Travel insurance to cover cancellation if have birth problems etc?

[Summergarden]

Hi,

I'd like to book a holiday soon but am almost 4 months pregnant. The holiday would be for next September when baby will be 4 months old all being well. We already have a dd almost 2.

Don't mean to sound morbid, but am looking for a travel insurance policy to take out at same time as booking the holiday that will cover miscarriage and also if there were problems with the birth resulting in me or baby not being able to travel.

There wouldn't be the option to just go on holiday if I were to have a mc as I'm a teacher and term time holidays are obviously a no-go unless I'm on maternity leave which all being well I will be.

If anyone has any recommendations for companies that are good at providing cover for such things I'd be really grateful to hear about them.
Thanks in advance.

not morbid at all, just practical. You should always take out insurance the moment you book.

miscarriage may be an issue depending on when it happened (of course let's hope that it doesn't). If it is a long time before the holiday then there would be no medical reason why you couldn't go - except that you can't take term time holiday.

pregnancy is of course a pre-existing condition - so your best bet is to contact insurers now to discuss to make sure you can get the cover you need. I'm sure you can somewhere, provided that you are currently healthy and your pregnancy is progressing normally.

Thanks Special, yes that's a good point that pregnancy is a pre existing condition. Somewhere I read that post office cover is supposed to be good so will ring them.

My friend had a mc at 24 weeks, but was entitled to take a year for maternity leave.

Pregnancy is generally not regarded as a pre-existing condition... It normally is specifically stated as 'not considered an illness'. Only complications of pregnancy - including miscarriage - are covered, not normal things like normal morning sickness, a delivery after (often) 34 weeks.

Good luck but I think you will be hard pressed to cover a holiday cancellation due to a miscarriage's knock on effect many months later of not being on leave, rather than due to the medical effects of a miscarriage.

Note you are entitled to still take maternity leave if your pregnancy ends after 24 weeks. If you wait til after this point to book you will know for sure you'll be on leave... Also how can you book a spot for you son/daughter if they don't have travel documents because they aren't born yet....?

I think that you can book for someone who is still in utero - they are listed as 'baby x' and you then give the details once they arrive. Babies usually travel free (although there may be other charges depending on the holiday) but of course they need passports and to be named on the travel insurance.

that said, OP - as it will be out of term-time is it really necessary to book this far ahead?

Some airlines definitely let you book 'plus baby'. BA for one.

I guess you just need to consider carefully when looking for insurance but I'd also wait until after 24 weeks to book.

Thanks for all your replies. The holiday company had already confirmed that we could put 'infant x' on the booking form and name change it free of charge when baby was born.

After speaking to the insurance company, there would be no problem in cancelling in case of late mc or birth problems etc, but the problem if i had an earlier rather than late mc would be me not being able to take leave in September if wasn't on maternity leave. The man I spoke to suggested that if it were later, and a GP said I wasn't in a fit state to travel then that should be enough.

I think that the safest thing to do, as several of you have suggested, is wait until 24 weeks to book, to be a bit more certain of things. It's really just my dh working abroad lots and having things scheduled in early that made me want to know we had got it all booked yet still affordable and the resort we have found looks brilliantly baby and toddler focused so I'm just hoping they will still have availability in January when I'll be 24 weeks. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for everyone's advice. Must admit I'd completely forgotten the baby would need a passport too so I'm glad I was reminded of that!

Hi,

I have a similar situation. The baby is due in December and we have a family wedding in March. Which insurer did you end up using?

Thanks, Euan.