What with volcanic ash and airline strikes, holiday cancellation insurance has been in the news quite a lot recently, and not always in a positive light. Well, we can’t actually guarantee to pay out every time but maybe we have the next best thing.

World First has just launched two new cancellation policies that will cover you in almost any scenario you could imagine.

1. Hotelsure, holiday cancellation insurance without limits

Over the last couple of years, with people feeling the economic pinch and the falling exchange rate against the euro, there has been something of an upsurge in UK-based holidays. It seems that people have been returning to local holiday resorts in search of an alternative to the increasingly expensive beaches of the Mediterranean.

However, wherever you take your holiday, things can always happen and problems will always arise at some time or another which may mean you have to change or cancel your plans outright. That’s where Hotelsure comes in.

Quite frankly, if you have to cancel because either you or a member of your family has medical problems or has a serious accident before or during the holiday, you’ll be covered. No questions asked, and there’s no age limit or health restrictions. There’s a really simple premium calculation table and you can set it up with just one phone call to our customer service team on 0845 071 3919. Alternatively, you can download the application form from the website, fill it in and send it off.

Policies cover up to £2000 of cancellation and curtailment charges per person and include protection for your luggage, documents, money and personal accidents whilst you are away. We can’t say fairer than that, can we?

2. Cancelsure, course cancellation and curtailment insurance

Another effect of the economic situation is the increased popularity of self-improvement and vocational training courses. You can now learn to bake a cake, write a novel or take a decent picture all in the weekend.

However, they don’t come cheap. Residential weekend courses start at around £300 and can easily rise up into the thousands. That’s a big hit to take if you have to cancel. In the majority of cases, expect to lose your deposit and, especially if you have to cancel at the last minute, you could lose the whole cost.

That’s where Cancelsure comes in. Just as with Hotelsure, there are no age or health restrictions. Even if you have medical problems or a serious medical condition, we’ll still cover you. You’ll be covered if you have two cancel the course, pull out at the last minute or cut it short. In some cases, we’ll even be able to pay for unexpected additional expenses if you have to return home early.

Just download the application form or call our team on 0845 071 3929 for instant cover. You can calculate premiums with this really simple table.

So whether it’s for your holiday or for your course, Hotelsure and Cancelsure mean you can book your holiday or invest in your course in the knowledge that if there are any problems, recovering the cost won’t be one of them.

Of course, if you are going abroad on holiday (to the World Cup for example – it’s not too late)  or on business, World First also provides excellent travel insurance for people with pre-existing medical conditions and for people aged up to 100.

Related posts:

1. Not enough thrills with the World Cup? Time to go on a real holiday.
2. Family holiday? Here’s how to sort the travel insurance.
3. Free travel insurance with your home insurance

Wouldn’t it be great if your holiday insurance paid out every time? | World First Travel Insurance Blog

Actuaries are a conservative bunch. It’s said that they’re the ones that found accounting and insurance a little too exciting. They spend their days among tables and charts that they use to calculate the risk of you and me falling under a bus before giving us life insurance. They spend their lives calculating whether that risk is worth taking. They’re the ones, like the man in the Treasury that holds the purse strings, that have to say “no”. They must have a lot of joy in their lives.

With all those boxes to tick that they impose before they’ll insure you, it’s not surprising that quite a few people are frustrated and disappointed that they can’t get insurance generally and travel insurance in particular. Yet there are real people and real stories behind all the numbers and many aren’t able to do what they want to do. But it’s not all bad, here’s a happy story that bucks the trend.

The traveller’s predicament

A recent customer at World First travel insurance, let’s call him George because he’s a bit shy, was in a predicament. Over the years he’s travelled a lot and has always used the same company. When he told them he was going to Canada for two months to see his granddaughter graduate, he didn’t think they’d have a problem. “Oh no!” they said, “the cost of hospital treatment is far to high for you in Canada”, and they refused point blank to cover him.

