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Travel Insurance for Coronavirus

Coronavirus ABTA Position - https://www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak

• Before travelling you must follow the advice of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) - this will be kept up to date. If you travel against this advice then any cover which may otherwise be available will be invalidated. This is a standard exclusion on the policy.
  
  
• FCO website https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice
  
  
• If as a result of the FCO advice you need to cancel your trip or the airline / travel provider cancels your trip then in the first instance you should contact the airline / travel provider to discuss your options. These options could be: postponing fights / re-arranging to a different destination / refund.
  
  
• As regards your insurance policy, any cancellation/curtailment/change of itinerary must be as a result of a specified event which is detailed in the policy. The outbreak of a virus/infectious disease is not unfortunately one of the specified events and is therefore not covered.
  
  
• If you become poorly whilst you are away and require medical treatment and/or need to change your travel arrangements then this should be covered by the travel policy providing you did not travel against the advice of the FCO or governmental body.
  
  
• If you simply decide that you no longer wish to travel and there is no actual restriction in place for that particular destination this is simply disinclination to travel which is not covered by the policy.
  
  
• This is an ever evolving situation, please check the FCO website regularly for details of any changes.
  
  
• If you have an underlying medical condition and your GP advises that you cannot travel on that basis then your claim will be considered subject to medical evidence.
  
  
• One of the Insured events detailed under the Cancellation / Curtailment / Change of Itinerary sections is: A Natural Catastrophe causing the local government or national government of the destination country to declare a state of emergency or the Foreign & Commonwealth Office recommending against all but essential travel;
  
  Please note: it is not the intention of the policy to respond in the event that a local / national government of a particular country declare a state of emergency and as a result of that declaration our Foreign & Commonwealth Office recommend against all but essential travel (except where this is due to a Natural Catastrophe). Insurers do however accept that the wording is open to interpretation and they are willing to consider claims in these circumstances. In the first instance please seek to recover your outlay from the airlines (refunds are usually given when flights are cancelled), tour operators, accommodation providers, debit and credit card companies.
  
  
• Aviva are asking that all claims are reported via the email box: avivatravelclaims@cegagroup.com this will ensure that the claim is logged. Insurers are experiencing an exceptionally high volume of calls to the claims helpline and delays should be expected.
  
  
• If you need to contact the Insurance Brokers Gallagher, the following email addresses should be used:-
  
  Susan Patterson
  Please email queries to: Susan_Patterson@ajg.com
  Working hours: Monday - Friday / 9 am to 5 pm (restricted times may apply on Mondays)
  
  
  We will respond to your email as soon as is practically possible