 Poster: A snowHead
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@snowdave, thanks for the link!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@BigJin, Without wanting to sound like an Amex advert, for platinum it's 90 days single trip, 240 days in a year. 365 days for dependents under 25 on a gap year. I'm unlikely to hit any of those targets sadly.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@pam w, You're looking at the summary of cover, not the detailed docs for policyholders. Ski touring is explicitly and separately identified as being covered (albeit with no personal liability cover, and no £50k payout on death).
Hope that puts your mind at rest 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@snowdave, we've just acquired (?) Amex Pts mostly because of the "free" lounge access (but lots of other benefits justify it, not least the insurances). That said I will still pay the €25 each for Vieux Campeur Annual sports cover, as well, it's just easy.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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My brother broke his arm badly in Tignes last year, and was then helicoptered off in Tignes. Was in hospital for a few days and was lucky to avoid surgery, (which would have been done at home).
All covered by the Austrian Alpine Club, no complaints from him.
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For any keen skier Off-Piste Insurance WITHOUT a guide really is a must. Otherwise, 10 feet down the side of the piste and they could refuse to pay out. I found that the Revolut travel insurance does cover you without a guide, as long as you are within resort boundaries and not against advice. In Europe resort boundaries are usually not specified + what is resort advice? If it is Avalanche 2 in theory there is some danger off piste. At a 4 can you even ski down the side of the piste? It is a minefield and not properly thought out by most insurance companies. The insurers that have proper off-piste no guide cover are, in my view, prohibitively expensive (Snocard, DogTag, BMA etc.) then some also change underwriters year on year changing small terms you might miss.
One option is to go for the Resort sold insurance. Grand Massif is €40 with season pass and covers off-piste accessible by the lifts. Seems goodish value but what does that mean? If you hike up a bit is that still covered? If you put your skins on are you covered? I emailed them and got no response and it is pretty dangerous to not know. Most importantly I noticed that there is no repatriation cover with this year's Grand Massif in resort policy. If you need to be flown home with a broken leg they will not cover the cost of this and your bank bundled insurance certainly won't if you were off piste or on your skins at the time of the accident.
Long and short is, from my extensive research and what I have found, that the ONLY sensibly priced option for off-piste / hiking / ski touring, is the Austrian Alpine Club GB. Lots of stories of claims paid out without a fuss. There is a great opportunity for a UK based insurer to piggy back on the AAC underwriter and sell an off-piste / touring without a guide 'top up' insurance for £60 a year. Note- there are a few top up insurance providers but they are very expensive again.
Would be interested to know if anyone has found any better options?
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@ukproptoppy, Welcome to snowHeads. this is a perennial question that is asked numerous times every season. You have succinctly pulled together all the usual responses. Re AAC - the cover is limited to "Medically necessary treatment (including medically necessary transport to a hospital) abroad: up to EUR 10,000." and some folk think that's not enough. It would be enough for a broken leg, probably not for something more serious if a private clinic was the only option, that said I would expect very serious injuries to be taken to a public hospital
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@ukproptoppy, the only gotcha I've seen is a smallish limit for private medical and the desire (it appears) to get you home, and for the UK, presumably at the back of the NHS queue for something like an ACL? We had 2 friends do ACLs, their bills were > Euro 10k inc transport etc.
Medically necessary therapeutic treatment abroad
(incl. medically necessary transport to the hospital):
up to EUR 10,000.
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@snowdave, do you know if the amex platinum attracts avios and companion vouchers ? we have BA Amex black and blue cards that gets companion vouchers on BA and thinking of upgrading the blue to a platinum..
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@skimottaret, partially…. It gets you Amex membership rewards which convert directly to avios (or lots of other reward schemes, so it’s very flexible). It doesn’t get you companion vouchers.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@snowdave, thanks, it wasn't that clear on their site. THe companion vouchers are a nice benefit for us as Mrs has a BA gold card so will stick with the BA cards.
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Just some background on the AAC insurance. The insurance cover is primarily for individual's resident in Austria who are members of the Alpenverein to cover them for accidents in the mountains (and elsewhere) whilst they are participating in leisure activities of all kinds (no requirement for Guides or similar). The major cover is for rescue related costs and then getting people "home". I have seen it described as "Rescue & Repatriation" insurance.
