this short sightedness astounds me.. If you do not have insurance in place when you book your holiday ..if it goes base over apex you will loose everything [unless paid by credit card] the ehc doesn't cover if you need repatriation after an accident, airline baggage payments may just cover the cost of the case ..it will certainly NOT cover the cost of the contents.. and so it goes on

with insurance you get what you pay for [ or in the case of many free with account policies you don't get what you haven't paid for]
if you travel or book a holiday without sufficient cover then moor fool you [as my old mother use to say]

a totally bemused
wizard

I do wonder why people constantly view travel insurance as something they only need when they go to a foreign country. It is what it says and the cover applies here in the UK as well as abroad. Many people take short breaks and whilst we consider that we can be home in a few hours you can still claim. It is what it says and the cover applies here in the UK as well as abroad. The important thing to do is read what it covers and if a particular policy does not suit your requirements then don't buy that one. You do that with home and car insurance, why not travel?

We have only had to claim once when FIL died suddenly. At least we got our money back and booked another holiday on the proceeds.

fwh

Jacky, I recently read something on the insurance front which made me think twice.

If you get taken ill abroad in the EU you are covered by the ehic, likewise if you have an accident, however there are things that are not covered such as the basic getting you back home afterwards if you miss the scheduled flight due to the hospital stay. For the sake of a tenner you could be looking at expensive air travel as you have to fly immediately or find accommodation so there are no deals etc. Could be worse if you actually break something.

On the baggage front, I have been caught out by that one. My home insurance covered personal possessions, ie the baggage, unless it was in the care of the carriers, ie checked in, or on the coach.
Conversely the carriers are only responsible for your luggage once it is checked in, once it is in the coach storage and again on the way back. They are not deemed responsible at any other time so as happened to one holiday, the driver unloaded the cases onto the pavement and road, whilst there was a melee, the local thieves moved in and tried to make of with the bags and small cases. unfortunately one of the older trippers had her bag with money passport tickets etc taken - before we even got into the hotel. This was not covered by the TO as it was not in their care at that point.

One one week's holiday good old FC left my case at Gatwick so home insurance no use as the case was not lost. Even better, as quoted by the reps' supervisor in resort - "we (FC) are only responsible if your baggage is lost, it is not lost it is in London so it is your problem not ours". My case eventually joined us for the last 24 hrs of the holiday and even then I had to go to the airport for half a day to take possession.

After about 4 months of heavy pressure, I did receive a token gesture from the TO, but even that was down to the fact that the chap in baggage claims I spoke to thought the FC response was disgusting up to that point so he added a goodwill figure from a different department. I have added baggage cover to the insurance since!

There are lots of things not covered by the insurance and I think the list grows daily as they find more and more get out clauses, but it is worth investigating the insurance covers available to see if there is anything that they do cover you for that you had not thought about. Best to do it now when you don't have a deadline and have time to think about the various implications. It is also easier at the time you do need it, if you can look at the various offered policies and rule out immediately the ones that don't offer the part you know are looking for.

As I say to my kids, it's not what you do on purpose you have to cover for, it is what occurs accidentally, and the unforeseen.

Absolutely and just because you had a claim denied does not mean that you should never insure again. It is a minefield out there!
In no circumstances should anyone think of travelling without insurance.

Sue

The statement 'Ok so my body wouldn't be flown home' is really dumb. What do people think will happen to their body if they die abroad and don't have insurance. Well, their family will have to pay for a funeral in a foreign country. I live in Germany and when my neighbour died two years ago her simple funeral cost almost 3 times more than what I paid for my father's in the UK about the same time.

I can't believe some people's shortsightedness( I am being polite)

You should also look closely at what the 'EHIC' actually covers. In many places it only covers part of the cost of medical treatment. Also it only works in state hospitals, clinics, etc and many places do not actually have these. When I was injured skiing in Austria, the town only had private doctors, so an EHIC was no use. I would have had to get a taxi to the nearest city, a pretty expensive trip.

You may think it is "dumb", I think anyone is dumb who actually takes a package holiday but we all have our opinions. A ski-ing holiday is different, never do them so it doesn't apply to me. I live in Spain and the small print on insurance is worse than the UK and the premiums are higher.

When we went on an African Safari in Feb. we paid 225 for insurance for the two of us. In Europe..no way josé..not needed. Airlines DO pay out for contents of suitcase too.

You miss the point. It wasn't the fact that it was a skiing injury - I might just as easily have tripped on the stairs! It is the fact that state facilities are few and far between.

Well if my brother had not had holiday insurance 3 years ago but just his card, yes he would have got the same, wonderful treatment.

However, my sister in law would have had to pay for her accommodation for the 7 weeks he was in intensive care. She would have had to pay for all her taxi fares to and from the hospital. She would have had to find her own way to airport and pay for her flight home. He would have had to stay even longer in hospital in France making the above costs even higher. As it was he was flown home business class with a doctor accompanying him and was collected by an ambulance at the other end. Without that medical assistance he would not have been allowed to fly back to the UK. The insurance company also assisted with the coordination of having medical staff available at our local hospital, liaising with the hospital both on France and here so that his transfer would be as comfortable as possible.

Please don't scrimp on travel insurance if only for the above scenario, which was completely unexpected, was not an accident, there was no illness or condition prior to the holiday. This was a 37 year old man who got very sick. It can happen to anyone.

I look at it this way- how much would it cost to have to be repatriated by air ambulance? The salaries of 2 pilots,doctor & nurse, hire of aircraft, landing fees and fuel. Thats before you reckon in the 'minor' details of treatment, surgery, accommodation etc.

I've been there, we had excellent insurance Thank God.

After that experience I will never skimp on insurance and read all the small print.

Patka

Well ok. Some good points for insurance. I guess I was looking at some of it from my own personal experience/circumstances. I only make short business trips to France and Netherlands. Otherwise it is to the UK and I have family there. I would only buy insurance on the web though and NEVER an agent. Buying online gives you chance to look at all the small print.

You say you only make short trips to France & Netherlands. How long does it take to have a heart attack or break a leg?

Adequate insurance is vital.

Patka

I agree with everything said about insurance. My husband broke his ankle, had an operation and was hospitalised for eight days in Benidorm. The insurance company were brilliant as they had to arrange for us to come home on a different plane as the one originally booked was full and he had three seats to himself. What would we have done if we hadn't had a good insurance?

Jean

Hi All
Just an update on our insurance claim when we had to cancel our holiday at the end of August. Our insurance originally rejected our claim but we complained about the decision and today we got a cheque in the post for the claim amount minus a small sum as airport taxes on flights are not included.
So thanks to Insure and Go.
We have since retook our holidays and shall post the reviews soon. We had a great time and the insurance refund is the icing on the cake.

Robert

Many thanks for the update. It's good to hear the conclusion of any problem.

luci

Great news, I'm so pleased for you.

Patka

Its also important to keep insurers up to date with things.

We have an annual worldwide policy and I have recently been diagnosed with a long term chronic illness so had to tell my insurers.
After a few quick questions, they told me they can cover my condition but at an extra premium- £3.60!

Always worth letting them know then they can't invalidate your insurance should you need them

Some good news.

We have a yearly policy with Post Office.

We had to curtail our holiday in September. This was caused by my wifes mother having a fall at home in the UK. She is 86yrs and has no other relatives.
We flew home the next day. We lost 9 days of our holiday. Within a week of sending the completed claim form, the full amount less an excess was paid to us for the flight, hotel lost days and taxi fare from the airport to our home. (We had to fly into a different airport from where we departed).
Great service from the insurance company.