I’m travelling to Brazil in a couple of weeks’ time via London Heathrow. I’m trying to wade my way through the quagmire that is travel insurance policy wording at the moment and need some help.
One of my concerns is that I am flying from another UK airport to Heathrow with BA. At Heathrow I am due to catch a connecting flight to Brazil with non-BA-affiliated TAM airlines (presumably this means I need to collect my baggage at Heathrow and recheck it?). Given the looming BA strikes I’m concerned about the possibility of missing my connecting flight if there are delays/cancellations of BA flights from my home town to Heathrow. I can’t seem to find insurance that specifically advises whether I would be covered in such an event.
Another concern is baggage loss. I’ve come across lots of policies that claim £1,000 or even £1,500 “lost baggage cover”, but when the policy wording is examined what is actually being offered is usually something paltry like £50 per lost bag. Therefore, as I will only be taking one case (the contents of which will be valued at considerably more than £50) is there any point is purchasing insurance? This seems to be the same with medical cover too.
Any travel insurance advice?
Thank you in advance.
Phone BA a few days before your flight and see what they can do, which may mean going to London the day before by train or coach. As these strikes have already been announced, any travel insurance that you buy now won’t cover you for this, but you might have been covered if you had bought the insurance six months ago.
If you are travelling on a single ticket (and BA flights are running normally) you should be able to check your bag through to Brazil, and transfer airside at Heathrow without collecting your bag. If you have two separate tickets, you will need to transfer groundside and check in again in Heathrow.
I wonder if you are getting confused by two different type of baggage loss. If somebody steals you bag, you will be covered up to £1000 or whatever. If the airline “loses” your bag by sending it to Rome instead of Rio, and you have no bag for 3 days, you get £50 to buy some cheap clothes and toothpaste to use while you wait.
It is essential that you purchase good travel insurance, which you should buy as soon as you have booked your flight. The main reason is the potential medical bills. If you are in a car accident it the hospital bill could be £20k. If you have to fly home with your leg in plaster, you might need to fly in Business class to have enough room to sit down!