Cancelling a flight or put into credit for Travel Insurance? Help needed

[twilsoncrow]

Quick question
We are due to fly to Vietnam on Saturday but due to an illness we are now cancelling the whole trip.

With the flights trying to do the right thing so we are covered 100% by insurance company QBE. Have required medical certificates etc
Do we cancel the flights and then claim all money back or should we put the flights into credit and then reuse at a later date (I know I can claim the rebooking fees via travel insurance)

I prefer to just cancel and then claim money back but don't know how the insurance company handle this.

Anyone have any experiences they can share?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Quick question
We are due to fly to Vietnam on Saturday but due to an illness we are now cancelling the whole trip.

With the flights trying to do the right thing so we are covered 100% by insurance company QBE. Have required medical certificates etc
Do we cancel the flights and then claim all money back or should we put the flights into credit and then reuse at a later date (I know I can claim the rebooking fees via travel insurance)

I prefer to just cancel and then claim money back but don't know how the insurance company handle this.

Anyone have any experiences they can share?

I would ask QBE for their advice, but I would suspect there is no problem with the full refund option. It will give you better flexibility in the long-run anyway.

As you surmise, travel insurance will only cover you for actual losses. So a full refund vs credit + insurance paying the booking fees later is not much of an advantage.

 

[twilsoncrow]

I would ask QBE for their advice, but I would suspect there is no problem with the full refund option. It will give you better flexibility in the long-run anyway.

As you surmise, travel insurance will only cover you for actual losses. So a full refund vs credit + insurance paying the booking fees later is not much of an advantage.

Thanks for your reply. Having called QBE a couple of times I am none the wiser. They are not that much help at all.

 

[GladstoneTim]

Thanks for your reply. Having called QBE a couple of times I am none the wiser. They are not that much help at all.

On my most recent experience with a travel insurance claim(not with QBE), the advice was rather sparse and mainly directed me to submit a claim and see how it is assessed at that point.

 

[twilsoncrow]

On my most recent experience with a travel insurance claim(not with QBE), the advice was rather sparse and mainly directed me to submit a claim and see how it is assessed at that point.

Yes that is what is happening here. I just don't want to be out $5000 for the cancelled trip.

Mind you my partner is not up for travelling overseas at all and their health is more important.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for your reply. Having called QBE a couple of times I am none the wiser. They are not that much help at all.

You are, in theory, required to mitigate any losses as far as possible.

If the illness is something which you expect to pass, and to resume your journey in the near future, you could perhaps weigh up the cost of a credit + rebooking fee against against any cancellations fees or complete loss of airfare (depending on the fare rules).

If the illness is something which means you are uncertain about future travel plans, or would not be able to comfortably commit to rebooking within the period of the credit voucher validity, then you can probably go ahead and cancel with confidence.

For example, if you were to cancel completely today and claim full reimbursement, and yet rebook the flight in two weeks time, the insurance company may question why they are paying out when there was a cheaper alternative.

 

[Flyer 777]

Having been an insurance broker for many years, I have never had an issue with any of the main insurers obtaining full refunds for my clients. If you are at all unsure about utilising the credit for future travel you should cancel, in fact it is much more straight forward to do it this way. Cheers