Flight booked to new zealand - going to be 30 weeks pregnant!!

[tigerlilt]

Hi, just looking for some advice. A few months ago we booked flights to new zealand for January for 2 weeks, with BA. I recently found out i’m pregnant which means i’m going to be 28/30 weeks pregnant at the time. Having done some advice i’ve decided it probably isn’t going to be sensible to go, especially as i’m at high risk of premature birth due to uterus didelphis (double uterus).

What would our grounds be for cancellation? would we loose all the money? Or have we got a chance of getting some money back/ flight credit?

My thoughts are a) tell the airline we have been advised not to travel by the doctor. or b) say i’ll be 36 weeks, therefore the airline wont ’let’ me fly, maybe more chance of a refund. Although i know it’s not ideal to lie, and not sure if they will check!!

Just exploring options and thought i’d see if anyone has any knowledge/ experience.

Also you need to consider when you are returning, I think the 28 weeks will be the return date so you will clearly be over that time. You are going to have to contact BA and see what they say.

Being devil's advocate - if OP booked travel insurance today perhaps alongside other holiday admin stuff like hotel/airport parking and has only done a home pregnancy test, how would the insurance know?

I mean if you said you weren't pregnant and didn't go to the doctors for a couple of weeks would they still refuse to pay out? They must see cases where people didn't know they were pregnant until later on.

this is what i was thinking, although i know it’s dishonest and will probably be frowned upon by a few people!

also on the other hand, has anyone done a long haul trip like this at this stage of pregnancy? nothing is cancelled yet and would obviously still love to go but just thinking it might not be wise!

It’s not just “dishonest”, it’s fraud which is a criminal offence. Any claim you make will be a fraudulent one. Also, insurance companies will do anything they can to not pay out and it’s not exactly rocket science to work out that you would have been pregnant when you took out the insurance so buying an insurance policy now is throwing good money after bad. Most airfares are cancellable or changeable for a fee so you need to work out what that means for your ticket type and decide accordingly.

Do either of you have paid bank accounts, OP?

they often come with Travel Insurance as an embedded product, which means you may already be covered.

Not the point of the thread but, it always astounds me when an OP doesn’t do a basic check of relevant websites policies before posting a question like this.

I think the first thing to do is read your booking conditions. If you have already missed the cancellation window, then I would just wait & see what happens. Sadly, several pregnancies end in miscarriage in which case you would still be able to travel.

Absolutely don’t do this. It’s fraud and if there is any paper trail that you knew about the pregnancy you’ll be caught out.

How do you feel in general? Woukd you be happy travelling? I know that no 2 pregnancies are the same but I travelled while pregnant (6.5 months with a fit to fly letter) and had a brilliant time. All depends on you personally though.

Tell me you didn’t read the third line of her post without telling me you didn’t read the third line of her post.

Posters who are nearly having kittens about the OP “frauding” the insurance … you do realise that there’s thousands doing it every single day? . …
my parents had a motorbike accident and the other parties insurance company are paying for taxis for them as neither of them can walk … the taxi company is literally rinsing the insurance company . Charging them triple the price of a normal journey . My parents have told the solicitors and they don’t want to know . They are rinsing them aswell . Trying to get my parents to agree to getting jobs done so they can use their own workmen who then quote ridiculous amounts of money that then the insurance pay and the solicitors get money on the side from the deal …
My parents are now not using the taxis or getting the jobs done coz it’s sickening how much they are scamming the insurance companies .

I personally would take the insurance out now if I was the OP .

Wouldn’t that be insurance fraud though? Is is really worth the risk of a criminal conviction?

So what? Doesn’t make it right does it? How about you stop encouraging people to commit criminal offences?

i did know this! i just wasn’t sure what my chances of actually getting any money back were, even with a drs note.

Do you mean a third post? OP doesn't specifically talk about insurance until a later post.
The idea of booking an expensive flight without immediately also booking travel insurance is hard to comprehend, I would admit.

I can feel the (all be it very justified 😂) judgment through the posts, as helpful as they are, so just thought i’d clarify a few things!
I’m 23 and haven’t travelled all that much! Nor do i have all that much life experience! have never flown as long haul as new zealand, and have only ever taken out travel insurance a week or so before departure, as thought it was only needed for when actually out there! Again, completely see why this makes me look like an idiot, just to explain why i didn’t think to take it out.

Also this pregnancy was a complete surprise, as excited as we are we are also scared, and trying to sort thing out as our life was planned out very differently, especially trying to sort out finances and save! We would absolutely love to go to our friends wedding but sadly it’s looking not sensible to do so.

Again I really appreciate everyone’s comments, just wanted to explain our situation a bit more.

OP how many weeks pregnant are you? Have you booked a midwife appt and informed GP/medical services etc? If yes, then it’s too late to take out insurance.

But if you’ve only just missed a period and done a positive test, and not told anyone other than your husband, then you could probably get away with taking out insurance now. Plenty of people have irregular periods , and find out on their first scan that they’re further along than they thought. If you cancelled the flights in a week, the insurers would have no way of proving that you already knew you were pregnant when you took out the policy.

only 5 weeks, but did attend an early pregnancy clinic last week as had spotting, so think it would be on file :(

Yes, there’s no point in trying to claim retrospective insurance if it’s medically documented that you already knew you were pregnant when you took out the policy.

I think all you can do is beg the airline to take pity on you. Maybe they’ll compromise on vouchers for future flights, or changing the date (presumably if your friends are getting married in NZ, then they live there, and you may want to visit them in the future, especially if you can’t go to their wedding). And next time - as I’m sure you’ve gathered - take out insurance the second you commit any money to a holiday.

Travel insurance should be purchased to moment you book flights etc.

If you get insurance now and then try and cancel and claim they will ask to see your medical history and see that you knew it was high risk pregnancy before taking out their insurance.

Having had a premature birth, I wouldn’t recommend it. I flew at 26 weeks, back from hospital in London, I had no choice. It was only an hour but it was stressful knowing I could spontaneously bleed then go into labour at any point.

Don’t beat yourself up about it, we’ve all done things we’d do differently a second time. At least you’ve learned this lesson early on in life and will know next time to insure your trips immediately, including flights.

The advice to check if anyone in the party flying has a paid for bank account is good as often these come with travel insurance.

If not, your best advice is to call British Airways and explain the situation. You may not get a refund, they aren’t obliged to do it, but they may offer to give you credit to rebook with them another time.

The other option is to speak to the bride and see if anyone else is looking for a flight. You might be able, for a fee, to change the names on the booking and sell the flights directly to them.

They asked which airline OP is flying with, when it literally says it in the 3rd line of the opening post

The Dr’s note is irrelevant. You have no travel insurance (unless, as a pp said, you do actually have insurance that’s part of your bank account that you’ve forgotten about) so you don’t need to prove anything.

BA have pretty good terms (in comparison to the budget airlines) for changing your tickets to some time in the future, and to a different destination if you wish, depending on your booking class. You can find this out by going into your booking or contacting them by phone. You’re unlikely to get a refund.

You may or may not get away with taking out insurance now and then fraudulently claiming on it. I don’t think it’s worth the risk of being unable to get insurance in the future, or worse.

It would likely have to be a private dr because you can’t use your regular GP service for this. OP losing money on flights is not their issue and someone who needs a much needed medical appointment for I’ll health should not lose the opportunity of an appointment because they didn’t book travel insurance when they booked your travel.

Our GPs will absolutely not do fit to fly (or not fit!) certificates.

all that aside, I flew to NZ in my early 20’s when not pregnant. I absolutely wouldn’t want to do it heavily pregnant at all!