All Austrian residents must have health insurance which would cover medical costs resulting from injuries caused by a sports related accident. There might be the odd occasion where public health care is not immediately available eg in a ski resort that only has a private clinic hence the backup medical care section which is only a top up to an individual's normal health insurance. The Alpenverein has some "foreign" sections, Dutch or Belgian? and Sektion Britiannia in the UK whose members benefit from the same insurance scheme. However UK medical care works on a different premise than the Austrian one, in theory if you have an EHIC (or whatever it is called these days) then you should be able to access appropriate healthcare wherever you are but once back in the UK it would be the NHS. I presume if you have private healthcare in the UK this would cover any post accident issues.
Given all this I can see that it might make sense to have additional health insurance though not sure how easy that would be to get. I assume the same would apply if you pay for ski area rescue insurance (the Arlberg has one) which gets you off the mountain but might not pay for treatment.
If anyone wants chapter & verse https://www.alpenverein.at/portal_wAssets/docs/service/versicherung/AWS-Folder_E_2023_ebook.pdf in english
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You know it makes sense.
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we have a flex plus account so get 31 days ski cover but we need 36 days if I upgrade my lloyds account to silver I also get 31 days cover can I use some of that for the five days ? Edit its one trip. Or is there another way to cover those five days ?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@robs1, phone them. I have a Lloyd's gold account and its not good enough..they won't upgrade since they moved to Allianz. And they cover the first days on the trip only. I ended up buying separate insurance
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Poster: A snowHead
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I have just renewed my Nationwide Flex plus age extension and even with that its great value 31 days winter sports and continental breakdown which would have cost me half of the gross annual premium ...also I have had good experience of a ski claim with them ...my then partner did her ACL in when we were in Madonna and have nothing but praise for the way it was handled
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@robs1, I don't think that would work. You would in effect be insuring two separate trips, but there's no in-between travel arrangements which they usually require proof of. Nationwide do offer trip extensions though, so give them a call.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@robs1, I think this would risk making you double-insured sometimes, and not insured at all at others.
Any claim I've ever made has included a question like "do you have any other insurance that might apply to this claim?" I can see that having 2 sets of overlapping insurance potentially leads to a bunfight between the insurers, each trying to push the claim onto the other.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| snowdave wrote: |
| I can see that having 2 sets of overlapping insurance potentially leads to a bunfight between the insurers, each trying to push the claim onto the other. |
In my (limited) experience (bag stolen en route to the airport, covered by both travel and household insurance) it was very simple: One company dealt with and settled the claim, and then received a payment from the other to cover their liability.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@JayRo, similar with some items stolen from our campervan while on holiday. Value of items meant that we claimed on home insurance who recovered some of the costs from the travel insurer and some from the campervan insurer.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| snowdave wrote: |
@robs1, I think this would risk making you double-insured sometimes, and not insured at all at others.
Any claim I've ever made has included a question like "do you have any other insurance that might apply to this claim?" I can see that having 2 sets of overlapping insurance potentially leads to a bunfight between the insurers, each trying to push the claim onto the other. |
In the end I decided to go with snowcard to cover the week we are with peak retreats and rely on the nationwide cover for the other 28 days, hopefully it wont be needed, like most insureance you only know how good it is when you make a claim and its a bit late to do anything about it then, obviously we have the ehic card too
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If you strip out cover for loss of equipment, theft, delays etc and are concerned with medical issues and injuries I struggle to see why you need more than EHIC and local cover to get you piste rescue, ambulance and repatriation to home as per Carte Neige in France. Am I missing something?
