Cancelled holiday due to Covid, need some advice !

[Platosrevenge]

I had a temp and felt lousy. As I was going with DS 17 I really didn’t want to risk being ill abroad and leaving him to fend for himself or infecting half the hotel so had to cancel the day before.
Have got all the ‘no show’ paperwork from Ryanair but the insurance company are now asking for a doctors letter to confirm my illness had nothing to do with existing conditions (I’ve got high BP and had long Covid a few years ago). GP is saying that because I didn’t consult them they’re not sure what to write. Surely a Covid infection is like any virus, most won’t need to see a doctor, how can a doctor confirm it ?
Just wondered if anyone had been in this situation Tia.

I rang the insurance company the same day, at no point did they tell me to go to my GP. I asked what I needed to do, was just told to get a no show form from Ryan air.
Fair enough, I’ve been stupid. I presumed wrongly that a photo of a positive test would be enough.
Not getting into whether Covid is just a cold. It is for some, not for others.

Agree, there is no way insurance will cover this. Can you imagine how many claims they would have to pay out if anyone could say they had a cold/virus and therefore couldn’t travel, without needing a doctor’s certificate? Covid is no different to any other virus these days and most people would pop some paracetamol and go ahead with travel regardless but if you really felt too sick to travel you should have seen a doctor immediately before cancelling the trip.

It really isn't just like having a cold. 1 person close to me has died and another was ill for weeks with this current strain.

Yes - they’ll want that alongside some kind of proof from a doctor that you were too poorly to fly.

Unfortunately they will require evidence from your GP record. That is all in the T&C of your policy.

OP, you can’t just decide not to travel. You need to visit your doctor and they need to confirm you’re not fit to fly. If you didn’t seek medical advice at the time, you’re sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place. Your GP won’t write a false letter, and your insurance company will want actual, solid proof you couldn’t fly.

The travel insurance companies got very shady as soon as covid came in the scene, I remember looking for an annual policy and every company had a clause basically stating that COVID isn't covered at times where it is already known to be in circulation and of course it is always in circulation since it first arrived.

It's pretty short sighted to assume an insurance company is going to accept a random photo as proof that you had covid, and that you had it at the time you were meant to be going on holiday, and that you were unwell enough with it that you could not travel.

For all they know that photo's just the first one you found on Google.

2 years ago I got covid just before a holiday. The GP said they couldn't do a test to confirm I had covid, or write anything for insurance purposes. She just asked me questions e.g. how ill do I feel, and signed me off as fine to travel!
Not sure that things will have changed since 2023?

Agree, I’m an ICU nurse and saw plenty of deaths plus had LC for 2 years.

How could you possibly prove that the test was yours and current?

‘You can’t just decide not to travel.’ It’s this attitude that probably gave me and 5 other colleagues at work Covid 2 weeks ago. Nice one. I’ll make sure I cough and splutter all over folk next time I get it, might even take a trip somewhere with vulnerable people.

Oh dear, OP.

No, the insurance company won't pay out if you don't have any proof you were ill.

A photo of a positive test doesn't prove anything.

I don't think anyone is saying you should have gone and Covid can be very nasty BUT for your Insurance claim you do need more evidence than you have so you may well not be able to claim unfortunately

The first thing an insurance company does when you make a claim is check your GP records carefully. If the information pertaining to your complaint is not in those records, not only will they not cover you, they will void the whole policy, so you won't even be covered for things that you have declared.
It is an absolute headache but you have to follow the T&C to the letter.
I am sorry OP.
You should ask the insurance company to explain, in writing, what you should have done. It is so difficult to get a GP appointment these days. My surgery is very good with econsults, so I think I would have done that and attached a photo of the positive test as well as a description of my symptoms and a specific statement about feeling too unwell to fly.
I don't know if even that would have been enough proof for the insurers though.

I think part of the issue is how you are presenting this. You are, and I quite understand why, presenting cancellation as the responsible thing to do. But in 2025 that isn’t enough and insurers are only going to be interested in whether you were too sick to travel. A positive Covid test by itself doesn’t prove that.

Thinking back to lockdown, some companies were asking for covid tests to be done on video. My friend had to do one as she needed to travel for some reason. I can't remember now.

You are going to get nothing from the insurance.

It's really not "like having a cold". While the initial infection might be mild, it leaves its mark on the body unlike other infections. It's a vascular disease. Recent infection increases the risk of cardiac and thrombotic events, including myocarditis, arrhythmias, stroke, and blood clots. It's also linked to brain damage (frontal lobe trauma https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04569-5) increased risk of new auto immune diseases, it can "revive" dormant cancer cells (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02420-1) and generally weakens your immune system (whn.global/covid-19-and-immune-dysregulation-a-summary-and-resource/), leaving you susceptible to more illnesses. And of course long COVID which OP has had previously.

So while OP might not be seriously ill, she did the right thing by staying home to avoid spreading the infection further.

COVID was never just a cold for everybody, it brought my partner's hospital to their knees at its height, ambulances having to wait 8 hours to offload because beds were full of COVID victims! I caught COVID in 2023 after being on a flight from Mexico and was suffering health issues for 5 months afterwards! For many it's unlikely to be as severe now if they have had it, had vaccines and otherwise healthy but there are people that haven't had it yet it or haven't had vaccines or people that have other vulnerabilities and they may still be hit quite hard with it.

OP, thank you for being responsible and not flying with Covid.

The evidence in relation to the long-terms effects of Covid is frightening, and I am supportive of efforts to support people to (1) test and (2) take precautions if they are infected. Sadly, I suspect the insurance industry will not be behind these efforts.

On your current problem: my understanding has been that it's tricky to make a claim due to Covid infection, as simply taking a test is often not enough under the T&Cs – you need medical evidence in the form of a doctor's note. Did you receive any written advice from your insurer? If so, it may be that you can point to their exact advice to say that they cannot now rely on something buried in the T&Cs to avoid paying out. I've done this in the past (and succeeded). The legal terminology I used was to say that their statements raise an estoppel: they've made a representation about what you should do, and you relied on it, to your detriment, by not getting a sick note at the time. They cannot now row back on this.

You might also note that you do have evidence, such as your statements at the time, and the photograph of your positive Covid test (which will have metadata showing when it was taken).

Good luck!

That's not an option... we don't do COVID tests in primary care.

Also.. sorry, but no GP/clinician is going to write any supporting letters etc to say that you were too ill to travel if they didn't see you at the time. How can they???

The problem is OP that there are no rules against travelling with Covid. No more there there are rules about whether to travel with a cold. Some people are just a bit run down with covid, others on deaths door.

The insurance company will only accept a dr’s assessment as to whether or not you were fit to travel.

No chance of getting anything from the insurance company.

People who are going into great detail about the possible effects of COVID are entirely missing the point.
If you feel too ill to travel and are not in a position to get a proper timely certificate then you just have to accept losing the money. It happens /bad luck but you can’t expect an insurance company to pay up in your circumstances.