My daughter was taken ill with an unforeseen infection after our booking and couldn’t make the trip
On 18 February I booked a half-term holiday trip for my family to Portugal. I bought the flight with easyJet and, at the same time, bought the airline’s travel insurance provided by Collinson.
A week before we were due to fly, while visiting family in the Netherlands, my four-year-old daughter was diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia and given oral antibiotics. These were not effective and she was rushed to hospital.
It was obvious the Portugal trip was off so I claimed on the policy, providing all necessary documents, including a declaration from a doctor at the Dutch hospital stating that she had caught pneumonia and was unfit to fly.
I received a phone call from Collinson from an agent who seemed ready to settle the claim over the phone, but stopped once I said I was claiming for our non-refundable hotel bills, as well as the flights.
The next day I received a short, generic email saying my claim had been denied. The reason stated is: “I can see from the details provided that the person giving rise to your claim was not considered stable at the time of booking your trip … we cannot consider these circumstances as unforeseen.”
This was ludicrous. A pneumonia infection cannot be foreseen. My daughter was a healthy child and was attending school at the time of the booking.
Surely this kind of case is exactly what insurance is for. The policy has a £3,000 maximum for emergency cancellation which would allow me to recover about 90% of the expenses.
About Author
More Stories
How I beat overwhelm: Tracking my heart rate left me feeling like a frustrated failure
This is how we do it: ‘I struggle to fully enjoy sex because I’m so conscious of what I look like’
The year in stuff – from chicken wine to cucumbers and mini mullets