V-Flyer

Fellow v-flyers,

I know a lot of us on this forum like to book flights with as many as 11 months to go, and enjoy the planning and the build-up to the holiday in the months prior. I fall firmly in this camp. Having bagged a couple of Gs to Chicago next June, I am now looking at accommodation, and have come across a decent hotel at a really good price. The trouble is, it would be a non-refundable booking. Now I have done non-refundable hotel bookings many times before (what can I say, I am an early planner), and have not had any issues before, until a couple of months ago, where I happened to have made a refundable hotel booking, and funnily enough the date changes on a multi-city flight booking had rendered the whole trip infeasible, so I was very lucky to be able to cancel the hotel without issue.

After that experience, I am feeling somewhat nervous about booking non-refundable accommodation so far ahead. My experience shows that VS has been quite reliable in terms of flight times (and few cancellations) etc, and I am probably just over worrying for no reason. But with the recent and ongoing scare about the volcanic eruption, I thought I’d better check the cover of my annual travel insurance. Now I have largely gone through the T&Cs of my (Virgin Money) travel insurance, unsurprisingly consequential losses, or natural disasters do not appear to be covered.

My question is, what travel insurance do you have, and are you happy with the level of cover it offers/would you recommend it? I know that we have a couple of disaster-prone members here (not going to mention any names, but you know who you are… ) ) and I remember reading TRs with great insurance cover… so it would be particularly interesting to hear your experience.

I will think about the non-refundable booking a bit more, but will probably just book it and find myself a good, comprehensive insurance policy that will cover for consequential losses as well as natural disaster/civil unrest etc, knowing that in the meantime I do have a policy that covers the more unlikely eventualities…

Thanks in advance.

I do generally have an annual policy (can't remember who it is with though as I've not traveled in a year and let it lapse) but I really only get it for the medical cover which has always been the priority for me and everything else it covers is a bonus as it were.

This is over and above any credit card insurance that may also apply.

Equally I don't book my holidays that far in advance - usually 2 - 3 months ahead so I know my dates are fixed and airline schedules are not likely to change in a major way. I might only book a hotel a few weeks in advance. the closed was a week before and that was getting worrying for me.

As with all policies though it is often the exclusions that matter rather than the inclusions so always best to read the T&Cs and check what excess you would have to pay too.

So a policy might insure you against consequential loss if you had an issue but it might not cover you if it was a travel companion that had an issue that affected the trip.

But at least you are thinking of insurance this far in advance. A huge number of people leave it to the last minute and then find that they aren't covered because something happened - like a broken leg - before the insurance was bought yet affected the trip.

Hi mrsw

We've just renewed our travel insurance, always keep it in force as we fly to NYC twice yearly to visit family and do other trips as well.

We both have medical issues that have to be declared and are both, how shall I put this, of mature years so that's a complication too, as lots of insurers will only quote if you're in perfect health and not much beyond 21. I used a comparison site last week and to my surprise found that the renewal quote we'd had was the cheapest and what's more, they also gave us a discount as we were existing customers.

We're with Insureandgo with silver cover. We've used Saga and esure in years gone by, no problems save that the renewal premiums got steep but I don't think we've ever had to claim so I can't comment on that aspect with any of them.

Hope this helps.

Thank you both for your helpful input.

I normally just let my annual policy auto renew, I'm usually pleasantly surprised by how competitive it is.

@tonybear -- booking a hotel a week before :0 just thinking about it is making me sweat! I also do value the medical cover, but the recent experience with another airline and the volcano activities again are making me rethink...

@whiterose -- we are lucky enough to not have pre-existing conditions, and also not had to make a claim (and hopefully won't need to in the future). I am, however, very envious of the fact that you have family in NYC

I think now I'm ready to really look at what I'm getting for my money, as opposed to simply choosing the cheapest premium and lowest excess combo (and probably the best cashback).

As my hubby has lots of pre-existing conditions, I had him on his own policy with goodtogoinsurance, but this years renewal was rediculous even with being another year older.

So went to Aviva and put all his bits and mine and it came out with £125 for multi cover annual and I got £15 cashback with Topcashback. I insured us for everything I could think of not the ash cloud cover which we could have had and I can still add but I did put in Airline failure and going to countries if they had to evacuate you from in the event of trouble per the Foreign office ( as we may go to Egypt) you never know. So I thought that was really good as if you do not have any pre-existing conditions it should come out at very much cheaper. They are not on any comparision sites and if you do go with them remember Topcashback.

