Topic: Travel Insurance

Will your insurance cover you if want to come home early?

Kawa cancelled a tour he was to take with his friend Jason, when Jason fell ill and was unable to travel. Jason was refunded his trip, but Kawa wasn’t. Apparently, Jason wasn’t sick enough to need Kawa to stay back in NZ with him.

Renee had poor impulse control as a result of a brain injury and was hospitalised after drinking too much water. Renee had to cancel her planned trip to Italy but her travel insurer refused to reimburse her cancellation costs due to a mental illness exclusion.

Bridie wanted her travel insurance to pay the costs of her new return flight with another airline due to an airline cancellation. The insurance company refused, because the policy did not cover the costs of a replacement ticket with another airline. Was this correct?

Will an insurer cover your loss if an offender manages to squeeze through a tiny window to enter your house and steal from you?

Janie had been experiencing mobility, fatigue and hip pain for some time. It wasn’t until after she had purchased her tickets and travel insurance for Europe that she was diagnosed with an auto-immune condition. Following her diagnosis, Janie’s doctor advised her against travelling to Europe. Can Janie recover the costs of her cancelled trip from the insurer?

Roger suffered complications during heart surgery requiring him to cancel his overseas travel. The insurer declined to pay for the cancellation costs noting Roger’s heart condition was a pre-existing medical condition. Roger complained that this was unfair.

James cancelled his holiday when his brother was diagnosed with lung cancer. He was declined cover because the insurer said his cancer was a pre-existing medical condition. James disputed this finding. Was James’s cancer really a pre-existing medical condition?

A minor prawn allergy is diagnosed as a life-threatening allergy weeks before leaving for Vietnam. Will the insurer accept the claim when the trip is cancelled?

John had a medical emergency overseas and needed to fly home to New Zealand. The overseas doctor recommended that John fly business class so that he could elevate his legs. John’s travel insurance declined to provide John a business class ticket and booked him an economy ticket home.