Travel insurance - terminal relative at home

jenga-jen

As the title says, I'm due to travel next week and I'm trying to find travel insurance. So far, I can't find any that don't exclude cancellation due to a pre-existing terminal diagnosis of a close relative. Hoping that it won't happen as soon as that but would love peace of mind that, if it does, there's a way to get home if needs be...

If it's just the way things are that's fine. Just wanted to check and see if anyone knew of cover I'd be able to get? I have private health insurance as well btw.

tatli_lokma

I looked into this myself as my dad is quite elderly with several pre-existing conditions. The short answer is no, you won't get cover. It's all about risk mitigation on the part of the insurance companies.

In future, the only safe guard you can have is to book via a travel agent, preferably a holiday with a rep or office at the destination. You will still have to pay to return home, but at least you will have some assistance in sorting out flights etc.

athtrasna

Probably too late now but don't book the cheapest flights in these situations. Book flexible tickets that can be easily changed. You still lose out on accommodation though

munchkin_utd

athtrasna wrote: »

Probably too late now but don't book the cheapest flights in these situations. Book flexible tickets that can be easily changed. You still lose out on accommodation though

not necessarily.
If you book through hrs.com for example, you can often get very good deals on accomodation that are cancellable till 6pm on the day you are due to stay.

and similarily for car hire, you can book through auroeurope and they will allow you to cancel for no extra charge up to the day of hire (but once started you must pay for the entire hire period)

and for travel, should you only be in Britain you can get back last minute using a sail rail deal for next to nothing.

so even without insurance you can be smart about what youre doing to limit any damage should the worst happen.

tricky D

Some insurances packages allow for Holiday Abandonment, Curtailed Travel and the like. Eg. http://www.aaireland.ie/AA/Insurance/Travel-Insurance/Summary-Of-Cover.aspx Section I. Read the Terms and Conditions very carefully on this as there is a good deal of variation in policies and it would advised to ring to make extra sure of the type and extent of cover.

My folks had to cancel a holiday a few years ago when my mother fell ill. Most of the costs were refunded even including RyanAir flight costs!

schemingbohemia

tricky D wrote: »

Some insurances packages allow for Holiday Abandonment, Curtailed Travel and the like. Eg. http://www.aaireland.ie/AA/Insurance/Travel-Insurance/Summary-Of-Cover.aspx Section I. Read the Terms and Conditions very carefully on this as there is a good deal of variation in policies and it would advised to ring to make extra sure of the type and extent of cover.

My folks had to cancel a holiday a few years ago when my mother fell ill. Most of the costs were refunded even including RyanAir flight costs!

But in your parents case, it was one of the people covered by the insurance that became ill, the OPs case is with regard to someone not covered by the policy.

tatli_lokma

tricky D wrote: »

Some insurances packages allow for Holiday Abandonment, Curtailed Travel and the like. Eg. http://www.aaireland.ie/AA/Insurance/Travel-Insurance/Summary-Of-Cover.aspx Section I. Read the Terms and Conditions very carefully on this as there is a good deal of variation in policies and it would advised to ring to make extra sure of the type and extent of cover.

My folks had to cancel a holiday a few years ago when my mother fell ill. Most of the costs were refunded even including RyanAir flight costs!

This is only the case in general terms of insurance - most policies allow for the things you mention (Abandonment, curtailment etc) but specify that exclusions to this are certain pre-existing conditions of the insurance holder and/or their immediate family.

In my experience, where I literally phoned every insurance provider and underwriter I could think of, not one of them would cover for return home in the case where my father got ill. I was even prepared to pay an increased premium, but this was not an option as they would just not cover in those circumstances. They will however cover you for other issues, but it's just that if the person with the pre-existing condition should get ill, they will not repatriate you etc.

There is of course the option to take out insurance and just not say anything but in those cases you run the risk that if you do need to get home quickly the insurance company will want something from a doctor to confirm the condition. If they even get a sniff that it was pre-existing they will only add to the stress you will experience rather than alleviate it.

My experience has been to accept the fact that my insurance covers us to return home for any general reason listed in the policy, but if my dad gets ill it will be at our own cost. As a result, recent travel has taken this into account and been to places which are a) easy to get home from and b) relatively cheap in case we have to cancel/abandon. In addition , as munchkin_utd advises, I try as much as possible to book flex fares (if it is more practical, but sometimes the cheap flights are so cheap it is worth a punt), book accommodation which can be cancelled up to last minute etc.

jenga-jen

Thanks so much for all of the help and replies. In the end I just went with AIB travel insurance since they have a Compassionate Return section. It doesn't specify an exclusion if the relative has a pre-diagnosed terminal condition, just that you cannot have known you'd need to return when you took out the policy. That said, it might not work but it was the closest I could find to it.

Fingers crossed I won't need it. Thanks again

tricky D

schemingbohemia wrote: »

But in your parents case, it was one of the people covered by the insurance that became ill, the OPs case is with regard to someone not covered by the policy.

It also applied to my sister and her family when my father was taken off all medication, food and treatment ie. 100% likelihood of death within days. They didn't get any refund on accommodation but additional flight for my sister and any other charges for changing bookings for the rest of the family (they had the car) were covered.

So there are potentially some options, but I'd always recommend making sure before the cover is taken.