Travel Insurance for over 70s

[SunnyinDubai]

Hi,

 

I need to sort out travel insurance for my elderly mum - any recommendations? Thanks :)

[MMDown Under]

Hi,

 

I need to sort out travel insurance for my elderly mum - any recommendations? Thanks :)

 

I had difficulty arranging travel insurance for MIL, aged in her 80s. I eventually joined her in National Seniors and obtained insurance through them. She needed a letter from her doctor.

[kiwipete]

Norma and I are both over 70 and we have found the best cover we can get is through our credit card company!

We are Visa platinum holders (because we get best points for our Air New Zraland air dollars and no card charges) and find that even paying extra for pre-existing conditions and over age cost they are still the best!!

[thied]

Vero and national seniers are great

[Kinkacruiser]

Norma and I are both over 70 and we have found the best cover we can get is through our credit card company!

We are Visa platinum holders (because we get best points for our Air New Zraland air dollars and no card charges) and find that even paying extra for pre-existing conditions and over age cost they are still the best!!

 

Whick bank Pete? You have a Visa platinum with no card card/annual fee?

[SunnyinDubai]

Thanks everyone. Will look into it for her. :)

 

Unfor she does not have a credit card so that option is a no-goer for us :o

[Sandielle]

Thanks everyone. Will look into it for her. :)

 

Unfor she does not have a credit card so that option is a no-goer for us :o

 

Sunny, DH (who can't resist a search) just did a trial on 81 as an instance and found Covermore will do it. Costs more of course, but they will do it.

[thied]

Thanks everyone. Will look into it for her. :)

 

Unfor she does not have a credit card so that option is a no-goer for us :o

 

Vero do not need a credit card to pay

[kiwipete]

Whick bank Pete? You have a Visa platinum with no card card/annual fee?

 

Hi. Bank of New Zealand. You have to put through a minimum of transactions to qualify for a full refund of fees. (can't remember how much) No problem to us as we put everything through our card and just make sure we pay it all off every month! Just love seeing the Air New Zealand Air $'s adding up.

[spirit28]

I arranged travel insurance for my mother (81) through her health fund (Medibank Private) for a cruise we took last year & have done the same for an upcoming cruise this Nov. Had to pay an additional age premium. You can do a quote for online on their website to see how the $$ stack up...

[Kinkacruiser]

Hi. Bank of New Zealand. You have to put through a minimum of transactions to qualify for a full refund of fees. (can't remember how much) No problem to us as we put everything through our card and just make sure we pay it all off every month! Just love seeing the Air New Zealand Air $'s adding up.

Thanks Pete. Sounds like a top CC to have.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Hi. Bank of New Zealand. You have to put through a minimum of transactions to qualify for a full refund of fees. (can't remember how much) No problem to us as we put everything through our card and just make sure we pay it all off every month! Just love seeing the Air New Zealand Air $'s adding up.

 

We do the same Pete, except ours is with ANZ and we get Qantas points.

The air points are all very well for Trans Tasman flights, but in the past we have had hassles getting International destinations to tie in with the dates we need to join/return from a cruise. Not quite so bad now as you can use points and pay and more seats have become available.

 

 

[pomgo]

we have visa /gold alltitude card that gives us travel insurance for free and no age limit only exsisting med conditions apply.You need to pay for all your holiday on said card but find it great.

[room010]

OP's mother does not have a credit card.

 

I also suggest Vero (they are based in Adelaide I think - make Google your friend). They will quote over the phone and did a very good deal for my 80yr old mother's cruise and were much cheaper than the other companies we tried. Obviously you have to declare any pre-existing medical conditions but the cover they offer (medivac, repatriation, etc) is very comprehensive for the price. They also insure non-seniors too!

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

Hi. Bank of New Zealand. You have to put through a minimum of transactions to qualify for a full refund of fees. (can't remember how much) No problem to us as we put everything through our card and just make sure we pay it all off every month! Just love seeing the Air New Zealand Air $'s adding up.

 

Hi Pete, we do the same here for our Qantas FF points via our credit card. We put everything on there and pay the full amount owing each month, no interest to pay but a lot of FF points gained...:)

 

Jilly:)

[Debsta]

Hi Pete, we do the same here for our Qantas FF points via our credit card. We put everything on there and pay the full amount owing each month, no interest to pay but a lot of FF points gained...:)

 

Jilly:)

 

OK, I'm not over 70 :p (although some days I feel it!) but the whole QF FF points thing burns me. I have 300,000 QF FF points just sitting there and I can NEVER use them internationally at a time that suits me :( (aka I don't want to go to New York when it's 10 below zero). At least the points I gain on AMEX can be shovelled across to other airlines such as SQ, etc., and the Comm Bank Mastercard can be moved over to Virgin. But still.......all those QF FF points and I can't fly anywhere unless it's out of season or I want to do a milk run taking 3 times the amount of time with ridiculous layover times or in the reverse direction to get to a certain destination! That might work when I'm retired, but time is of the essence these days until I'm 70 and retire :D :p

[SunnyinDubai]