Did I say pre-existing medical condition?

It’s fair to say that George does have a few health issues, at 78 he’s on medication for high blood pressure (hey so am I and I’m MUCH younger than that!), he’s got one new knee and is due to have the other one replaced soon. He spent a lot of time calling travel insurance companies and most of them either wouldn’t touch him or gave him ludicrously high quotes. One wanted more than £1000 that was just for 31 days. Not a lot of good as he wanted to go for two months.

Here come the cavalry

Then a friend suggested he contact World First for a travel insurance quote. He called thinking they’d be the same as the rest and resigning himself to the fact that he wouldn’t be able to go to Canada. To his great surprise, he passed the medical screening process and then to his even greater surprise, the quote they gave him was much lower than expected.

I can go to Canada now

So now, British Airways and volcanic ash notwithstanding, he can go to see his granddaughter’s graduation and he’s recommending World First to all his friends.

So the answer isn’t always no everywhere, there will always be a solution out there. World First is a specialist travel insurance provider not just for pre-existing medical conditions but also cover the over 60s, over 70s and the over 80s. Drop in and see.

Related posts:

1. Travel Insurance for Pre-Existing Medical Conditions
2. Travel Insurance for pre existing medical conditions
3. Travelling with a medical condition? Be prepared for delays.

Insurers, risk and pre-existing medical conditions | World First Travel Insurance Blog

Sounds great doesn’t it? I just renewed my home insurance with Direct Line (yes, I will name them, hello Google, I’m here!). The house insurance (more Google attracting) deal is quite good. It includes buildings and contents as you’d expect with a reasonable level of cover, I added accidental damage because I can never be sure what stupid things I’ll do at home. I haven’t yet put by foot through the ceiling as it says in the documents but I wouldn’t be surprised if I did. I did put it through a ceramic cooker top a few years ago.

Then there’s legal support like most policies these days, they cover personal possessions outside the home and they’ll pay my salary while I’m on jury service. But what really caught my eye was the travel insurance. All for 250 quid a year. I know a little about travel insurance, I thought, I’ll have a look at that.

Now, read the small print

Among the documents they send you is a 65-page carefully worded booklet that sets out all the wonderful things they do. 10 of those cover what really interests me at the moment, the free travel insurance. So I read on. After a few pages of definitions, we come to the bit where explain what they’ll pay for and what they won’t. If you have to cancel your journey, they’ll pay out if you or someone with you is seriously ill or dies or if you’re called for jury service and the court refuses to postpone it. So far so standard practice. They won’t pay if you don’t have the right visa, if the airline or your tour operator goes bust or if you don’t enjoy the trip (that one must be there because someone’s tried to claim).

They will pay in certain circumstances if you have problems with delayed or missed departures. That would have been relevant in the recent British Airways disputes. They’ll pay if you have an accident, up to £10,000 if you lose a limb or your sight – but wait until you’re 16 to do it because they’ll only pay £1,500 if you’re younger. I, however, am interested in pre-existing medical conditions. What about me?

Where’s the catch?

There was a general catch all clause saying they won’t pay out if the claimant has a pre-existing medical condition. However, the reality of these statements  is often slightly more nuanced. So I rang Direct Line yesterday to put a bit of meat on those bones. I had a few questions to ask them of the type I asked Martin last week. I presumed that there would be some provision to pay and extra premium in order to cover me. After all, my wife is as fit as a fiddle, so she’d be covered, surely with a little good will and some cash changing hands, we’d be able to sort something out.

The call didn’t last long. Not to put too fine a point on it, they weren’t interested in me. Of course, if I had an accident that had nothing to do with my condition, say I broke my leg, that would be fine. Could I take the risk of something only happening that wasn’t related to my condition though? They have no provision for people that don’t fit the boxes. Now what’s the point of that?

So who are these policies for?

