Perhaps you misunderstood, the point was that if you're just visiting the UK and are planning your return home, I'm not sure why you'd feel bound by the UK government's advice?

iceman786

Could it be that you just assumed that I'm not a British Citizen because I said we live there?