HunterGreen

Am wondering if anyone here has been in this situation or knows what to do. My parents are buying me and the kidlet some plane tickets to come visit them this summer. They are booking them over there.

Now I can't think of the word in English, but we need travel insurance with them - the kind of insurance where if for unforseen reasons (like illness) you need to cancel the trip, you get your money back (annuleringsverzekering in Dutch).

Apparently we can't get it because we live in the US. Anyone know if this is correct and/or how to go about this?

TIA! Elaine

RoadWarriorFromLP

It's called travel insurance. Really.

It seems as if you want really want trip cancellation coverage, and not the health care, etc. that you might be thinking of. If you reside in the US, you should be able to buy this in the US. Ask your (generous) relative to buy the ticket from the US, and I can't see why you'd have a problem if you are a US resident.

Elvira

Ask them to give you the $$$ and book the tickets + travel insurance yourself here in the US.

Usually you are offered travel insurance automatically during the booking process - though check the smallprint to make sure it meets your needs.

Cindy is a travel agent - maybe wait for her input too

HunterGreen

Thank you and yes, exactly - we really just need the trip cancellation coverage.

It's strange though, because when I still lived in the NL and my husband would travel from the US to the NL we'd book his tickets from there (because it's cheaper) and get this insurance for him... unless my memory's all shot (good chance at that too).

Englishmum

Here's the website for the US Travel insurance company, 'Travelguard'.

http://www.travelguard.com/

It might be worth contacting their customer services and explaining the situation and see if they're willing to cover you if the air ticket is purchased overseas for US residents.

(If you do, please post the reply here! )

snowbunny

Travelocity and others offer this.... but read the fine print. The situations for which you could get a refund on the Travelocity policy was if a doctor wrote a note that said you could NOT fly.... not just if you felt like shite or had a broken leg that would hamper your trip, but that you cannot fly.

I suppose this is to keep people crying off sick when they really aren't, but to have to get a doctor to say that you absolutely couldn't fly.... I can see the Dutch doctors being willing to do this (and foreign holidays are more common there) but if I had to get a similar note from my American doctor it would take days and even then I'd be charged a fee for it.

RoadWarriorFromLP

I'd suggest that you first check to see whether trip cancellation coverage is one of the benefits of your credit cards. (Some of the higher level cards offer this.)

To secure coverage would require that you purchase the ticket with that particular card, which would mean that your relative would have to reimburse you for the purchase made on your card. And do read the fine print to determine what would allow you to make a claim.

Jerseygirl

Years ago when my husband worked in Amsterdam he used to book my tickets from there...even though my journey began in the UK because it was much cheaper.

Englishmum

Come to think of it, this time last year we went on a short trip to London, Paris by Eurostar and then took a train from Paris to Amsterdam.

We flew back with British Airways from Amsterdam via LHR. We actually got partial refunds on our tickets (which were originally booked to depart from LHR instead of AMS) as the airport departure taxes are cheaper from AMS than Heathrow....!)

Come to think of it....I need to book and pay for a ticket to bring our (student ie. unwaged/broke!) daughter out from London to NJ to visit us and it's just occurred to me that we will probably have to start paying for her travel insurance too - never done so before, hadn't really thought about it....

Jerseygirl

Don't forget to get her well insured for healthcare!!

HunterGreen

I've checked this site out thanks to your link, and it does look promising. I will call them to see if this will work, and to ask a few specific questions. Thanks very much!

HunterGreen

I will definitely look into this as well. Thank you!

Everyone thanks so much for your replies! If all fails I'll just book through Orbitz and get Trip Protector.

cindyabs

It's one of the companies we use. Also AMEX travel insurance, and RBC.

HunterGreen

Happy news, and I basically have to hug Cindy for it for mentioning RBC.

I usually do just fine with my English except in situations like this, where I don't know exactly what I'm asking and I need to improvise... so I was very nervous but I needed to find out so they could book the tickets already.

So I called Travelguard. They weren't an option, because someone else is paying for the tickets. Which means that if we can't travel, it won't be me (= the insured's) expenses lost, so we wouldn't get the tickets refunded. Also they were pretty vague about a few coverage questions I had.

RBC was really pleasant to deal with. Two different people told me that even though my parents would buy the tickets it would still be covered, then the second person just to make sure called headquarters and verified.
Also their other coverage is really good, no vagueness at all. I didn't buy it right away since we haven't bought the tickets yet, which will happen tomorrow, so when that's done I'm calling them back and getting the RBC insurance.

Yay! Now that that's out of the way, I can actually start looking forward to the trip.

Thanks again very much, everyone!