Thunderroad

My wife and I have a trip to Europe coming up, with the flights and other costs nonrefundable. Unfortunately, the recently developed mental health problems of a close family member mean that we might have to cancel or interrupt the trip to provide care and otherwise help out him out. Does anyone know of any travel insurance policies that cover this eventuality, so that we could get our nonrefundable flights and other costs covered? I expect that we could get the psychiatrist who is involved to write a note or fill out a form certifying the health condition and the advisability of our helping out, but the challenge seems to be to get coverage that includes this situation to begin with.

FWIW, I called Allianz and was told that this kind of situation was excluded from coverage. Does anyone know of any companies that might cover it, or have any other advice?

Thanks for any help.

Doc Savage

You can't buy a policy now that you know you'll have to cancel. Insurance companies would go broke if they did that.

LondonElite

Pre-existing conditions such as yours are always excluded from insurance policies. I'm sympathetic to your situation, but it's similar to buying fire insurance after the house has burned down.

BOShappyflyer

Yeah very sorry to hear of your situation.

I had to cancel a trip mid way due to a someone's medical illness that needs immediate attention. A lot of the hotels I booked at the time were on non-refundable rates (hotel did not budge on request even it was booked literally the day before the stay...we were extending a day instead of continuing to assess whether we need to turn back.). Anyway long story short, we absorbed the losses and I have since bought travel insurance for almost all international trip and I never book non refundable rates since.

Best of luck.

FirstInFlight

How long ago did you buy your tickets? There are insurance policies that allows you to cancel for any reason - but they typically must be purchased within a few weeks of the initial trip purchase. if you paid less than 30 days ago you might find one - google "insure my trip" and see if that leads you to a policy option. M ore than 30 days and you are likely looking at cancellation penalties.

Annalisa12

What policy allows you to cancel for any reason?

MaxBuck

You might want to approach the airline directly to see if they'll allow you to postpone your departure without penalty or with minimal penalty. If so, then you can be more proactive in getting your relative into professional treatment.

Most airlines are fairly understanding when it comes to medical emergencies. I was able to reschedule a (nonrefundable) US flight back home from PHL when my wife had emergency surgery. Cost me $250, which definitely was worth it.

artemis

]Here you go!

Note that usually the plans don't allow cancellation for any reason once the trip departure date is very close (usually 48 hours or less until departure). So it's really "cancel for any reason a reasonable time out from the trip, cancel only for covered reasons immediately before the trip" (which most people can live with).

Kagehitokiri

75% refund seems to be what im seeing now, including there

not sure if its changed, recall seeing higher than that before

artemis

I remember seeing it as high as 80% refunded, but never any higher than that. Which makes sense, as the insurance company wants to discourage people from canceling for frivolous reasons or deliberately booking "speculative" trips they know they're unlikely to actually go on. Knowing you're not going to get 100% of your money back if you choose to cancel your trip provides an incentive to not cancel except for very good reasons (like the OP's).

JY1024

Moving this over to the Travel Products forum, where travel insurance threads reside. Cheers, JY1024, TravelBuzz co-moderator

Thunderroad

Thanks for the useful replies and info folks, and a big thanks to artemis for that link.

montrealer

By the way, I have found airlines in general, and *some* hotels, pretty accommodating at rescheduling or giving travel credit, even when the arrangements are nonrefundable and supposedly unchangeable. They hate returning money, but if you can come to them and say "we'd like to go x months later" they may be more accomodating.

Good luck!

mrgreen

Yet it depends on the booking class and the actual price.
With a discounted economy ticket you usually end up with fee with no good will from airlines whatsoever.

macka17

Hi Australia here.

We travel a lot each yr. (round trips for 2 months or more)

Always travel with Qantas, Insure with RACQ.

last trip we were 100% refunded $3k plus, for part of trip Mexico to Machu Pichu back to Mexico then Santiago Chili. for my aversion to height sickness.
I went crook on Mexico City had to cancel rest of that part of trip plus lost camera and Tablet in N.Z.

this week I was supposed to fly down to Melb from Rocky and ret. for 18th B.Day.
They found a melanoma on my cheek. 3 days later I had it out and now waiting for plastic surgery to pretty me up again (73yr old with beard . Chuckle)

one day b4 flight.
they refund all costs over the ph. no questions. not even a doctor's note.

You can't fault Qantas in my eyes. Nor the Insurance RACQ.

There are a lot of insurance co's that take your money and that's it.
Look around and get a reputable one you'll never regret it.

Cyclone Marcia came through here recently 285km Recorded winds.
3 days after. Insurance called, within 14 days the few small repairs fixed.

What can I say.

BUT. Nobody is going to insure anybody after the fact.
Accept it and get on with it. Look after yourself/ves first. always. then others.