Travel insurance when trying to conceive

[LizAngharad]

My husband I have been planning to start trying for a baby after Christmas. We've just been invited to a wedding in Spain last weekend of September - which my friends are trying to turn into a bit of a holiday. I'm nervous about booking any flights or accommodation before I'm even pregnant, in case I'm too pregnant to fly. The flights would likely be Ryanair who only let you fly up to 36 weeks, or 32 weeks for twins etc (and there's a lot of twins in my family so I guess there's a fair chance this could happen to me too...).

As my husband and I travel a fair bit we have annual travel insurance, that runs out in a few days. We are going away at the end of January so need to either renew it or look at alternatives.

The things I'm thinking about are

1. who are the best insurers for travelling whilst pregnant?
2. Are there any insurers who would refund me if my doctor said I was ok to travel BUT the airline said I'm too pregnant?
3. If I can't find an answer to my second question, I have no idea what to say to my friends, other than make some excuse about being broke, which I think they might see through as the flights are very cheap right now.

You will need to speak to insurers about questions 1 and 2. As for question 3 - tell them it is too far ahead to commit ( which it is) and you will let them know nearer the time.

I've looked into this a little bit and couldn't find much about which insurers were better. I just went with a higher cost, better known company for reassurance, and checked the T&Cs on pregnancy.

On Q2, most airlines will ask you for a letter from your doctor to confirm that you are fit to fly. If you have that, I can't see airlines refusing you - they wont know anything besides what they can see on the outside.

Maybe the best thing is to tell your friends you've booked but actually just wait? Or if the flights are really cheap just now, book them, and take the hit if you have to cancel?

it would be a real shame not to book and go as if you aren't pregnant by the time the wedding comes around and it is too expensive/tricky to change your mind then you will feel like you have missed out.

airlines wont let you cancel just because you are pregnant. insurance wont cover you as its not an illness. you could only cancel on a doctor or midwifes note or if you were too far gone for the airline to take you.

I really would book now and take the hit later on if you get pregnant. good luck.

I think 36/32 weeks is pretty standard. Do bear in mind that no 'fit note' (on which I think you have to certify how far along you are) would overrule the time limit, no matter how well you are, as the carriers don't want you going into labour on a flight.

Ps and possibly more helpfully, many insurers don't mention pregnancy as it's not considered a medical condition. I went with John Lewis in the end when I flew at 34 weeks (not sure who the underlying insurer is).

Ravenhall are the traditional preganancy travel insurers. Maybe ring them and ask what you should do - perhaps you should take out an annual policy with them this year, for example.

I had A similar issue with BIL and SIL wedding in France. We had been ttc for around 12 months at that point and still hoped we would be pregnant any month. I was taking Clomid and really hopeful. We didn't book flights at first and started off saying we will probably drive. When it got to 6 months before the wedding we booked our flights. It turned out that I didn't get pregnant and actually took five years to conceive with two rounds of IVF.

If you need to book the flights now Id do it. If it turns out you can't fly there may well be other wedding guests without flights who would pay to take your flight from you, as a last resort. And at that point in time it would be a happy problem to have. Best of luck xx