Cancelled holiday

Slippin Jimmy · 08-07-2014 9:53am #1

I was supposed to fly out to Spain this morning, but was admitted to hospital last week. Won't be getting out for a few more days. I obviously can't go on the holiday now. I was going to try reschedule it but the company I booked through said that I did not give them enough notice and that I should claim through my travel insurance.

I only bought the insurance about two weeks ago. I rang them up and they refused to answer any of my questions and just said to fill out a claim form. Can anyone tell me if I fill out the form would me and my gf be covered for a claim or just me?

Booked the flights with Ryanair, alpharooms for accommodation, and laya for travel insurance.

zagmund · 08-07-2014 9:57am

Depends on many things, the most important of which is what your policy says. You need to read the policy. There will be a section covering who is insured for what events - this will explain whether it's just you or both of you.

z

Slippin Jimmy · 08-07-2014 10:17am

zagmund wrote: »

Depends on many things, the most important of which is what your policy says. You need to read the policy. There will be a section covering who is insured for what events - this will explain whether it's just you or both of you.

z

Just keeps referring to me in the terms and conditions, it doesn't say if it is both or just me.

Gatica · 09-07-2014 9:59am

What do you mean both? Was the insurance take out for you and for her? If it was taken out just for you, then only you would be covered.
If it was taken out for both of you, then you'd be claiming for cancellation of YOUR holiday, and cancellation of HER holiday. For claims about HER holiday in the T&C there should be a list of people whose relationship to your gf can warrant a claim, e.g. mother, father, son, etc....
As an example, I usually use getcover. Their cover at http://www.getcover.ie/pdfs/travel-policy-document_201406_1.pdf says:

Reasons for Cancellation and Curtailment:
(a) death, accidental bodily injury or unexpected
illness during the period of insurance of you, your
travelling companion, or the person with whom
you have arranged to stay whilst on the trip or your
relative or close business associate;

Travelling Companion
Any named person on your insurance certificate and/or
booking invoice.

Your policy should have something similar.

ger664 · 09-07-2014 10:18am

Why do people leave it so late to get Travel Insurance. 2 weeks before you travel you get insurance. A couple of days later you are in Hospital, sends out all sort of red flags for the Insurance Company when you claim.

schemingbohemia · 09-07-2014 10:24am

From looking at my own insurance policy it would seem that where your travelling companion was taken ill before journey then your own expenses would be covered. Does your girlfriend have travel insurance? If so, then it would seem to me that she is covered on her policy for you falling ill and the holiday being cancelled.

Slippin Jimmy · 09-07-2014 12:14pm

Gatica wrote:

What do you mean both? Was the insurance take out for you and for her? If it was taken out just for you, then only you would be covered. If it was taken out for both of you, then you'd be claiming for cancellation of YOUR holiday, and cancellation of HER holiday. For claims about HER holiday in the T&C there should be a list of people whose relationship to your gf can warrant a claim, e.g. mother, father, son, etc.... As an example, I usually use getcover. Their cover at

When I took it out I took it out for both of us. I have all the letters from the doctors so I am going to send it off and see how it goes. The reason I asked the question was because I have heard of similar stories where the insurance company would only cover the person that was sick and not the other person because they could technically still make use of the holiday.

Slippin Jimmy · 09-07-2014 12:18pm

ger664 wrote:

Why do people leave it so late to get Travel Insurance. 2 weeks before you travel you get insurance. A couple of days later you are in Hospital, sends out all sort of red flags for the Insurance Company when you claim.

I didn't realize I needed to buy it months and months in advance. But it shouldn't matter because I bought the insurance before I was taken to hospital. The letters the doctor have wrote and the certs will show this.

Gatica · 09-07-2014 12:28pm

Duffff-Man wrote: »

When I took it out I took it out for both of us. I have all the letters from the doctors so I am going to send it off and see how it goes. The reason I asked the question was because I have heard of similar stories where the insurance company would only cover the person that was sick and not the other person because they could technically still make use of the holiday.

That would depend entirely on the insurance policy that was taken out. The reason everyone keeps referring you to your policy is because there's no way for someone here to guess whether your policy covers illness of travelling companion, it may, it may not. As I showed above, getcover for example does cover that. If you read your policy, it should have a section which tells you if it covers only own illness or illness of companion as well. If it does cover it, then there's not much they can hide behind when you make you claim.
It doesn't matter when you took out insurance, as long as it was before the incident preventing your travel or before it was known to you or made known (e.g. strikes) that something would affect travel, e.g. you couldn't claim if you knew you'd have to go in for an operation.

Slippin Jimmy · 09-07-2014 12:47pm

I've looked over the policy and it says that it covers "you" if the holiday is cancelled due to illness etc. The insurance company would not tell me if this applies to just me or also to my gf who is also named on the policy. I'll just fill out the forms and go from there. Thanks for your help.

Tangey99 · 09-07-2014 2:20pm

Yeah, but does it say that "you" are cover if the holiday is cancelled due to "your" illness, or just due to illness ?

09-07-2014 2:25pm

"you" are those named on the policy.

Did you buy multi trip or single trip?

If you bought multitrip - did you start it from the day of purchase, or the day of travel?

ger664 · 09-07-2014 5:14pm

Duffff-Man wrote: »

I didn't realize I needed to buy it months and months in advance. But it shouldn't matter because I bought the insurance before I was taken to hospital. The letters the doctor have wrote and the certs will show this.

You should always get travel insurance the minute you book flights and accommodation, happened me when my father died. I left the insurance till a week before travel, he passed away 3 or 4 days later. I had to get all sorts of letters etc to prove he wasn't terminal when I took out the insurance. They made me jump through hopes and then refused to payout. I had to appeal the decision before I got my claim sorted.

Slippin Jimmy · 09-07-2014 9:15pm

Deleted User wrote:

If you bought multitrip - did you start it from the day of purchase, or the day of travel?

It was just single insurance for that holiday.

Slippin Jimmy · 09-07-2014 9:18pm

ger664 wrote:

You should always get travel insurance the minute you book flights and accommodation, happened me when my father died. I left the insurance till a week before travel, he passed away 3 or 4 days later. I had to get all sorts of letters etc to prove he wasn't terminal when I took out the insurance. They made me jump through hopes and then refused to payout. I had to appeal the decision before I got my claim sorted.

I have a feeling I will be in the same boat as you. I will certainly buy the insurance straight away next time. Thanks for your advice.

Cancelled holiday

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