Travel Insurance - Curtailment

vin33

Hi,

Does anybody have any experience of claiming curtailment and what is allowed.

On a family holiday to the States when my wife suffered a potentially fatal serious illness which required local hospitalisation, then airlifting to a specialised hospital for emergency treatment. She spent 8 days between ICU and a high dependency unit. As most people are aware, they don't keep you in hospital any longer than required in the US. Thankfully she will make a full recovery over the next few months.

Due to the nature of her illness, she was not allowed to fly for 2 weeks after the initial operation but since it happened at the start of the holiday we were able to take the original flights home. The medical bills are being covered by VHI (to their limit) then by the travel insurance and will be significant. There is no issue with this and the travel insurance company were of great assistance over there.

As you can imagine we spent most of the time in hospital and then after in our hotel although towards the end she was able to get out for short periods. During her hospitalisation, I visited her in the mornings, then took the kids to theme parks in the afternoons then returned to the hospital in the evenings. It was important to her that the kid's holidays were not ruined but it was difficult for me to do this considering the circumstances.

The travel insurance allows upto €5000 per person for curtailment. I do not expect nor am I looking for €5,000 per person.

The most important thing is that the end result is good in that my wife will make a full recovery but obviously the holiday was seriously impacted. The holiday was expensive, ie flights, theme park tickets, car hire, hotel etc.

The policy wording does address some of this, eg pre-booked tickets that were not used due to hospitalisation.

Does anybody have any experience or advise on what I can claim?

Thanks

vin33

From the policy:-

Curtailment/Curtail
– means either:
a) abandoning or cutting short the Trip by immediate direct early return to Ireland or the
United Kingdom, in which case claims will be calculated from the day You returned
to Ireland or the United Kingdom and based on the number of complete days of
Your Trip You have not used, or
b) by attending a hospital as an in-patient or being confined to Your accommodation
due to compulsory quarantine or on the orders of a Medical Practitioner, in either
case for a period in excess of 48 hours. Claims will be calculated from the day You
were admitted to hospital or confined to Your accommodation and based on the
number of complete days for which You were hospitalised, quarantined or confined
to Your accommodation.