I have to admit to being a little surprised by this. Surely Direct Line aren’t saying they don’t want my money. Let’s face it, as part of RBS (for the moment at least), they could do with it. The truth is that they are in this market to make money quickly and simply. Their bean counters have come up with a formula to do this and if you don’t fit in, the door’s over there. I’d liken the process to the way supermarkets sell books and records. They’re only interested in best sellers and cream the most profitable sales off the top because it’s easy to do. They’re not interested in my money.

The rest of us

The rest of us who don’t fit into boxes are part of the long tail. The people that go to small independent shops, that want to find things that supermarkets don’t stock, that go to specialists for advice and guidance rather than talk to badly-trained operators in call centres. We go to people that take the time, care about customer service (the one’s that do it, not just provide training courses in it), and provide a customised product, not just a box-ticking exercise.

As for the jury service. I haven’t plucked up the courage to ask them what the get out clauses are yet…

Related posts:

1. Close to home: why holidaying in the UK this year might beat going abroad
2. Driving home for Christmas? Even Christmas breaks in the UK need travel insurance!
3. Wouldn’t it be great if your holiday insurance paid out every time?

Free travel insurance with your home insurance | World First Travel Insurance Blog

It’s official: 60 is the new 40, 70 is the new 50 and – well you get the picture.  If the silver surfer phenomenon continues, we will all be travelling well into our 90^th year, as long as we can afford it that is.

The opportunities for travel post retirement are so much greater these days, whether it is a short hop for a city break or an extended visit to friends and family on the other side of the world.  Most of us have so much more time to live out our travelling dreams later in our lives.

No kids (unless you are staying with them!), no job to return to, no limits on what we can do. Right? Well, at World First Travel Insurance that’s what we believe.

So, we thought it was a real shame that so many people over the age of 79 discovered that the barriers to travel weren’t health, or physical fitness, or even the cost of their trip.  It was the cost of travel insurance, if indeed they could get any cover at all.

Which is why we have raised our age limit to 100. If you’ve got the “get up and go” to, ahem, get up and go, then not only can we insure you, but we can insure you at the right price.  We have comprehensive policies, to which we have added additional medical conditions which you can opt to have covered, ensuring that you can travel with peace of mind.

Rather helpfully, Help The Aged has recently undertaken a price comparison on travel insurance policies amongst 25 insurers* (not including us) and we think you will agree that we stack up rather favourably.

Why not check out our website, or give us a buzz, and we can help you go on the holiday of a lifetime (or one of many holidays of a lifetime!).

*research conducted by Help the Aged in January 2010

Related posts:

1. Travelling with a medical condition? Be prepared for delays.
2. How to avoid malaria when travelling
3. Have a check list – the sensible guide to travelling

What’s stopping you travelling until you’re 100? | World First Travel Insurance Blog

There is a widely held idea that once you get beyond a certain age, you won’t be able to get travel insurance any more. Just like the idea that life insurance companies get jittery when you have anything that’s even remotely likely to affect your ability to live a full and active life. While this is true to some extent – actuaries will always be actuaries – there have been significant changes in the travel insurance industry recently that mean that even if your ticker is a bit dodgy, someone will trust you to go away and not expire before you get back.

There are two “problem” audiences for travel insurers, the old (read over 65s, not that old these days, but old perceptions are difficult to get rid of) and people that have medical problems before they travel.

Economic realities mean that insurance companies would be mad to discriminate against older people as they are the ones with both the money and the time to travel. There are still age limits on insurance these days but they’re more likely to be around 100 than 65. It’s unlikely that there will be hoards of centenarians complaining that they can’t get travel insurance. Well, not for the next 20 years or so at least.

Pre-existing conditions are another matter. Many travel insurance companies insist on a call to give you a quote and sometimes require an additional one to a specialist in order to determine the nature of the condition. This is not great as the people involved often have very personal stories and they don’t necessarily want to go through a medical questionnaire with someone in a call centre before being turned down anyway.

