How is flu covered?

[happy cruzer]

Last year we had the swine flu scare and I can't remember how things were covered.

 

At the time, it was considered a pandemic.

 

So does anyone know how flus are handled? Some question I have are:

If you have a flu when it is time to board a plane or a cruise ship, and they deny you boarding are you covered for trip cancellation/interruption?

Does the flu have to be a "pandemic/epidemic" to be covered?

 

My travelex policy mentions quarantine as a reason for trip cancellation/interruption, it does not define quarantine. How is that applied, is the quarantine for you, the area, the ship??

 

Thanks for any discussion on this topic.

[Host Caroline]

The flu doesn't have to be a pandemic/epidemic to be covered but you would need medical corroboration that you were unable to travel just as w/ any other illness.

I'm not sure exactly how your insurer is interpreting "quarantine" but obviously if they were forced to cancel a sailing -- or perhaps even delay one by several days-- due to flu outbreaks onboard that required sanitation measures, you would be covered for that but not sure exactly how if it was just a delayed and not a cancelled sailing. Sometimes the cruise line will offer option to cancel or an incentive to sail on delayed cruise but you would have to contact the insurer directly I think for better clarification... everyone could speculate but they would, I imagine, have to be rather definitive if you called them

[cherylandtk]

Here is how Travelex dealt with the flu last year; it also better defines quarantine.

https://www.travelex-insurance.com/Images/EmailDocs/H1N1Coverage_NWproducts.pdf

[happy cruzer]

Thank you for posting that link.

 

So I am beginning to think that if you have a flu that is somehow detected at boarding time (for example if they start taking people's temperature pre boarding) and you are denied boarding, your insurance will not cover you.

 

I wonder if you went straight to a doctor afterwards if it would make any difference on an insurance claim?

 

I do now remember a very strange case in which a couple flew to Europe. The wife admitted to having a cough or something on the questionnaire. They were denied boarding. I think the cruiseline refunded their money. However since when she visited the doctor she was not sick with anything covered by the travel insurance, they did not pay for anything such as airfare or hotels....

 

I know it is a very unlikely thing to have happen - a denied boarding but I'm beginning to think it is not covered in travel insurance policies. I think the only instances of denied boarding that I have heard of where the Bird Flu that caused some of the Asian air carriers to deny boarding and this one report for a cruise ship.

 

Thanks again.