Good long-haul business class cash deals with Emirates and Qatar

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• Jenni says:

  15 May15 May 07:27

  So for these ex-EU deals, what sort of travel insurance do people use? Mine has a clause that says all travel must start and end in the UK. Or do the positioning flights count as part of the holiday for possible claims purposes?

  • Sinizter says:

    15 May15 May 07:36

    Why wouldn’t they ?

    For example, if you’re travelling to Australia via Dubai and you booked your Dubai to Australia sector separately, are they going to claim your travel did not start in the UK ?

    • Jenni says:

      15 May15 May 07:42

      They shouldn’t no, but in my experience the insurance companies will use any little technicality to get out of paying up!

  • Rob says:

    15 May15 May 07:43

    Yes, you are starting from the UK. Otherwise, on that basis, any internal flights you took during your holiday wouldn’t count either.

    • Jenni says:

      15 May15 May 07:54

      Thanks Raffles.

    • Frustrated by insurance says:

      15 May15 May 08:03

      A surprisingly large proportion of travel insurance offered doesn’t cover just that – internal flights once you’ve arrived in your destination country. In the past we’ve looked in detail and checked by phone with numerous policies, and many (most) won’t cover costs or rebooking for e.g. internal flights in the US if something goes wrong with the flight that’s getting you there. Similarly if your internal leg prevents you catching the flight back to the UK.

      The same issues often applies for redemption bookings, especially those with a multi-leg itinerary.

      The general wisdom on the ‘net seems to be “get a better insurance policy” but when we’ve examined suggested policies in detail we normally find only 1 or 2 policies that cover such consequential loss. The vast majority don’t (but look like the ought to on a first pass).

      • tony says:

        15 May15 May 08:23

        The point upthread was regarding invalidating the whole policy if you don’t start the travel in the UK.

        i.e. I’ve broken my leg, insurers ask for proof of travel, I send them a ticket that starts in Brussels, what do they do about it? Can they avoid the whole claim?

        It’s a good point and one I will check out – my folks have just gone through an insurance claim and they asked for the e-ticket receipt, notionally so they knew the planned date of return but arguably had that ticket started somewhere other than the UK, would it give them an excuse?

        • callum says:

          15 May15 May 09:00

          Unless they are living in Brussels then no, it doesnt give them an excuse not to pay out. If they say anything then just explain however you got from the UK to Brussels.

        • Frustrated by insurance says:

          15 May15 May 09:39

          Right, medical cover is usually a separate section of the policy, and if you’re out of the country in a way covered by the policy it doesn’t matter how you got there. It may be that the original posters “originating in the UK” clause referred to starting in the UK for medical cover; but I’ve also seen many policies where the cover for travel delay (e.g. for extra and/or cancelled hotels) also requires that specific leg of the journey to be to or from the UK (so internal flights aren’t covered).

          i.e. the cover for for travel delay etc. is more restrictive than for medical, within the same overall policy.

          Obviously different folks care about different risks, but in my experience it’s relatively easy to find yourself coughing up for hotels due to a cancelled flight or misconnect at short (and therefore expensive!) notice. Far less severe than a medical emergency, thank goodness, but the headline cover for a policy can often make you think you’d be covered for this.

        • Rob says:

          15 May15 May 09:27

          No. There is no requirement for every flight on your trip to be on the same ticket.

    • Ben E says:

      15 May15 May 10:04

      On our trip to Oz last year we had an (independent of our international flights) internal flight delayed by 12hrs. Had booked it on Amex Gold which supposedly covers some flight risks. But aside from that, also had travel insurance with various flight compensation elements. Both refused my claims on the flight!

• Jason says:

  15 May15 May 08:27

  Not too sure about flights in First to Australia for €4,000? Cheapest to SYD is €5,804. Nor could I find Mel in Business.

• Brendan says:

  15 May15 May 12:13

  BA premium sale on as well. You can get DUB-JFK return in July/August/November/December business class for under £1000 direct on AA or routing through LHR on BA for slightly more I think. AA flights would benefit from pre-clearance though.

  • Rob says:

    15 May15 May 13:19

    That is very aggressive. The BA ex-Heathrow sale price is £1900 to New York.

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