All in all a policy only comes into its own if you have to claim and touch wood we haven't as yet. Linda y)

I have an annual travel insurance through my previous occupation. I did have to claim once and it was dealt with promptly and efficiently.
As for pre-booking I committed to my accommodation a year ahead.
I booked and paid one night hotel at Hyatt Regency 11 months ahead of next years holiday simply because this year we did a late booking and couldn't get in there. It's part of our holiday to roll off the plane and into the hotel at Orlando before a long drive the next day. Even though we ended up only 4 miles away it just wasn't the same.
6 months to go and I've just booked and paid the last night hotel before leaving US.
My attitude is, I am going on this holiday so I'll spend now and worry about the consequences later.
I do spend on credit card and have the travel insurance just in case something goes wrong.
Dick D

Hi mrsw

I so understand the need to be organised, I'm the same. My family might say OTT, OCD or similar but I'm happy faffing about.

I would suggest PJ Hayman for insurance as although I don't know their current T& C's, they were very good a few years ago when we landed in Fort Lauderdale with VS. Yes, I know they don't fly there but they did that day, albeit unscheduled.

I don't know your age & it's none of my business but because Mr R-P is hundreds of years older than me, we belong to AARP.

For a few $ (literally a few $) a year, they offer discount with many chain hotels including the Hilton chain & IHG. We (well I!) book using the AARP rate which is usually discounted by at least 10% per night per room, if not more (but do check). Using this rate often entitles you to cancel up until 4pm on the day you are due to check in. Also, late check out of 2pm is usually advertised as part of the rate.

Plus loyalty cards (free) help with free upgrades, free breakfasts, executive lounges, early check ins, late check outs (beyond 2pm), storage of bags etc.

I often secure a chosen hotel using the AARP rate, then keep an eye on the rates, if they fall, & they often do, I make a new booking (before cancelling the first booking), wait for the confirmation email, then cancel the original booking.

I also play the game of the best advantage of using rewards points compared to purchasing a hotel room. Hilton chain give you 5 nights for the price of 4 if staying at the same property for 5 nights, plus they give you some points for staying, plus double dip so extra VS FC miles.Result! y)

Doing both of the above over the years has saved me (us) many hundreds of $.

So, going back to your thread of insurance, I gain peace of mind by doing the above as one email or phone call to a booked hotel cancels your booking at no cost.

Plus, belonging to AARP gives LOADs of other discounts including Sweet Tomatoes which I adore both for the food, amazing value & so healthy (or not depending on the options you choose) plus it's unbeatable for people watching :w

Happy hunting for insurance.

TTFN

Roxy Popsy

Thank you for all the great responses y) I will be sure to check out not just comparison websites but also direct, remembering to go via TCB.

Just to add a bit of background, Mr W and I are in our late 20s, so hopefully will be in the low risk group, with more and cheaper insurance offerings.

I have actually read somewhere on the internet that PJ Hayman has very comprehensive covers, so I shall definitely check that out

I have never bought travel insurance and never read the T&Cs of any policy, I will state the up front.

During the last ash cloud I was at Heathrow and marooned. The girl at American Express (I have a platinum card) could not have been more helpful. They booked me into the Hilton, contacted Qatar and moved my flight. At the hotel all my bills were taken care of and no need to fill in any claim form. I was gobsmackingly impressed!

When the snow struck in NYC (there's a pattern of natural disasters following me) the same thing happened. One call, reported it and then they came to the rescue again. This time in the form of arranging transport to another hotel and again it was all taken care of.

I lost my baggage whilst I was travelling to Norway, they chased the airline and told me to spend on my Amex for 'emergency' clothing.

There is not one part of me that regrets the annual charge, the service is mindblowingly good.

Roxy-Popsy wrote:I often secure a chosen hotel using the AARP rate, then keep an eye on the rates, if they fall, & they often do, I make a new booking (before cancelling the first booking), wait for the confirmation email, then cancel the original booking.

We play the same game but using Booking.com, as they offer cancellable bookings.

Roxy-Popsy wrote:I also play the game of the best advantage of using rewards points compared to purchasing a hotel room. Hilton chain give you 5 nights for the price of 4 if staying at the same property for 5 nights, plus they give you some points for staying, plus double dip so extra VS FC miles.

You must share that secret. Never in my history of using HHonors points have I ever had points / miles awarded on a points stay, though on the upside they do still count to Diamond renewal.

Dubaiification wrote:During the last ash cloud I was at Heathrow and marooned. The girl at American Express (I have a platinum card) could not have been more helpful. They booked me into the Hilton, contacted Qatar and moved my flight. At the hotel all my bills were taken care of and no need to fill in any claim form. I was gobsmackingly impressed!

