Flights

[AmandaD1974]

Hi please could someone help with this.
Im sure you have all seen the state of the airports in England at the moment all the delays and cancellations.

My question is... I have booked my appartement through booking. Com

I will get my flight costs refunded but how do I get cover for my appartement if I can't get there I've looked at insurance but the insurance only starts on the first day of travel... Please help I'm so confused

Amanda

Assuming that your accommodation is non-refundable, you’d need to look at insurance that covers this contingency. Depends on the policy.

I don’t understand what you mean about insurance starting on the first day of travel? You buy insurance in advance for the trip starting on X date, and if you flight is cancelled you’ll be able to make a claim for the accommodation whenever you know. You buy insurance at the time of booking, not the day that you travel, but a one off-trip policy only covers that particular trip.
The alternative is to buy an annual
policy that often isn’t much more expensive.

Did you pay already for the apartment? Your insurance should cover if you took it out before you booked and if it covers for cancellation.

Thank you,
When I put in the details for the insurance, it says "your insurance will start" on the first day of the holiday.
I've looked at insurance that starts immediately, and it's not too expensive so will just have to do that I think.
Amanda

Insurance you take out now won't cover an existing booking.

It's standard for a single trip policy to run from the day of departure to the planned day of return.

You need to check what it actually covers. Some policies might cover this issue, some might not, I don't know if it's possible to get cover for this, unfortunately you need to do lots of tedious reading of T&Cs to understand what you are buying. But it's not dependent on the policy starting before you travel, you only have to have bought it for the trip you're taking.

If your flight is cancelled by the airline due to staff shortages, you will also be entitled to at least £200 pp compensation, so this could go towards lost accommodation costs if you don't have other insurance.

Finally, I know it doesn't help this time, but this is one of the disadvantages of booking everything separately, compared with a package. With the latter, if the airline cancels the flight, they have to refund all your costs, not just for the flights.

The insurance only starts on the first day as until that point, you can’t have lost anything. If your flight is cancelled you claim when you should have arrived at the apartment but couldn’t.

@MissAmbrosia, insurance booked now will cover you, it just won’t cover any claims for difficulties arising prior to the purchase.

Amanda, you should be covered if you buy insurance now , and go for cover that includes losses due to travel cancellation. Some do, some don’t. You’ll only be able to claim on the day cover starts (first day of the trip) as that’s when you’ve not been able to avail of the accommodation. Until that point, the airline could still get you there (or you could get there under your own steam) by another means to use the booking.

Lots of hotels have a tiered pricing system now, with customers paying a little more to be able to cancel. Since covid, we’ve only ever booked refundable accommodation.

Thanks for all the fabulous advice everyone x