World First now offers a screening questionnaire that can be completed anonymously and discreetly. It saves time, a certain amount of embarrassment and no small amount of money. Just click the “pre-existing condition” button in the online questionnaire and you’ll go directly to a series of questions that will help determine the best product for you. Job done.

You can of course ring the call centre and you’ll talk to someone who knows what they’re doing and is tactful. It’s always better to talk to a specialist.

Related posts:

1. So what does travel insurance actually cover?
2. Must you take the insurance your travel agent tries to sell you?
3. The true cost of cheap travel insurance

Old or ill? Can’t get travel insurance? | World First Travel Insurance Blog

Travel insurance, like any other insurance, is always too expensive until you need it. Then, it miraculously turns into something of a shrewd investment. There seems to be a lot of mystery around this type of insurance and many people don’t bother with it at all thinking they’ll be covered by anything from their home insurance, some product provided by their bank or just by sheer luck or divine intervention. So what does this mysterious animal actually cover? Obviously specific policies and conditions vary greatly, but here’s a short list of the main features.

Cancellation

If you or any member of your party cancel your holiday or trip due to an accident, injury or illness then the cancellation section of your travel insurance should pay out. You can also claim if your trip is delayed for more than 12 hours and you decide to abandon your holiday. As with all travel insurance, you will need to declare any pre-existing medical conditions otherwise you may find the policy is void when you most need it. (Note: World First offer specialist medical travel insurance for pre-existing conditions).

Curtailment

If you have to cut short your trip due to accident, illness or an emergency at home, then your policy will cover the unused portion of your holiday, perhaps a weeks’ hotel accommodation and any extra expenses you are faced with when going home early.

Delayed departure

If your flight, sea crossing, coach or train is delayed because of adverse weather conditions, breakdown, strikes or industrial action you should be able to claim for a cash benefit covering any extra costs you incur whilst stuck at the airport. Useful when travelling with children who need entertaining.

Loss, theft or damage to personal possessions

Cover if your handbag is stolen, if you’re pick-pocketed or if you lose your travel documents. Most policies limit the total amount you can claim and a limit to the value of any single item, like a camera and its lens. More and more people are buying all-risks insurance on their household cover, which insures your personal belongings all year round and not just when you are on holiday abroad.

Cash & Documents

It’s always wise not to carry too much cash and instead consider a pre-paid travellers’ cheque card. Your insurance will cover accidental loss of cash and documents, though limits will apply and, rather sensibly, cash must be carried on you and not in your luggage.

If you lose your Passport

It could be a nightmare and happens more often than you’d think. Travel insurance will cover any reasonable extra costs for accommodation and travel expenses (no slap up meals then) and the cost of an emergency passport to enable you to carry on with your holiday.

Delayed baggage (and emergency replacement of essential items)

Of course, airlines don’t lose baggage do they? But in the unlikely case that they do, you’re covered. This will mean you can buy any emergency necessities like a toothbrush and some clean clothes (and have a wash).

Medical expenses

If you get seriously ill when you’re away, the bills can mount up very quickly. Travel insurance will cover most of them, although not for Spanish tummy. All policies include a 24-hour emergency medical service who you can call with any problems. Hospital confinement cover will pay you a daily cash benefit for anytime that your are admitted to hospital whilst on holiday too.

Emergency evacuation/repatriation

If you get very, very ill, or badly injured, travel insurance will bring you home. This is probably one of the most important sections of your policy. Would you rather be stuck in a remote hospital in Mongolia for a month following a car crash or be back home with your family around you and the good old NHS? The choice is yours.

Personal Accident

This covers an amount to be paid to you if you suffer the physical or permanent and total loss of any limbs, your sight or are permanently diabled following an accident during your trip. Your policy will even pay out if you die.

Personal liability

If you have an accident and hurt someone who is not a member of your family you’ll be covered for all the legal expenses and any legal liability for damages. Most policies include at least £2million of cover for personal liability.

