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Travel insurance Jan 21

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Assuming in Jan we are allowed to travel to France/Austria//Italy without quarantine on arrival. My plan is to drive out and ski for the month, happy to self isolate on return to UK.

However what will be the situation on insurance, I am not worried about insuring loss of money for accomadation, but would still like to have cover for medical stuff, either for a ski related accident or getting sick from COVID etc. normally you would have your EHIC card, but of course we will have left the eu by then, so there may not be free medical cover, and if the Foreign office are advising essential travel only you will not have cover from you travel insurance.

Do people think travel insurance companies will offer cover inspite of gov advice, or do just risk it ??

I know you can get cover when you buy your ski pass, is that just rescue ? or medical as well ?

I guess car insurance may also be a problem as well.

What are people’s thoughts
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
It has been reported on other forums, that Nationwide (cover with your bank account) will cover you for any trip you deem essential, even if thats 'my holiday was essential to my mental health'. If I were considering going I would get that in writing before I booked!
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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?
Allianz are covering Covid as are many insurers because people are simply not buying insurance without it.

BA have a deal with allianz in their website.

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/flights-and-holidays/travel-insurance

If gov advice is to not travel then insurance is void.
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But that the point, lots of people are still travelling to Spain and France etc at the moment although the governments advice is not to, so I assume they are doing so without valid insurance ?
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@thunderer, Yep...people do it all the time
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[list=][/list]@holidayloverxx, I guess it’s your own choice !!
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
GlasgowCyclops wrote:
Allianz are covering Covid as are many insurers because people are simply not buying insurance without it.

BA have a deal with allianz in their website.

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/flights-and-holidays/travel-insurance

If gov advice is to not travel then insurance is void.

But although they like to advertise a "you are covered for Covid" headline, that cover is often quite restricted. Taking the BA deal as as example, under Cancellation:

- covered if you or a travelling companion, or a relative of either, is diagnosed with CoViD-19, or are specifically quarantined because of suspected exposure.
- not covered if the people you are going to stay with currently have it!
- not covered if there is a general quarantine requirement covering the area you are travelling from/through/to
- no mention of any cover if the FCO subsequently advises against all but essential travel to your destination (just that if you do travel you definitely won't be covered).

Take any headlines advising that you are 'covered for covid' with a pinch of salt - until you have read the detailed policy conditions!
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
The Carreneige insurance that you can buy with your ski pass seems to offer an alternative to travel insurance. From what I can see as well as the normal ski rescue and hospital, it offers repatriation and cover for illness whilst at the resort. Of course you wouldn’t have covers whilst traveling to the resort or back home.

https://carreneige.com/en/nos-offres/carre-neige/
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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.
Battle face.com
Not cheap but full cover
Job done
E111 not much use in ski resorts where medics are private
Car insurance green card needed
Keep calm and carry on
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I'd counsel against wishful thinking regarding travel insurance cover for the 2020-21 season. There's always a disinclination for the average person to wade through the fine print. But as we've discovered with the initial Covid outbreak, a lot of assumptions about the scope of cover were unfounded. Force Majeure really wasn't understood by most people, for example, until it was used to reject a lot of Covid-related claims. What worries me is the issue of cover being completely invalidated by the declaration of some external actor such as the Foreign Office or a destination state while we're in transit, or already at the destination, or at very short notice just before departure.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
I take it booking whilst the FCO advises against travel to a location is okay as long as that advice is changed prior to departure date, for insurance purposes?
What would happen if you had to cancel for non CV reasons like unemployment, injury etc before departure, but also before the FCO advice was lifted?
Hypothetical timeline only.......
Book now for Jan 21 to visit Country X. FCO advises against travel at time of booking.
[Nov 20 get injured with no prospect of going, so ordinarily eligible for cancellation]. FCO still advises against travel at this point.
Dec 20 FCO advice changes, travel would now have been ok
Would you be covered for your cancellation?
If you book when the advice is not to travel, now say, and that advice is still in place come departure date would you be covered for cancellation (under the travelling against FCO advice section)?
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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.
What I also meant to express was concern about how claims handlers may seek to reject a claim that's completely unrelated to Covid just because the FO has given out one of their blanket 'Not Advised to Travel Unless Absolutely Necessary' dictats. Say you're in a car accident in France, driving to/from the Alps and make a claim for hospitalisation etc.? With the FO travel advisory against travel to France, does that completely invalidate it, even when it's entirely unrelated to Covid? You may think not, but a lot of people thought force majeure didn't apply to them either.

Because travel insurance is a finite market and people renew annually, I think the insurers are in a bit of a bind. If they wait too long to offer Covid-related cover, they'll lose market share to competitors who do. If they are too generous in their Covid cover, they could lose a lot of money. The danger is if they start doing a 'Covid wash' approach: lots of headlines about Full Covid Cover to get punters in, but so limited in scope once you analyse the Ts+Cs that it's useless.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
snowornever wrote:
Battle face.com
Not cheap but full cover
Job done
E111 not much use in ski resorts where medics are private
Car insurance green card needed
Keep calm and carry on


Battleface "does not include cover in relation to COVID-19 expenses for trip cancellations, curtailment of a holiday or lockdowns."

