Skiers face huge risk if they don’t check insurance small print this season
The majority of skiers say they’d happily quarantine and travel against FCDO advice this winter
If there’s one thing that sustains me through a dreary British winter, it’s the thought of being able to go skiing – preferably in the Alps, to the resorts I’ve pined for during lockdown.
Even in this season of Covid-19, I thought it wouldn’t be a problem. I’d carry on wearing a mask, like I usually do on the slopes, and then quarantine when I got home, as all of the popular Alpine nations have been taken off the Government’s travel corridor list.
Then I looked at the insurance situation, as is always essential when booking a holiday, and came down from my pre-ski season cloud with an unexpected bump.
If I choose to go to France, Switzerland, Italy or Austria (all the Government’s red list), my current travel insurance policy wouldn’t cover me. Why? Because the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advises against all but essential travel to these countries, meaning no valid insurance under my current policy.
So what, some might say? Take a chance and risk it. I couldn’t disagree more.
In January 2019 on a ski trip to Italy, my husband was hit from behind by another skier and was sent flying. Twelve fractures in his collarbone and ribs landed him in Bolzano hospital for two days. Because he was ordered by doctors not to fly, we had a three-day train journey through Switzerland and France to get him home. If I include the initial private emergency treatment with all the travel and hotel expenses, I reckon my insurers paid out about £4,000.
They would have paid even more if my husband hadn’t had his European Health Insurance Card, which meant that those two days of excellent treatment in Bolzano hospital would have been added to the bill. The fate of this crucial card after the Brexit transition period comes to an end on 31 December is still undecided. But it’s highly probable that it, too, will come to an end – putting an even greater emphasis on insurance this winter.
That’s why I wouldn’t even briefly contemplate going on a ski holiday without travel insurance that covers winter sports. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend going anywhere without travel cover at all. As Laura Dawson from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) says: “If you are travelling to a country on the FCDO list, and you have a medical emergency like a broken leg, it’s unlikely that your travel insurance will cover you because you went against advice on travel.”
A recent survey by the Mountain Trade Network found that three quarters of skiers are willing to accept the current 14-day quarantine enforced on those returning from the Alps and countries which the FCDO advise against travel to. I fear amidst their lust to return to the slopes skiers and snowboarders are overlooking the difficulties they may face when trying to get insured and the gargantuan risk they are taking if they don’t read the small print.
Anthony Kaye is the chairman of the Association of Travel Insurance Intermediaries (ATIII) and managing director of Campbell Irvine, one of the few insurance firms that will cover you if you travel against government advice. He also sits on an advisory panel with the FCDO and has this warning: “The Government, I believe, has no intention of changing the status quo, which is monitoring the rate of infections in certain destinations and responding on a Thursday evening, saying ‘don’t go’.”
“I think there’s been too much incomprehension about the purpose of a travel insurance policy. It’s not there to protect you if an airline cancels your flight. That’s down to the contractual obligations of an airline. It is there primarily to provide medical emergency and repatriation cover in the event you suffer an accident while travelling overseas.”
Campbell Irvine will insure you if you travel against FCDO advice, but not if you catch Covid-19 while you’re away. Similarly, winter-sport specialists MPI Brokers is another of the few companies that will provide travel insurance to countries on the FCDO 'essential travel only' list. But the policy will not settle any claims to do with Covid. However, MPI’s managing director, Michael Pettifer, says there are plans to extend the cover to include Covid-related claims.
“We’re aiming to get cancellation within our policy, which is not there at the moment and would cover the individual if they get Covid before they travel,” he says. “That’s going to change the way people book holidays.”
One company which provides winter sports insurance as well as cover for Covid-related claims in countries that have been taken off the travel corridor list is Voyager Insurance. And while customers are buying fewer multi-trip policies – not surprisingly – Voyager has a reasonably priced couples’ policy for a year, including winter sports in countries on the FCDO red list, starting at £216.
In all the gloom, perhaps there is a glimmer of hope – but skiers must not be blinded by the allure of the slopes, before checking their insurance.