Thanks everyone. Will look into the suggestions. I have looked at Google but sometimes it helps to get recommendations as well. :)

 

Debsta - I have to admit that when I was looking at using our points recently - the seats were there- unfor the taxes that we need to pay for the ticket makes it an expensive affair - it takes a lot of $ to get a decent amount of points but they just don't have the value when it comes to redeeming them :(

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Thanks everyone. Will look into the suggestions. I have looked at Google but sometimes it helps to get recommendations as well. :)

 

Debsta - I have to admit that when I was looking at using our points recently - the seats were there- unfor the taxes that we need to pay for the ticket makes it an expensive affair - it takes a lot of $ to get a decent amount of points but they just don't have the value when it comes to redeeming them :(

 

Thats the part I do not understand.Recently on a Trans Tasman , we could have got a free flight with our air points, but they wanted us to pay taxes, which were more than what we could have bought a ticket ,that included taxes , with one of the discount air lines.:confused:

 

Whats the point of having a Frequent Flyer Scheme?

 

[SunnyinDubai]

Thats the part I do not understand.Recently on a Trans Tasman , we could have got a free flight with our air points, but they wanted us to pay taxes, which were more than what we could have bought a ticket ,that included taxes , with one of the discount air lines.:confused:

 

Whats the point of having a Frequent Flyer Scheme?

 

 

I agree - I was keeping an eye on airfares and there were specials which worked out to be better value. It is just that I was not sure about whether I could travel so I could not take advantage of the specials so from that perspective, the FF points allowed me the option of booking late at a slightly cheaper cost than having to purchase the ticket price outright - but given that the cost of the ticket is pretty nominal, it is not a lot of money saved. I guess the Airlines will say that irrespective of whether it was a paid or free tickets, the taxes need to be paid to the relevant authorities and well they cannot cover that cost. :rolleyes:

[Kiwi Kruzer]

It does get frustrating at times, but...

It all comes back to swings and roundabouts.

We accepted the deal I outlined above as it suited our travel plans better.

Sometimes you can get a cheaper flight, but the time frame may mean another outlay for a hotel for the night...... and I'm over flying at weird hours just to save a few dollars...

Been there done that....

Flying is so much of a hassle these days, I prefer to at least get some enjoyment out of it,

by flying, (when need be,)

to suit my own time frame.

 

Whenever we book a cruise now, we look at the total vacation price.....

 

 

 

[The_Big_M]

Thats the part I do not understand.Recently on a Trans Tasman , we could have got a free flight with our air points, but they wanted us to pay taxes, which were more than what we could have bought a ticket ,that included taxes , with one of the discount air lines.:confused:

 

Whats the point of having a Frequent Flyer Scheme?

 

 

Ther's a reason FF programmes have been making more profit for some airlines than their actual air services.

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

We've used our FF points for every longhaul flight we've done over the past few years and have managed to get seats easily.

However I would think if you're planning a flight over the Christmas period you would have to book it with your FF flyer points as soon as the flight becomes available to book with points which is just under 365 prior to the departure date.

Slightly off the topic but everyone has been commenting about taxes built into airfares. We've just booked flights from Gold Coast to Sydney for $29.00 per person...

However, by the time we had added the taxes as we progressed through the online booking, then the baggage allowance, then the $4.00 per person to allocate the seat. The final airfare came to $62.00 per person. Still cheap I know but there's a bit of a difference in the advertised price to the actual price paid.

Jilly:)

[Aussie Gal]

We have never had a problem with using our Qantas points or our Kris Flyer points. We have always got the flights we wanted as well as the times etc.

 

We do plan ahead though and as soon as we know where we want to go, we immediately book the flights. We do not use our points for domestic flights as they are inexpensive anyway. All our points have gone on International flights whether to Europe, Tahiti, or the U.S. We have also used them on partner airlines with Singapore airlines in the States.

 

Jennie

[dougo in oz]

I agree with AussieGal - a bit of pre-planning can pay dividends.

 

Before we left on our last cruise (21 June to 1 July), we debated about using our Qantas FF points for a flight to Singapore in April 2012 where we'll board the Diamond Princess for our next "big" cruise.

 

We decided to book our flights yesterday after deciding that in these economic times, it's better to use the points and get the benefit of them rather than saving them and risking yet another change to the FF program.

 

We had no difficulty getting economy seats on Qantas using our FF points and the "Classic" seat as opposed to "any seat" and in fact, we could have booked on any number of flights - only one flight did not have economy seats but it did have Prem Econ and Bus Class.

 

Had we gone for the "any seat" reward, we would have paid more taxes and around 57,000 QFF points each.

 

For the cost of around $435 in taxes for the two of us and 30,000 QFF each, I have to say I'm pretty happy. In our case, paying some $200 each for taxes wasn't much considering a one-way air fare with QF was around $800 each.

[Gerko]

If you're in NSW look for The Travel Cellar - Seniors Travel Hotline in the annual NSW Seniors Card Directory. They sell travel insurance and cruises at special rates but you must hold a NSW Seniors card.