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| skimottaret wrote: |
| If you strip out cover for loss of equipment, theft, delays etc and are concerned with medical issues and injuries I struggle to see why you need more than EHIC and local cover to get you piste rescue, ambulance and repatriation to home as per Carte Neige in France. Am I missing something? |
snow card is costing us £11 a day carte neige is about 6 but we are getting full cover for theft etc, but not much in it in reality
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@robs1, sorry if I've missed this, but are they separate weeks when you'll be starting each holiday in the UK? If so you'll be fine, if its one trip your nationwide cover might not work if the peak retreats is first
My Lloyd's only covers the first days of a trip, not a trip where you want cover to start part way through
I ended up buying a 5 week policy with snowcard and using my Lloyd's just for a week later in the season
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| skimottaret wrote: |
| If you strip out cover for loss of equipment, theft, delays etc and are concerned with medical issues and injuries I struggle to see why you need more than EHIC and local cover to get you piste rescue, ambulance and repatriation to home as per Carte Neige in France. Am I missing something? |
In Madonna the EHIC will get you off the piste but you get taken to the local first aid post ...to get full treattment you need insurance to go to the local private clinc
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@DaveD, but if your insurance doesn't cover you for off piste, or without a guide, then your insurance won't cover anything...butnhe is talking about local insurance (carte neige in france) which does cover treatment abd repatriation, but you can't get local cover everywhere
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| DaveD wrote: |
| ... In Madonna the EHIC will get you off the piste but you get taken to the local first aid post ...to get full treattment you need insurance to go to the local private clinc |
I expect they will take visa cards also. What are the actual costs you're insuring against? How much do they charge for typical skier injuries in those "local private clinics"?
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@phil_w, so costs, in my case, Chamonix valley, pisteur attendance, sled rescue, ambulance = €479
I pay €25 for Vieux Campeur (French sporting goods chain) insurance, which is provided by Europ Assistance. I think I've claimed 2ce in the last 8 years, prior claim was in Italy and nominally came to €1,500 - mind you in Italy we take the 3€ a day local one as it saves any hassle if anything goes awry.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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HSBC premier travel insurance (free depending on how much you have squirelled away / flowing through), EHIC and carte neige is my formula. Use the Carte neige to fill in vagaries such as "freestyle skiing" bein excluded and the limited off piste cover.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| phil_w wrote: |
| DaveD wrote: |
| ... In Madonna the EHIC will get you off the piste but you get taken to the local first aid post ...to get full treattment you need insurance to go to the local private clinc |
I expect they will take visa cards also. What are the actual costs you're insuring against? How much do they charge for typical skier injuries in those "local private clinics"? |
Who knows ..I didnt ask.. but what would it have been if she would have been had to be air ambulanced home etc ....a rather falacious point unless you are Jeff Besos
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@DaveD, be doesn't believe in insurance apart from that legally required. He self insurers
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| @DaveD, be doesn't believe in insurance apart from that legally required. He self insurers |
how nice ....how the rich live eh
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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It's perfectly logical to only insure against risks you can't afford to run. So we probably all insure against having our houses burn down but there's no clear argument for insuring against dropping a glass of red wine on your new cream carpet. And no argument at all for those "insurances" you get offered on a microwave or an electric kettle at Currys. Insurance companies only exist to make money.
I could stump up £10K for an ACL reconstruction in Lech (paid a lot more than that for my OH to have a triple bypass when the NHS waiting list was too long) but probably not for an air ambulance home with a nurse in attendance.
In my limited experience most UK insurance companies will try to get you home and in the (cost-free to them) hands of the NHS as quickly as possible.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@pam w, indeed.@DaveD, I am not at all convinced that @phil_w is unusually wealthy, he just makes his own considered choices.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
@robs1, sorry if I've missed this, but are they separate weeks when you'll be starting each holiday in the UK? If so you'll be fine, if its one trip your nationwide cover might not work if the peak retreats is first
My Lloyd's only covers the first days of a trip, not a trip where you want cover to start part way through
I ended up buying a 5 week policy with snowcard and using my Lloyd's just for a week later in the season |
The peak retreats is second but follows straight on from the first stay, ie no return home same resort but different appartment
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@robs1, so, do snowcard know that the trip they are covering does not start in the UK? Its a thing....
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@holidayloverxx, I agree it is a question that needs asked, hopefully sooner rather than later. I think extending the Nationwide policy or taking out a separate one for the full duration of the trip would have been the sensible thing to do.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Hells Bells, Yes, I had to take a separate policy for my whole Jan/Feb trip as the birthday bash was at the end - snowcard as it happens
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Just had my renewal from LV.
Up from £175 to £244.
That is for a family of 4 and for Premium cover.
Hefty.
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