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Thanks – so just as an example, Virgin just killed its LHR – PVG route. I’m booked onto the flight next year Feb and could still ask them to potentially rebook me on BA or any other airline?
@chrischris2202 – yes, Virgin is legally obliged to offer you a rerouting (if that’s your preference, rather than a refund). You should have a look at the alternatives and ask them to rebook you on one of those. That’s the law, not any special favour.
The evidence from Virgin’s previous dropping of Hong Kong and São Paulo is that they are quite bad about this, so you may need to persevere but fortunately you have six months or so before travel.
I would try with a couple of agents and see how you get on. If they don’t play ball, you may need to write, so ask on here again. Let us know how you get on as others will be suffering the same issue.
Shanghai is worth fighting for!
Hi, how do you advise AXA/Amex about existing medical conditions. I have a cruise in October booked Dec22 but since then my OH has a few medical issues and has begun chemotherapy. The consultant say travel is fine and they will adjust programme around the 12 day cruise.
I have always found AXA helpful but try as I might I cannot find how to advise them of medical conditions.@Paul – you can’t tell them as it’s fixed for everyone. You are not covered for any pre-existing conditions save those on the published list. The issue for you in the event of a claim is whether Axa/Amex could determine that event was related to an uncovered pre-existing condition. Unfortunately it makes things a bit tricky as you can’t take out a new policy and necessarily expect to be covered for everything, but other insurers will allow you to declare something and then they will decide if they will underwrite you or not.
The note from the doctor, from your description, merely states that they don’t contra-indicate travel (so gets you over the travelling against medical advice hurdle). It doesn’t mean that the condition no longer exists.
Thankyou- I have been getting quotes from others and as you can imagine the costs range from silly to mind numbingly stupid. One firm quoted £1,200 for a 6 day trip to Italy.
Thankyou- I have been getting quotes from others and as you can imagine the costs range from silly to mind numbingly stupid. One firm quoted £1,200 for a 6 day trip to Italy.
If you are travelling to Italy, you are covered in the public health system with a GHIC card and pre-existing conditions don’t matter. This means that at least any immediate medical needs would be met. The difficulty with Axa/Amex is what types of medical event might reasonably be linked to your OH’s treatment and your consultant might be able to advise. I think for instance, if someone is undergoing chemotherapy, their immune system may be compromised so, if that person caught a communicable disease which required medical attention, Amex could legitimately say they won’t cover it. If the person fell and broke a bone it’s harder for them to make a link. Something specific is better than say, high blood pressure which Amex Plat doesn’t cover as that could be linked to almost any medical incident.
The regulator cracked down some years ago on really ridiculous links like someone who broke their leg on the basis that they failed to declare having their ears syringed a long time earlier so the insurers said the person must have fallen because they lost their balance owing to the undisclosed ear treatment. You are actually better off with an Amex style policy where no disclosure is asked of you, because it’s incredibly easy to forget to mention something incredibly minor that is then later held against you.
@Paul – sorry, one other thing that occurred to me is that there may be patient support groups or charities that deal with your OH’s condition and may be able to offer advice about insurance. Mainstream insurers aren’t interested and don’t have the expertise to assess the risk so give you prices that are a polite two fingers. However, there are probably more specialist brokers/insurers that might be able to help.
Quick question related to the excellent points and suggestions from @JDB
When referring to pre-existing conditions, does that mean conditions that existed prior to the trip, or to the start of coverage, ie when the policy was started?
Quick question related to the excellent points and suggestions from @JDB
When referring to pre-existing conditions, does that mean conditions that existed prior to the trip, or to the start of coverage, ie when the policy was started?
The key point in time for the Amex Plat is when you book the trip. To put it into context, Amex Plat is a no declaration needed policy – they simply won’t cover anything pre-existing (as defined at the bottom of this post) at the time of booking and that relates both to cancellation and coverage while on a trip. Paragraph 1(4) [not 1.4] is to my mind a little ambiguous but I think you are OK if something crops up between booking and travel short of preventing you going on a trip, but please don’t take my word for it. And of course the condition of not travelling against medical advice or to seek medical attention is always going to apply.
For completeness, there are rolling policies such as Nationwide that require you to make a medical declaration each year, but they might then allow any disclosed condition to be covered possibly for an extra fee. There was also a policy mentioned here by someone – I think Direct Line, which requires you to declare conditions that arise between booking and travel which is potentially highly unsatisfactory if you were left uncovered.
The difficulty with a policy like Amex is that you only get to discover their decision on your claim after the event. They get to access all your medical records so might try to wriggle out of paying on quite tenuous grounds. The two year stipulation is incredibly generous to them because there are conditions that can be fully resolved and the risk of a recurrence no different than it was before, yet you are uncovered.
“Pre-existing Medical Condition(s)” means any past or current Medical Condition (other than those on
the Accepted Conditions list which is available by visiting americanexpress.com/uk/insuranceportal) which, during the 2 years prior to You booking a Trip, has given rise to symptoms or for which any form of treatment or prescribed medication, medical consultation, investigation or follow-up/check-up has been required or received; and any cardiovascular or circulatory condition (e.g. heart condition, hypertension, blood clots, raised cholesterol, stroke, aneurysm) that has occurred at any time prior to You booking a Trip.”Thanks, @JDB
@JDB
Thank you for your thoughts. I have signed up to a Macmillan forum which is good but tends to be people who have never travelled extensively so the advice can be weak. Especially for anything outside of the Europe.If the trip to Italy happens ( we are at a very early stage of Chemo) then I will insure and use the GHIC. Amex would not apply as any booking will be after we had the diagnosis.
