Travel insurance claim for flights to return home early after injury and surgery in hospital

[Daver6]

It's not possible to sign refunded points over anyway. It's against the FF T&Cs....unless the insurer happens to be a family member.

 

[Ken1]

It's not possible to sign refunded points over anyway. It's against the FF T&Cs....unless the insurer happens to be a family member.

Yes, and with SQ, who my cancelled LHR-SYD award booking is with, you cant even transfer points to a family member so it won't be possible. I'll transfer the taxes to the account they have given me when I receive the refunds but won't be able to do anything about the points with them. I'll wait and see what they say after that.

 

[Danger]

Please keep us posted.

 

[Ken1]

Here is an update about our experience with our travel insurance for our trip home.

I was admitted to hospital in the Dolomites area in Italy and had surgery the following day after ankle fractures. After leaving the hospital we stayed in a nearby apartment for 3 more nights. A transfer was organised for us to Munich Airport which was a 4.5 hour trip and we were pleasantly surprised to find that they had booked an ambulance transport type vehicle and they had a foam type thing that kept my leg elevated for the entire journey so it was as comfortable a trip as it could have been. The driver was very friendly and helpful. When we arrived at the Hilton Munich Airport I stayed in the vehicle while he and Mrs Ken1 went inside, She checked in while the driver spoke to the hotel staff in German and organised a wheelchair to bring me inside as well as a porter to pick up our luggage from the vehicle. We were able to keep the wheelchair with us during our stay.

The Hilton Munich Airport was the perfect choice for us, with it being the only hotel joined onto the airport terminals. All other hotels in the Munich Airport area require a shuttle or taxi to get to the airport which would have made it very difficult for us with my injuries and only being able to use a wheelchair or walk short distances with crutches. The hotel staff also organised with the airport for our transfer to check in and then through security and onto the lounge the next morning and it all went very well. We were taken by a motorised buggy rather than a wheelchair as the distances to walk were very long.

The flights from Munich to Doha and then from Doha to Sydney went well - the cabin crew were really helpful and assisted me at various times during the flights. The wheelchair assistance was waiting for me at the end of both flights and at Doha we were taken by wheelchair to a buggy that then took us to the lounge and then to the gate to board the plane. Doha Airport is huge and the motorised buggy rather than just a wheelchair was certainly needed there. This was our first time flying Qatar and we found them very good.

At Sydney a wheelchair was again waiting for me and the lady assisting me took us through immigration, baggage, customs and then out to the pickup vehicle we had organised. So after having the fall and being admitted to hospital on Saturday last week, being operated the next day, released from hospital on Tuesday we arrived back home a week after the surgery. It's been a long week but we are relieved to be home again.

I have written to the emergency team I have been dealing with at the insurance company letting them know that everything they organised for us went very well and that we appreciate all they have done for us in assisting us with all aspects of our stay in Italy and our journey home.

We arrived back in Sydney on Sunday evening after leaving the area we were staying in on Friday morning and yesterday and today I have been on the phone to SQ and QF cancelling flights and to physio and medical appointments. Tomorrow I visit an orthopaedic specialist so I should have more idea of following ongoing treatment after that.

So far I have been dealing with the emergency travel insurance team and now I have to start submitting receipts for additional accommodation and other expenses incurred after the fall and hospital stay.

I'll update how that part of the claims process goes but so far we are impressed with how our return home was handled. Thanks to everyone who replied to my initial post.

 

[VPS]

Here is an update about our experience with our travel insurance for our trip home.

I was admitted to hospital in the Dolomites area in Italy and had surgery the following day after ankle fractures. After leaving the hospital we stayed in a nearby apartment for 3 more nights. A transfer was organised for us to Munich Airport which was a 4.5 hour trip and we were pleasantly surprised to find that they had booked an ambulance transport type vehicle and they had a foam type thing that kept my leg elevated for the entire journey so it was as comfortable a trip as it could have been. The driver was very friendly and helpful. When we arrived at the Hilton Munich Airport I stayed in the vehicle while he and Mrs Ken1 went inside, She checked in while the driver spoke to the hotel staff in German and organised a wheelchair to bring me inside as well as a porter to pick up our luggage from the vehicle. We were able to keep the wheelchair with us during our stay.

