JS Insurance blog

In March, the Cuban government decided that all travellers arriving in Cuba from 1st May 2010 and beyond would be required to purchase Cuba health insurance.

Tourists, Foreigners with temporary residence in Cuba and Cubans living abroad who return to visit will have to have a travel insurance policy that covers medical expenses or a policy for medical expenses with coverage in Cuba.

The insurance policy would be purchased in the traveller’s home country but for those tourists arriving without proper cover, they will be required to buy an appropriate policy from a Cuban insurance company at the airport, port or marina where they arrive.

In early April a list of approved insurance companies was released, which mostly consists of assistance companies rather than insurance companies.

AXA Insurance in conjunction with AXA Assistance have written confirmation from Cuban Assistance Company ‘ASISTUR’ certifying that travellers are fully covered by AXA policies and will not be required to buy additional insurance upon arrival.

ASISTUR is the AXA Assistance Group (AXA Assistance, AXA Travel Insurance and Inter Partner Assistance) representative in Cuba.

Travellers will just need to ensure they have their policy documents to hand when arriving in Cuba as they may be checked by ASISTUR.

Volcanic Ash has blown across UK airspace and many European countries, causing major disruption to flights and travel plans.

Delays and cancellations have been reported at all major UK airports including Gatwick, Heathrow, Birmingham and Luton.

We advise that you contact your airline / tour operator or departure airport directly to obtain up to the minute information on your travel plans.

Travel Delay: Some policies contain a Travel Delay section that offers customers a fixed benefit following a specific  length of delay usually 12 hours. Again for this cover to apply you must have checked in for your flight / journey in line with the original booking conditions. You should check each policy as limits vary between schemes.

Abandonment: You will be able to cancel your holiday after a delay of 12 hours or more from the specified time of your international departure.  For this cover to apply you must have checked in for your flight / journey in line with your original booking conditions.

You cannot submit a claim for both travel delay and abandonment which relates to the same event. As the limits vary between schemes, care should be taken to check the limits provided under each product.

Questions and Answers

Q: Can I claim extra accommodation costs?

Under EU Regulations, the flight companies do have an obligation compensate for auxiliary expenses such as accommodation costs etc, depending on the type of ticket you have purchased. Unfortunately the policy excludes this scenario of expenses.

Q: I have contacted my airline / tour operator and they advised that my flight has been cancelled. What happens next?

In these instances most airlines / tour operators will offer an alternative. If the alternative is not acceptable, you have a right to a refund from the airline / tour operator.  If you have other associated costs that cannot be cancelled without charge, like accommodation or car hire costs, if you are able to obtain a letter from the airline to confirm your flight was cancelled due to the weather (Volcanic Ash Cloud), you may be able to make a claim.

Q: I am still overseas, as my flight home has been cancelled?

This is a matter for your airline or tour operator, so please speak with them directly. If you had already checked in on your international return journey to the UK and your delay is of 12 hours or more, you are able to claim for Travel Delay.

In addition as the circumstances are beyond your control, your insurance automatically extends, without charge, until such time (within 30 days) as you are able to return to the UK.

Passengers at British airports have been stranded after the eruption of a volcano in Iceland forced air traffic controllers to close all airspace north of London. Hundreds of flights have already been cancelled at airports in Scotland and northern England, and the ash cloud is forecast to travel towards London during today, causing major disruption.

Air traffic controllers in Brussels in charge of strategic management of flights across Europe have issued warnings that all UK airspace north of London is closed until further notice and that many flights into Britain can expect to be diverted to other countries or cancelled.

Effects on Customers

• Customers may have had flights into or out of the United Kingdom cancelled or delayed as a result of the closure of United Kingdom airports.
  
• If any of our customers who have purchased a single trip policy wish to change the dates, duration or destination of their planned trip, subject to no claim being submitted or them intending to submit a claim as a result of the event, we will allow you to change the dates, duration or destination of their policy subject to the following criteria:

• The new dates of travel are to be within 3 months of the original planned dates of travel.
• Any additional premium due as a result of this change in the trip this will need to be paid by the customer.
• No refund of premium is to be made if the customer changes the dates, duration or destination of travel.

If any customer wishes to make changes outside of the above criteria please refer the matter to JS Insurance.

Effects on Customers already abroad

Customers already at the destination may need to reschedule their return flights or look for an alternative flight back to the United Kingdom. Policy wordings state that the period of insurance will only be extended if the event causing the extension is an insured peril, however JS Insurance will be automatically extending the period of insurance until such time as an insured can return to the UK for no additional insurance premium providing:

• They return on the earliest possible flight (subject to availability)

There is no need to make any amendment to the policy details on the system, however if you contact us the notes should be amended.

Claims

• Cancellation/Curtailment – No Cover with standard policies.
• Baggage & Baggage delay – Cover does apply.
• Delayed Departure – No Cover with standard policies
• Missed Departure - Cover applies where the failure of connecting public transport was caused by the volcanic eruption and it prevent the customer from arriving at the international departure point.

JS Insurance has launched a new travel insurance policy on their website: www.jsinsurance.co.uk

The new policy is underwriten by Groupama Insurance and is provided as an alternative policy to the others offered by JS Insurance.

The rates are very competitive and the cover is comprehensive.

This policy offers all that you require for your trip abroad. One new benefit is cover for Kennel / Cattery Fees.

We will you a benefit for every complete period of 24 hours that you are delayed on your return home, which results in you incurring additional kennel / cattery fees.

Some of the other benefits of this policy are:

• Extended Stay offers a great backpacker product, up to 18 months travel
• Levels of cover are Silver, Gold and Platinum
• Only Platinum cover includes winter sports cover