Insuring hols cover

Travellers facing added confusion as holiday firms deal with virus crisis

QYOU helped my husband several years ago and I desperately hope you can now help me. Last November, I booked a holiday of a lifetime as I was celebrating a special birthday this year. I paid £400 deposit by credit card with the balance of £6520.00 due shortly. The trip is made up of several components – flights, hotels, Rocky Mountaineer train and a seven-night cruise. I also booked flights with British Airways to get me from Glasgow to London, which is where the trip starts. At the time of booking, I had annual travel insurance with SAGA for European travel only but in March decided I had better upgrade to cover my impending holiday as it is in Canada and Alaska(USA). I phoned them and asked to take out cover straight away instead of waiting till my renewal later that month. They debited my credit card on March 10, 2020, and the issue date of letter accompanying my policy was March 11, 2020. However, they had renewed my policy for cover from my renewal date 22/03/2020. They subsequently put on their website “New Saga Travel Insurance

Policies taken out after 6pm on March 13, 2020, do not provide cover for claims relating to or caused by Covid-19”.

I emailed them asking if I was covered and got the reply my existing policy will cover me up to the renewal date but not after that, so have no idea whether I’m covered for holiday this year.

I am a 65-year-old single traveller and classed as vulnerable by the Government – I have diabetes, which SAGA is aware of. I am reluctant to pay out a huge amount of money on a holiday which may not go ahead and would be concerned about going anyway, even if restrictions are lifted.

Do I have to pay the balance or can I postpone my holiday? And would I be entitled to a refund of my deposit and have I any rights regarding my travel insurance and SAGA’s timing of cover for Covid-19 exclusions?

I would dearly like your help and give my full authorisation for you to act on my behalf. Mary Smith (name changed)

AAS I’m sure you can imagine, I’ve had lots of calls and emails from readers about cancelled holidays. Mary’s email is typical of the issues that travellers are continuing to face.

There is often confusion as to whether insurers or travel operators are responsible for dealing with cancellations and this means that