The Hilton Munich Airport was the perfect choice for us, with it being the only hotel joined onto the airport terminals. All other hotels in the Munich Airport area require a shuttle or taxi to get to the airport which would have made it very difficult for us with my injuries and only being able to use a wheelchair or walk short distances with crutches. The hotel staff also organised with the airport for our transfer to check in and then through security and onto the lounge the next morning and it all went very well. We were taken by a motorised buggy rather than a wheelchair as the distances to walk were very long.

The flights from Munich to Doha and then from Doha to Sydney went well - the cabin crew were really helpful and assisted me at various times during the flights. The wheelchair assistance was waiting for me at the end of both flights and at Doha we were taken by wheelchair to a buggy that then took us to the lounge and then to the gate to board the plane. Doha Airport is huge and the motorised buggy rather than just a wheelchair was certainly needed there. This was our first time flying Qatar and we found them very good.

At Sydney a wheelchair was again waiting for me and the lady assisting me took us through immigration, baggage, customs and then out to the pickup vehicle we had organised. So after having the fall and being admitted to hospital on Saturday last week, being operated the next day, released from hospital on Tuesday we arrived back home a week after the surgery. It's been a long week but we are relieved to be home again.

I have written to the emergency team I have been dealing with at the insurance company letting them know that everything they organised for us went very well and that we appreciate all they have done for us in assisting us with all aspects of our stay in Italy and our journey home.

We arrived back in Sydney on Sunday evening after leaving the area we were staying in on Friday morning and yesterday and today I have been on the phone to SQ and QF cancelling flights and to physio and medical appointments. Tomorrow I visit an orthopaedic specialist so I should have more idea of following ongoing treatment after that.

So far I have been dealing with the emergency travel insurance team and now I have to start submitting receipts for additional accommodation and other expenses incurred after the fall and hospital stay.

I'll update how that part of the claims process goes but so far we are impressed with how our return home was handled. Thanks to everyone who replied to my initial post.

sounds like it went as smoothly as it could after the accident. Good luck with TI and recovery

 

[ellen10]

Sounds like the trip home went smoothly and the travel insurance company looked after you well.

I hope the claims process is going well and your physical recovery is going well also.

 

[Ken1]

Sounds like the trip home went smoothly and the travel insurance company looked after you well.

I hope the claims process is going well and your physical recovery is going well also.

Thanks ellen10.

When I called them on the day of the injury and was awaiting surgery the next morning I called the 24 hour emergency line and the emergency team handled everything, with contact back and forth multiple times over the coming week as they organised transport to the airport and flights back home and everything went well. I had saved all booking confirmations and receipts etc as well as copies of our passports in Dropbox so was able to access all necessary documents on my phone to send to them. I also had a colour copy of our passports in my wallet and when the hospital asked to see my passport I showed the copy to them as we had our passports back in the hotel, and the hospital was happy to accept the copy.

Now that we are back home we have to start the actual claim process with the claims team, which is separate from the emergency team. I finished scanning receipts and submitting claims for medical costs while still in Italy and for extra and cancelled accommodation last Thursday. I was advised by email the same day that the claim is in a queue waiting to be allocated to a claims officer which should be within 10 working days of submission. I will update here when the claim is completed.

After we arrived home our GP referred me to an orthopaedic surgeon, who saw me the day after we called for an appointment and he sent me for a x-ray a week later and he is pleased with how the surgery was done in Italy. He said they did a good job and everything has lined up nicely. I can still not put any weight bearing on my right foot for another 2 weeks, when I will go back and have another x-ray and hopefully then be able to start to walk on it and start physio. It's not easy only being able to hop around with crutches or being wheeled around in a wheelchair when we go to appointments but I'm hoping everything looks good in 2 weeks and I can move on with my recovery.

 

[Ken1]

Here is an update about our claim after my injury and surgery in Italy. I had more x-rays and saw the orthopaedic surgeon again a week ago, five and a half weeks from the date of the surgery and he said I can now put weight on my right foot and start to learn to walk properly again. I will be having physiotherapy sessions twice a week for a while as I gradually get more mobility and strength back in that foot. It is still painful at the moment but at least I am moving forward.