So, keep calm and read the policy!

LaForet wrote:
'Covid wash'


It has already started. Some are offering "Covid cover" but only if you come down with it during the trip - unlikely given the incubation period. In other words it's almost pointless but they know that very few people read past the headlines - I give you the example above! It took me 45 seconds to find the answer on the Battleface site.

All I can say is to do your own research based on your own circumstances and lock yourself in a quiet room and read everything. Then EMAIL your prospective insurer with questions and obviously save the reply email assuming you are satisfied with the answers and go ahead. I'll give you an example - Kashmir was on the FCO exclusions so if you wanted to ski Gulmarg it looked like you couldn't get insured. Some insurers accepted that Gulmarg was in a safe part of Kashmir so allowed it but it was something you needed to get specifically endorsed.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Pruman wrote:
snowornever wrote:
Battle face.com
Not cheap but full cover
Job done
E111 not much use in ski resorts where medics are private
Car insurance green card needed
Keep calm and carry on


Battleface "does not include cover in relation to COVID-19 expenses for trip cancellations, curtailment of a holiday or lockdowns."

So, keep calm and read the policy!

LaForet wrote:
'Covid wash'


It has already started. Some are offering "Covid cover" but only if you come down with it during the trip - unlikely given the incubation period. In other words it's almost pointless but they know that very few people read past the headlines - I give you the example above! It took me 45 seconds to find the answer on the Battleface site.

All I can say is to do your own research based on your own circumstances and lock yourself in a quiet room and read everything. Then EMAIL your prospective insurer with questions and obviously save the reply email assuming you are satisfied with the answers and go ahead. I'll give you an example - Kashmir was on the FCO exclusions so if you wanted to ski Gulmarg it looked like you couldn't get insured. Some insurers accepted that Gulmarg was in a safe part of Kashmir so allowed it but it was something you needed to get specifically endorsed.



Ouch!
They have changed their cover since I looked then it seems
Ah well just have to self insure then rather than rely on some organisation or other to bail me out if need arises!
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Pruman wrote:
... Battleface "does not include cover in relation to COVID-19 expenses for trip cancellations, curtailment of a holiday or lockdowns."
So, keep calm and read the policy!...
wink
Their policy document. The date in the URL is before COVID-19, although the text is obviously from much later.

=> You need to read it to avoid being mistakenly calm, but also keep a copy of the actual policy document, because they changed this one since 05/04/2019 but didn't change the date.

There are additional exclusion clauses in that document which require you to contact them directly. I'm not sure how reasonable that is.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I am happy to self insure for cancellation, baggage, personal possessions, and minor medical cover. But things like helicopter rescue, complex operations and long stays in hospital can easily be tens of £000s, and liability to third parties can be millions - so for those I need insurance.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Battleface has a covid-19 cover statement here. It's not a great offer especially if you are over 59!
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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?
I've been happy using EHIC + Austrian Alpine Club insurance for rescue, 3rd party liability and up to €10k medical while in Europe. Neither are invalidated by COVID-19 or FCO warnings.

There's a small chance of additional medical bills coming to more than €10k after EHIC, but very unlikely.

When I went to Japan I paid for the AAC premium insurance (increases medical cover from €10k to €500k), which was very cheap in comparison to BMC etc.

Off-piste cover without a guide is important for me, so my options are a bit limited.

Happy to self-insure for cancellation etc, and my home insurance covers me for personal possessions.

The calculations will probably change next year depending on what happens with EHIC, but nobody can know how that will affect things yet.
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I'm still worried about the Foreign Office mechanism. In the past, it was very convenient for both sides: the FO 'does not advise travel' wasn't issued lightly or suddenly - it was usually only re a war zone, areas of persistent civil unrest, natural disaster zone etc. and would come as little surprise to anyone monitoring the destination. Now it's getting triggered by Covid metrics that fluctuate rapidly over time and operates in conjunction with a quarantine requirement on return. If the situation destabilises over the winter, then I can see the whole thing getting very messy and unclear. Particularly if the FO mantra invalidates all your insurance cover, entirely. One thing I can see emerging is that insurers ask you to 'check in' to their portal 48-24h before travel, confirming your travel and destination details so they then issue you with a Cartificate of Insurance with details of cover specifically for that trip.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Not sure if they cover winter sports, but this might be interesting indication of the way insurance is changing:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/aug/20/uk-insurer-offers-cover-for-european-countries-on-travel-quarantine-list-covid
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https://www.staysure.co.uk/

Seems to be the answer, annual cover with winter sports (didnt check to what extent the cover was but you could easily add in https://carreneige.com/en/nos-offres/carre-neige/ for extra cover) + add their covid extension which gives you cover even if travelling against foreign office advice) so there are products out there and I am sure there will ne more soon.
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