Sports & Activities

Most policies will cover a range of sports and activities but the list varies from policy to policy and between every insurer so don’t just assume you’ll be covered. Separate insurance can often be purchased for specific high-risk sports (mountaineering, scuba diving, snowboarding for the over 70s or or a whole variety of things on or off the water). Cover for pre-existing medical conditions can be found by speaking to specialist travel insurers (like World First) and insurance is also available for golfers, business travellers and student backpackers (see related post) heading off for the very first time.

Excesses

A policy excess is your contribution to the cost of the claim. Check your policy wording carefully and make sure you know how much the excess is. They can be as much as £200 per person, per claim, but the norm is around £60.

Related posts:

1. Your travel insurance policy will cover you for Icelandic ash
2. Free travel insurance with your home insurance
3. Old or ill? Can’t get travel insurance?

So what does travel insurance actually cover? | World First Travel Insurance Blog

Never mind police constables and teachers getting younger by the day, it seems that now the population on the snow slopes is getting older and older. Increased life expectancy and improved pensions have meant that baby boomers that have reached the age of retirement are increasingly unwilling to sit in front of the fire waiting for the grim reaper to come along to tell them there time’s up.

So, do you fancy a slide down the piste for the first time but you’re more enthusiastic about the après-ski than the activity that precedes it? Here’s a few tips to help you:

It’s a sports activity

If the last time you did any sport in anger was playing cricket or football with the grandchildren, you’ll probably need a bit of preparation. That doesn’t necessarily mean signing up for the gym months before you go away, but don’t move straight from couch to piste in one go. Get plenty of exercise and think about warming up before putting your skis on and warm down when you take them off. You’ll ache a lot less.

Indoor slopes

There aren’t too many “real snow” artificial slopes in the UK, but it may well be worth while having some lessons and a dry run on an indoor slope before you leave. You’ll be able to decide whether or not you like it, you won’t waste time trying to get to grips with things when you are away and you’ll be one step ahead of your peers.

Falling on your backside is good

Really…. Even if you start with lessons (and you should) and don’t go gung-ho from the off, you will spend some time sliding down the slope on your rear-end rather than on your skis. people will laugh at you and you may be advised to laugh at yourself, it’s all part of the learning curve. Practice makes perfect and it’ll all come good in the end.

Your skis are not your enemy

Even if you think so. Your skis will be very good at getting you to the bottom of the slope. After all, that’s what they were designed to do. However, your instructor is there to help you train them so that you are in command and so they get you there in a timely manner and preferably on your feet rather than on your bum.

What about the insurance?

So this is a travel (insurance) blog. Of course we’re going to talk about insurance. Indulge us a little. One of the fastest growing areas of travel insurance is to cover the over 70s, it covers pre-existing conditions and, as long as you don’t go silly and start wandering off-piste, you can behave just like the young ‘uns – even go snowboarding. How cool is that?

Why on earth do it in the first place?

There are many people that think that climbing to the top (or almost the top) of a mountain only to hurtle at breakneck speed right back down again is sheer madness. So why do it?

• The feeling of smugness that you’ve actually managed to ski down to the bottom of a run and successfully stop yourself for the first time.
• Looking back up the mountain that you have just raced down, however slight the slope, never fails to leave you with a feeling of immense respect for the power of nature.
• There is really nothing like the cold fresh mountain air blowing on your face combined with the midday sun beating down on you. That lethal combination of sunburn and snow can be quite surreal at first. You have sunburn but there’s no beach. Euh?
• If you want to get away from it all, it’s one of the best solutions. Chances are you’ll spend a lot of time concentrating on staying on your two feet, so skiing really is the perfect way to get away from all your woes!

Related posts:

1. Wouldn’t it be great if your holiday insurance paid out every time?
2. On the piste? Have fun, but don’t ski.
3. Snow joke if you get caught off-piste!

Silver surfers? Going down the piste for the first time | World First Travel Insurance Blog