The injury happened while we were on a photography workshop tour in the Dolomites with a group of 8 with 5 of us in one van and 3 in the other, with 2 guides. When I slipped and fell while near the side of a lake the guides were there to help me, and they called the ambulance and were with us at what was a traumatic time.. One of them later visited me in hospital and then took Mrs Ken1 back to the hotel to pack our bags and brought her back to the apartment we had booked near the hospital the next morning, the day of my surgery. Earlier in the trip we had hired cars in Germany and Austria so, not that it's something we wanted to happen of course, it's lucky it happened in this part of the trip when others were with us.

Yesterday I received an email with an outcome of my claim and I am very pleased. They covered everything we asked for - costs for prescriptions while still in Italy after I left the hospital, costs for purchasing crutches from the hospital and for hire of a wheelchair from a local pharmac_ while we were there and also additional accommodation while staying near the hospital, which had cost more than the cancelled accommodation when we would have been in Ljubljana on the same dates and didn't receive a refund. They didn't refund that but they paid the full cost of the stay near the hospital since it cost more than the Ljubljana apartment. They also covered the full cost of the Hilton Hotel at Munich Airport the night before we flew home.

I also asked for reimbursement for 2 missed days out of 7 for the photography tour so 28.57% of the cost of the tour. I asked the operator of the tour to send me a letter stating that we both had to leave the tour on that date and he wrote that we both missed two full days. I wasn't sure whether they would cover that and we are very pleased that they did.

As I had mentioned in my initial post I had to sign an Unused Flight Disclaimer form agreeing to send to their bank account the amounts (taxes etc) that were to be refunded from cancelling our 3 flights, 2 of them redemption flights (with SQ and AF booked with QFF points) before they would book our emergency flights home. Nothing was brought up by the claims team about the points from the cancelled redemption flights which the emergency team had thought I may have to repay to them, but as was discussed in this thread there would be no way for me to do that anyhow. Also if they had been normal purchased non flexible tickets the amounts refunded wouldn't likely to have been any more than I was refunded from the redemption tickets.

Nothing like this has ever happened to us in all of our travels over the years so this was the first time we have ever had to make a travel insurance claim but we are very pleased with how our SCTI looked after us in all aspects of our claim.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Here is an update about our claim after my injury and surgery in Italy. I had more x-rays and saw the orthopaedic surgeon again a week ago, five and a half weeks from the date of the surgery and he said I can now put weight on my right foot and start to learn to walk properly again. I will be having physiotherapy sessions twice a week for a while as I gradually get more mobility and strength back in that foot. It is still painful at the moment but at least I am moving forward.

The injury happened while we were on a photography workshop tour in the Dolomites with a group of 8 with 5 of us in one van and 3 in the other, with 2 guides. When I slipped and fell while near the side of a lake the guides were there to help me, and they called the ambulance and were with us at what was a traumatic time.. One of them later visited me in hospital and then took Mrs Ken1 back to the hotel to pack our bags and brought her back to the apartment we had booked near the hospital the next morning, the day of my surgery. Earlier in the trip we had hired cars in Germany and Austria so, not that it's something we wanted to happen of course, it's lucky it happened in this part of the trip when others were with us.

Yesterday I received an email with an outcome of my claim and I am very pleased. They covered everything we asked for - costs for prescriptions while still in Italy after I left the hospital, costs for purchasing crutches from the hospital and for hire of a wheelchair from a local pharmac_ while we were there and also additional accommodation while staying near the hospital, which had cost more than the cancelled accommodation when we would have been in Ljubljana on the same dates and didn't receive a refund. They didn't refund that but they paid the full cost of the stay near the hospital since it cost more than the Ljubljana apartment. They also covered the full cost of the Hilton Hotel at Munich Airport the night before we flew home.

I also asked for reimbursement for 2 missed days out of 7 for the photography tour so 28.57% of the cost of the tour. I asked the operator of the tour to send me a letter stating that we both had to leave the tour on that date and he wrote that we both missed two full days. I wasn't sure whether they would cover that and we are very pleased that they did.

As I had mentioned in my initial post I had to sign an Unused Flight Disclaimer form agreeing to send to their bank account the amounts (taxes etc) that were to be refunded from cancelling our 3 flights, 2 of them redemption flights (with SQ and AF booked with QFF points) before they would book our emergency flights home. Nothing was brought up by the claims team about the points from the cancelled redemption flights which the emergency team had thought I may have to repay to them, but as was discussed in this thread there would be no way for me to do that anyhow. Also if they had been normal purchased non flexible tickets the amounts refunded wouldn't likely to have been any more than I was refunded from the redemption tickets.