I like the sound of that!

We always have an annual policy in place, and previously with Insure and Go. However, my OH is in his 70s and has blood pressure and asthma to account for, so it's not always cheap. Anyway, this year's renewal quote jumped by almost £200 just because he was a year older and therefore a higher risk!! So I shopped around got a better quote from Planet Earth and opted to not cover the asthma as it's controlled with no admissions to hospital ever, but covered the hypertension as the GP faffs with his meds every 6 months.

As for how good they are, I hope I never have to find out!

Dubaiification wrote:I have never bought travel insurance and never read the T&Cs of any policy, I will state the up front.

During the last ash cloud I was at Heathrow and marooned. The girl at American Express (I have a platinum card) could not have been more helpful. They booked me into the Hilton, contacted Qatar and moved my flight. At the hotel all my bills were taken care of and no need to fill in any claim form. I was gobsmackingly impressed!

When the snow struck in NYC (there's a pattern of natural disasters following me) the same thing happened. One call, reported it and then they came to the rescue again. This time in the form of arranging transport to another hotel and again it was all taken care of.

I lost my baggage whilst I was travelling to Norway, they chased the airline and told me to spend on my Amex for 'emergency' clothing.

There is not one part of me that regrets the annual charge, the service is mindblowingly good.

I hadn't thought of (or in fact, was not aware of) the travel insurance included in the Amex Platinum, so thank you! I had gone to check it out but apparently the conditions have changed, in that you will now need to make a lot of the bookings (flights etc but not car hire) via an Amex-issued Amex card. I guess my VS black CC won't count, as it's issued by MBNA ?| Some serious thinking is needed on my part as to what my "spending strategy" will be...

I have, in the last few days, been spending my evenings reading the T&Cs of many, I repeat, many, travel insurance policies. Instead of finding a comprehensive cover, I'm actually starting to lose faith in the whole insurance thing... When there's a seemingly good cover, the exclusions in the small print typically rule out travel disruptions due to industrial action, act of god (some provide coverage but the conditions render them very unlikely to pay out), FCO/CAA type travel restrictions, etc etc. But then again, the premiums aren't that much money so sometimes it's better to be covered for some circumstances than not at all

Right, guys, an update on the travel insurance front. I have now gone through as many policies as I could think of, and here’s a quick summary in case it would be of help to anyone.

My main criteria were:

• Cover for travel disruptions above and beyond what the airline would offer under EU regs 261 (as we would normally fly with VS, with the odd BA trip, and tend to steer away from non-EU airlines), and in particular, consequential loss in terms of non-refundable hotel/other bookings;
• Comprehensive cover for all types of travel disruptions, and these would include at least bad weather, strike, catastrophe (including ash cloud), FCO recommendation to not travel, etc, as well as sometimes airlines cancelling a flight due to light load;
• Cover for “basic” holiday sports including sailing/yachting (staying on a boat for the whole Grenada trip in Jan/Feb next year), the odd horsehiding, kayaking, snorkeling and scuba diving;
• Cover for missed connection over and above what the airline would offer (having had a terrible experience with AF years ago);
• Relatively low excess

Having checked some comparison websites, and a number of direct policies, and reading the T&Cs in great detail, I have found that the below providers offered more coverage than others, so here is our shortlist:
• AXA (and the policies underwritten by them, eg Tesco travel insurance, and I read somewhere that the Amex Platinum travel insurance is also underwritten by AXA)
• Aviva (and those underwritten by them, eg Post Office)
• Staysure
• Annualtravelinsurance.com
• Insureandgo
• Holidaysafe
• John Lewis travel insurance

Then I compared the policy wordings, and eliminated Staysure (travel disruptions need to be 24 hours rather than 12 hours for claim), John Lewis (unsure whether it covers consequential loss, even after correspondence with customer service), Insureandgo (enhanced travel disruptions cover is still limited to certain causes for disruption only).

After that I went to see customer reviews, and boy, there was some horrific stories – someone with a broken leg being left for 3 days before receiving the go-ahead for treatment, or people with (apparently) valid claims where the policy providers still refusing to pay out, etc etc. The odd one is fine, and I understand that naturally it will be dissatisfied customers that are more likely to leave reviews online for these things, so I did take it with a pinch of salt. However, after seeing recurring themes of non-payout in vaild situations, and/or people not being able to get hold of the insurance helpline in the event of an emergency, I then ruled out AXA, Aviva and Holidaysafe. I hasten to add here that this is purely a result of my research, and indeed I have taken into account a lot of what you have said before, especially the good experience with certain providers, so I am by no means saying that these policies that I have ruled out aren’t good. It simply is that I don’t think it would suit us. I really don’t want to offend or worry anybody here.

