Holiday insurance- covering late cancellation?

[DoveLisand]

I want to book a family holiday for Christmas but my 18 year old might be working. Anyone got travel insurance that covers cancellations?

I have tried to google but no luck as just everyone’s policy appears

No-one is going to cover for that. Insurance is for unforeseen eventualities, not for changing your mind because it doesn’t fit your plans.

Daughter needs to find out asap if she can get time off work, before you book

As above, no travel insurance would cover that. Why don't you look at booking with an organisation that allows late cancellation or change for a low fée instead ?

Your only real option is to book a flexible ticket / holiday that will allow you to cancel.

The "cancellation" element of travel insurance is to cover you if the holiday company/airline/hotel etc cancels your booking or if you need to cancel for a reason beyond your control such as illness or death in the family. It won't cover you for the reason you want.

You'll need to read the booking T&C's, make a note of the last day you can amend your holiday and how much it will cost. Your DC will have to make their mind up by that date. You"ll have to pay an admin fee to remove someone from a booking and you might also have to pay an under occupancy charge if the accommodation is left short of people. Sometimes it's cheaper for the person who can no longer go to be a "no show".

If you book with TUI, you can pay extra for "TUI Flex" which allows you to amend your holiday free of charge up to a certain number of weeks before travel.

Why can't your DC book the time off now? Is it because their holiday year doesn't start until April? Could you hold off booking if that's the case?

One exception to the above tends to be military, you can easily get cover (from many of the mainstream policies) that cover cancelled leave in the military, usually just need a letter from chain of command explaining leave cancelled is required, it doesn't have to be for war or deployment reasons.

Military tends to be specifically mentioned though, not sure about other professions that can be difficult to acquire leave (police etc?)

Insurance won't cover that. I'd book a refundable apartment and flexible flight. On a different booking from the rest of you so that it's easier to amend.

Thank you ! Yes I looked at some policies and it’s life threatening illness or similar.

ok will have a think