Travel insurance and travelling to Bangkok / coughet

[kpc]

I have a trip booked for Bangkok and coughet, departing Syd on July 7th. The current DFAT advice for Thailand with the exception of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla provinces (Travel Advice for Thailand - Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) is "Reconsider your need to travel", which previously was "Do not Travel". The situation in Bangkok sems to have settled for now, and I'm still planning to go if I can get travel insurance esp. medical insrance eg if I get hit by a car crossing the street:shock:.

A couple of policies I have looked at are summarised below:

1) 1cover:

There is no cover under any circumstances if your claim arises because you did not follow advice in the mass media of any government or other official body's warning:

• against travel to a particular country or parts of a country;

2. Travel Insurance direct:

We will not pay for any of the following claims or losses:

1. Your claim arises because you did not follow advice in the mass media of a government or other official body’s warning:
   • against travel to a particular country or parts of a country;

Just wondering whether I would be covered by the above insurance policies if I travelled to Bangkok, and what others are doing with respect to travel insurance if they are about to travel to Bangkok.

thanks

 

[Will]

ISTR asking this exact question when buying from Columbus direct, and the rep told me that the recommendation needs to be 'Do not travel' in order to deny a claim.

 

[Alanslegal]

I just had a quick web based chat with someone from 1Cover and they said they will not cover Bangkok only :?:

Of course I would read the PDS for the exact terms and believe that rather than a client service officer.

 

[JohnK]

I would say you will be covered as the DFAT travel advice has been downgraded from 'Do not Travel'.

I will be going to Thailand next week and I have a yearly TID policy so hopefully no issues there.

 

[sr81]

The special information page produced by TID gives reference to Bangkok (minus BKK) and neglects the rest of Thailand. One would then presume that Thailand, excluding Bangkok, would be covered.
http://www.travelinsurancedirect.com.au/i/page_images/Thailand_Civil_Unrest_26_May_2010_TID_AU.pdf

In particular it states:

If you choose to travel to Bangkok after 19 May , no matter when your policy was purchased, there will be no cover for any expenses that result from civil unrest, including cancellation, amendment or additional travel and accommodation expenses.​

Basically that we (TID) have warned you and you are on your own.

 

[kpc]

The special information page produced by TID gives reference to Bangkok (minus BKK) and neglects the rest of Thailand. One would then presume that Thailand, excluding Bangkok, would be covered.
http://www.travelinsurancedirect.com.au/i/page_images/Thailand_Civil_Unrest_26_May_2010_TID_AU.pdf

In particular it states:

Basically that we (TID) have warned you and you are on your own.

I had a quick read of this; I think it refers to the time when DFAT had a "Do not travel" advisory to Bangkok but this has now been downgraded to "Reconsider your need to travel" so the situation is a little diferent now.

 

[Alanslegal]

1Cover provides a table re: Bangkok cover:-

http://www.1cover.com.au/assets/pdf/Thailand-Matrix-19May10.pdf

This is the way I intepret it (for my situation) which is policies entered into after 23 April, and travel to Bangkok on or after 28 May 2010:

NO COVER: Anything related to 'civil unrest' and ALL non-medical claims.
CASE BY CASE COVER: medical claims related to 'civil unrest'
COVER: Medical claims NOT related to 'civil unrest'

More here:-

http://www.1cover.com.au/assets/pdf/Thailand-civil-unrest-26May10.pdf

 

[MEL_Traveller]

1Cover provides a table re: Bangkok cover:-

http://www.1cover.com.au/assets/pdf/Thailand-Matrix-19May10.pdf

This is the way I intepret it (for my situation) which is policies entered into after 23 April, and travel to Bangkok on or after 28 May 2010:

NO COVER: Anything related to 'civil unrest' and ALL non-medical claims.
CASE BY CASE COVER: medical claims related to 'civil unrest'
COVER: Medical claims NOT related to 'civil unrest'

More here:-

http://www.1cover.com.au/assets/pdf/Thailand-civil-unrest-26May10.pdfhttp://www.1cover.com.au/assets/pdf/Thailand-civil-unrest-26May10.pdfhttp://www.1cover.com.au/assets/pdf/Thailand-civil-unrest-26May10.pdfhttp://www.1cover.com.au/assets/pdf/Thailand-civil-unrest-26May10.pdf

This is good news and I think supports and earlier thread here on AFF where there was discussion whether or not a policy would be COMPETELY voided in such a situation, or whether cover would still apply to matters not in any way related to civil unrest (for example, you may be in bangkok and fall in a hole in the footpath).

I think this nicely confirms that cover still remains in place provided there is no correlation between the expenses you incur and the civil unrest.

Thankfully Thialand is a cheap place if you ignored the warnings and needed to extend your accommodation due to the unrest anyway etc.