Who is responsible?

I see in th Mail on Sunday a report of a family from Bury in Lancashire had booked a flight to the USA. But some time before departure their young son was diagnosed with cancer. They say the airline has refused to refund their ticket costs.

Am I wrong in thinking that that is covered by the travel insurance you take out?. If you don't insure yourself you risk losing money.

I had a similar instance early this year, when I had laid out about £10,000 for a 2 month cruise. 3 weeks before
we were due to leave my wife went down with heart trouble and was banned from going. I had taken out the free insurance with Nationwide when I switched our current account. I informed them as soon as I knew, and they repaid the full amount of my claim within 2 weeks.

Re: Who is responsible?

the onus is on the customer, if it's paid by credit card there shouldn't be a problem or insured.

Many pay by debit card and may not have insurance, only medical cover.

Some take out cover nearer to the travel date.

It'd be nice for the travel company to refund them but they're not required to do so.

Re: Who is responsible?

Hi Tpin
Agree with all you say. In my case the cruise company refund differing amounts depending on how close to sailing it is. I was given 15% from them, and the balance formed my claim on the insurance.

Re: Who is responsible?

Hi Arthur I would say it depends on the terms of the travel insurance. Read the small print.

My brother had booked a holiday and was due to fly then went for a pre operation check for his knee which was going to take place following the holiday and he was found to have a heart developed a heart condition. The holiday was cancelled and he got a refund.

Re: Who is responsible?

Hi Meg,
Hope your brother is OK now. I agree that you should always look carefully at the insurance. Some of the cheaper ones, widely advertised, do not cover cancellation. Whilet he airlines and cruise companies are not obliged to refund by law, some do, particularly if it is for a serious medical condition.

Re: Who is responsible?

Thanks Arthur he is ok.

Re: Who is responsible?

We had to cancel a 20-night cruise sailing at the end of April this year. Two weeks before sailing my elderly mother was taken ill, and sadly died a week later. Our travel insurance company paid in full, including for the hotel in Southampton we'd booked for the night before sailing.

Must admit I wasn't sure if we'd get our money back as technically we could have gone on our cruise, but of course at the time we had no idea if Mum would recover, or how long that might take. So we cancelled and took a chance.

We wouldn't dream of travelling without full cover, including cancellation insurance.

Re: Who is responsible?

HI Deb W,
Very sorry to hear about your mother. I am glad that you got your money back via your insurance. Insurance Companies sometimes get a bad press, but I wonder if some of it is caused by the insured not knowing how much is covered.

Arthur

Re: Who is responsible?

I wouldn't bother with insurance for a weekend in Blackpool (not that I'd even set foot in that place), but for anything else I'd always take out insurance.

We were going to go to Gibraltar 2 or 3 years ago, when my wife fell and broke her ankle. She thought it was just a sprain at first, but was in too much pain to do anything even if we managed to get there, so claimed on the insurance. We had to provide a written confirmation from the Casualty doctor that it was actually a small fracture of her fibula but, having got that, the insurers paid out in full.