So this leaves us with annualtravelinsurance.com, and having had Mr W read the policy document too to sense check, I think we are happy to go with them.

The timing, however, is a tricky one. On the one hand, I want to get it now, and to be covered for the scenarios that my existing Virgin Money cover does not provide. However, the dilemma is this – the policy would be for 1 year, covering trips made within that time (so we have the Beijing trip in September (staying with family, though, so no issue with accommodation cost should there be disruptions), Grenada in Jan/Feb, Dubai business trip in Nov (and possibly Feb/March), and Chicago in June and OH’s NYC trip in March), but I am still trying to convince Mr W to book another trip in September/Oct 2015 (as he is turning 30 then!!). If I bought the insurance now, that trip that I am likely to book in November (say) wouldn’t be covered by this policy, and it won’t be covered until we renew the policy. Oh the headache with wanting to book everything well ahead!! As this will always be an issue.

So after my last post which indicated just how disillusioned I was with the whole thing, although I have now seen a bit more light, I am still confused as to when would be best to purchase this. I know it’s not that much money (it’s about £150 for both of us), but I don’t want to waste it on something that 1) doesn’t actually cover for anything that might not be covered by the airlines, and 2) may not cover an upcoming trip that I am considering with just over a year to go.

What can I say? The whole thing is a minefield (and I thought the whole M-G thing was confusing!) ?|

Just a 'tip' for those with high premiums due to medical conditions.

My parents annual premium jumped up to 4 figures after my father had an operation, and this was after checking many different insurers. In the end they found that the insurance that comes with a £10 a month current account would insure them both fully for an extra £120, so over a year that is £240!

Though they haven't had to deal with them in any way apart from getting the medical conditions covered (and they were apparently very knowledgable on the end of the phone about the various conditions!).

Dubaiification wrote:There is not one part of me that regrets the annual charge, the service is mindblowingly good.

I am 100% same - I know amex have my back when travelling, and the small offset of booking the travel via a amex card is hardly a problem - if vendor doesn't take amex - then they still cover you handily.

The fact the amex card also covers hire car insurance more than saves my annual fee 2-3x over per annum when used (we always get a rental). Recent example - Spain - Hertz upgraded me to a Mercedes automatic (B-class) using the amex rate code and 5* plus benefits - no queuing (unlike most at alicante). Total cost for 2 weeks automatic mid-large car hire was 360 pounds. I had to book via the US site and choose to pay in euros on a guaranteed rate (on departure) to get the rate in question - UK site was ~ 600 for same pre-pay with the amex codes. Equally Compared to similar sized mid sized rental same duration via a broker for the in-laws -- automatic again, with insurances, was 950.

On my occasions claiming with amex the service is stupidly good. I also appreciate the medical cover is covered regardless of booking on amex - and on business. So if travelling with work, I'd be claiming on that first.

Finally, I bit the bullet and bought the annual super cover from annualtravelinsurance.com plus the travel disruption enhanced cover. It came out to be about £108 for the two of us, and for the cover I'm quite content with the price. I must admit that VS's network changes may have been something that helped getting my arse in gear.

I did give the Amex Platinum and Natwest black card some serious thought, and spoke to a few people who have them. My initial concern was that the cover in the policy document doesn't appear that comprehensive, but having spoken to people I understand that they do not stick to the T&Cs that strictly, which makes them much better.

But as a holder of 12 debit/credit/charge cards in my purse (not even counting OH's) I've decided to skip the cards for now.

Thank you all for your helpful input and insight. Let's hope that none of us will need to make any claims! 8D

And... yet another update B)

I've cancelled the policy (within the cooling off period) mentioned in my last post, because I've found a better one!

Mr W and I have since signed up for the Nationwide FlexPlus account, with both of our names on it. And for a mere £10 a month, we get a comprehensive worldwide multi-trip travel insurance cover, UK&Europe breakdown cover, mobile phone insurance, and free cash withdrawal overseas (without fee)! The last perk complements my Lloyds Avios perfectly, rendering our Halifax Clarity obsolete.

Although there's one scenario which I would like cover for that is not included in this one -- for consequential loss (eg hotel bookings) arisen as a result of a cancellation of the scheduled flight (eg due to light loads, which is what we've seen lately) but I've decided that as the cover is otherwise excellent, I will just book refundable hotels to cover myself for such a scenario.

Just thought I'd post an update in case it was useful to some. :X