Nothing like this has ever happened to us in all of our travels over the years so this was the first time we have ever had to make a travel insurance claim but we are very pleased with how our SCTI looked after us in all aspects of our claim.

Thanks for the update.

You raise an interesting issue… the disclaimer to return unused taxes from any unused award booking. Do they mean ‘taxes’ or does that also include any carrier charges?

If the latter… that could be a significant amount of money… many hundreds of dollars per person. It would be right for the insurance company to claim those.

 

[VPS]

Good outcome

Good luck with the recovery

 

[Ken1]

You raise an interesting issue… the disclaimer to return unused taxes from any unused award booking. Do they mean ‘taxes’ or does that also include any carrier charges?

If the latter… that could be a significant amount of money… many hundreds of dollars per person. It would be right for the insurance company to claim those.

When I said unused taxes I meant any refunds we would receive.

The form I signed said: " .... will confirm cover for the travel costs incurred for Qatar Airways Flight from Munich to Sydney for Ken1 and Mrs Ken1, only on the basis that Southern Cross Travel Insurance may collect any refunds due on our existing, unused flight tickets with Lufthansa, Air France and Singapore Airlines."

I was totally fine with that since they were providing replacement fights home. I sent them just over $A1300. The refunds from SQ for the cancelled LHR-SYD were $1052 for both of us, $113 from QF for the AF LJU-CDG-LHR flights and $163 from LH for the cancelled revenue tickets we had purchased.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

When I said unused taxes I meant any refunds we would receive.

The form I signed said: " .... will confirm cover for the travel costs incurred for Qatar Airways Flight from Munich to Sydney for Ken1 and Mrs Ken1, only on the basis that Southern Cross Travel Insurance may collect any refunds due on our existing, unused flight tickets with Lufthansa, Air France and Singapore Airlines."

I was totally fine with that since they were providing replacement fights home. I sent them just over $A1300. The refunds from SQ for the cancelled LHR-SYD were $1052 for both of us, $113 from QF for the AF LJU-CDG-LHR flights and $163 from LH for the cancelled revenue tickets we had purchased.

Ah, yes! That makes sense!

 

[ellen10]

That was a good outcome for you. With not too much travel insurance hassle.

Good luck with your recovery

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Thanks for the report, sounds like Southern Cross travel insurance is worth using. Good luck on your path to recovery!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the report, sounds like Southern Cross travel insurance is worth using. Good luck on your path to recovery!

i have been using them for short trips to the usa… 6 days just $38 ( unlimited medical + personal liability)

so cheap!

 

[Ken1]

Thanks everyone.

I forgot to mention that they also paid me $400 for "Cash Allowance whilst in hospital". If you need to stay in hospital for more than 72 consecutive hours because of an unexpected event during your journey they pay you $100 a day. When I submitted the claim and listed all expenses I had incurred and uploaded the receipts I had forgotten that this was also a benefit so it's good that they paid that without me requesting it.

 

[sydunipete]

Sounds like a good outcome.

As an aside, you mentioned that travel insurance coverage ceases as soon as you arrive home. This is true. I usually travel overseas for 6 months at a time and during this time it is possible to put my private health insurance on hold (CBHS). Six months without premiums is quite a saving - however - if you sustain an injury whilst overseas during the premium pause that injury will be treated as a pre-existing condition so any follow-up surgery or rehab in Australia wouldn't be covered. For this reason I've decided to retain my health insurance all year. (Ouch!)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Sounds like a good outcome.

As an aside, you mentioned that travel insurance coverage ceases as soon as you arrive home. This is true. I usually travel overseas for 6 months at a time and during this time it is possible to put my private health insurance on hold (CBHS). Six months without premiums is quite a saving - however - if you sustain an injury whilst overseas during the premium pause that injury will be treated as a pre-existing condition so any follow-up surgery or rehab in Australia wouldn't be covered. For this reason I've decided to retain my health insurance all year. (Ouch!)

Plus, apparently, it affects your lifetime or yearly private health cover for tax purposes? As in the days the premium is ‘on hold’ or suspended do not count towards the 365/365 requirement.