There is a 12 night cruise to Norway in October booked Dec 22 long before anything came to light so any cancellation is on Amex. Norway doesn’t accept the GHIC thanks to the stupidity of Brexit so that will require full cover for pre existing conditions and cruise cover. Kerching!!!
I have been able to work out that being on Chemo drives the costs up, while having cancer that has been removed does not! I can understand the risks faced by insurers but their decisions are binary and take no account of medical advice. Frustrating but we are fortunate that we can deal with them.
@Paul – the GHIC card is valid in Norway.
If I booked my inbound and outbound flights on my AMEX Gold Card and have since upgraded to the Platinum, am I covered? I’ve put the internal flights on the Platinum. Have contacted AMEX Customer support who weren’t able to give an answer.
Good evening everyone. I need some advice:
First flight has been cancelled. I was supposed to arrive in Madrid at 14:00 and board a second flight at 22:00. I will not make it in time now.Second flight is a separate leg.
If I need to rebook the second flight would insurance cover the cost? I read through the policy but it isn’t clear to me…
Good evening everyone. I need some advice:
First flight has been cancelled. I was supposed to arrive in Madrid at 14:00 and board a second flight at 22:00. I will not make it in time now.Second flight is a separate leg.
If I need to rebook the second flight would insurance cover the cost? I read through the policy but it isn’t clear to me…
I think Amex will only pay you under the ‘travel inconvenience’ section so £150 for reasonable refreshments and a further £150 for additional travel/accommodation costs. So not the cost of a new ticket. For this cover to apply at all, you need to have bought the tickets with an Amex card and to have tried to get the airline to rearrange your flights first. Basically, you need to beg the airline to fix this. Hopefully the two tickets are with the same airline.
Thanks JDB.
I’ve spend 4 hours at the airport trying to sort thing out. Begging them!!! But no luck, and I will probably miss also a third internal flight…..
The flight were both with amexI’ve been looking through this thread but haven’t found a clear answer. I had to abandon a trip because the first flight was cancelled, which impacted the second and third flights as they were not connecting flights.
All flights were booked with an Amex card. I have the Platinum insurance and have been reading the policy details, but I’m still confused.
I understand that when abandoning a trip due to a delay of more than 12 hours (in our case, it was more than 24 hours), the insurance will cover “up to £7,500 for your unused travel, accommodation, excursions, and leisure activities that have been purchased on the Card Account, which are non-refundable, or any fee you are charged to change them if you cancel, postpone, change, or abandon your trip.”
I also understand that I can claim the Avios part of my second flight at the cost BA sells them.
My question is: the second flight was paid with Avios (60,000), money (for the tax part), and a companion voucher. Can I double the Avios request in my claim in light of losing the companion voucher part?
I hope this makes sense…
Hello everyone. Has anyone had any success making a claim via the AXA / Amex insurance portal. I need to make a claim for CDW on a recent car rental, but the AXA side of things seems to be running on dial-up. It is incredibly slow and some of the form fields don’t generate properly and you can not enter the information they require.
Has anyone made a claim for CDW, where the other party, who caused the accident, fled the scene and there is no photographic evidence of their registration number or car? The incident was reported to the police via 101 and a submission number was obtained.
Thanks
By way of an update: I called AXA this morning and there is a known issue with the web site when submitting a claim for CDW. I managed to complete the claim over the phone and am waiting for a decision now.
Has anyone had any success making a claim via the AXA / Amex insurance portal. I need to make a claim for CDW on a recent car rental, but the AXA side of things seems to be running on dial-up. It is incredibly slow and some of the form fields don’t generate properly and you can not enter the information they require.
By way of an update: I called AXA this morning and there is a known issue with the web site when submitting a claim for CDW. I managed to complete the claim over the phone and am waiting for a decision now.
Has anyone had any success making a claim via the AXA / Amex insurance portal. I need to make a claim for CDW on a recent car rental, but the AXA side of things seems to be running on dial-up. It is incredibly slow and some of the form fields don’t generate properly and you can not enter the information they require.
Pleased you got this sorted. I was about to say what a great system it is ! We had a small claim for a cancelled holiday last month, that was all done online. Agreed and paid out in under 10 days.
Stupid question probably. But can I download, or how do I get my Amex plat Insurance certificate to pass on to upload to Cruise company before travelling.
Re: ‘trip paid for on Plat card’ – if only flights are paid for using Amex, is that sufficient?
Cruise payment will be in $ so I’d look to use a card without fx fees. Unless I needed to pay off a small amount (~$100) of the total balance just to extend the full Amex insurance to the cruise itself.
Stupid question probably. But can I download, or how do I get my Amex plat Insurance certificate to pass on to upload to Cruise company before travelling.
I’ve used the Amex Experiences app to do this, but it’s a bit fiddly as it generates certificates based on country and dates – which isn’t ideal for cruises/multi-country trips.
Adding to the discussion on whether insurance coverage is in place if you’ve purchased on a different Amex card vs. the Platinum.
I’ve just had a claim approved for an item I lost at the airport on my trip. The trip was paid for using the BA Amex (and not using Platinum) so I wasn’t sure if the claim would be accepted or not – but it was.
Any experience of missed cruise cover on AMEX Platinum?
Have checked T&Cs and no mention about exclusion that I can see, but insurance staff saying it doesn’t cover cruises?
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