When a loved one dies, vacation is out of the question. However, short-term cancellations or trip interruptions can cost a lot of money – and you shouldn’t hope for goodwill.
Berlin – If the father or a close friend dies, the planned vacation becomes a minor matter. If the trip is canceled at short notice, however, high cancellation fees can be incurred by those affected. Even if you break off a trip prematurely because of a death, the resulting return journey costs can be horrendous.
In such cases, it is good to have travel cancellation and travel interruption insurance – both often come together in a package. These policies usually cover cancellations and trip interruptions due to death. Nevertheless, there are details that you should pay attention to when closing. And there are complex scenarios that you hardly think about beforehand.
Clear case with co-insured
“If a fellow traveler dies, the case is clear – then all co-insured persons can withdraw from the trip,” says Birgit Brümmel, project manager for insurance and law at Stiftung Warentest. It becomes a bit more complex when people die who are not traveling with them. Whether the insurance then takes effect depends on what is stated in the conditions of the policy.
To find out, you have to look for so-called risk persons in the contract. As a rule, these are close relatives such as parents, grandma and grandpa, children, siblings, grandchildren, spouses, but also life partners who live in the same household, says Brümmel. Caregivers are also covered by many providers – such as the nurse who takes care of the parents. Close friends, on the other hand, are usually not listed.
The contract also contains information about which events are covered for which risk person – death is usually one of them.
Complicated scenarios conceivable
The Federation of Insured Persons (BdV) also advises reading the insurance conditions carefully and ideally clarifying any ambiguities beforehand. Because if a person close to you dies before you start your journey, it is still the “simplest case”.
It becomes more complicated if you find out about the death of your grandmother or father on the trip and you want to break off the holiday. In such a case, it is important, according to the BdV, which return travel costs are reimbursed by the insurer. The consumer protection organization cites an expensive long-distance trip as an example. If you want to cancel it in a timely manner, the next possible return flight may be very expensive.
In addition, there is the question of whether and to what extent the travel price for hotel and Co. is reimbursed pro rata by the policy for the days of vacation that are no longer used due to the trip being interrupted.
It can also become complex when a loved one is dying at home. A scenario at least as likely as sudden death. The desire to help that person is understandably great for many – who wants to go on vacation? In such a case, according to the BdV, the tariffs pay to different extents in the event of accidental injuries and “unexpectedly serious illness” of the person at risk.
Depending on the assessment of the insurer
The latter case has another difficulty: It depends on the insurer’s assessment of whether an illness is “unexpectedly serious”. A heart attack or pneumonia, for example, are usually among them, but the case can be different in the case of chronic diseases with relapses. Again, the only thing that helps here is to study the conditions of the policy as closely as possible. In such a case, medical evidence must also be provided afterwards.
And another potentially complicated case: What if you are traveling with friends, have previously taken out travel cancellation and travel interruption insurance together – and then the mother of one of the friends dies? You are not related to her yourself.
In this case, it is relevant what proportion of the unused joint travel expenses are reimbursable, according to the BdV – for example for a holiday home booked together. Because while the affected friends are likely to be covered if they interrupt their trip, it is probably reasonable for the others to continue their trip because there is no close relationship with the deceased person.
In such scenarios, it is all the more important to contact the insurer as soon as possible and agree on how to proceed.
Difficult questions in the impression of grief
From the point of view of the consumer protection organization, this mixed situation poses a problem: Insured persons are confronted with a death and are burdened as a result, at the same time they often have to deal with complicated questions and sometimes act quickly – especially when it comes to a quick return journey.
How transparent and reliable the insurance cover of the policies is in individual cases is often questionable, according to the assessment of the BdV.
What to do if you die before you travel
And what is actually to be done in the event of death before the start of the journey? Even if the grief is paralyzing, the insurer should be informed immediately and the trip canceled. Because the closer the trip gets, the higher the cancellation fees are usually due. If one waits, the insurer could only reimburse the fees that would have been incurred if the cancellation had been made immediately after the bereavement became known – i.e. the lower ones. You might then be stuck with the difference.
The information must therefore be given quickly, the evidence can be submitted later. As a rule, there is a copy of the death certificate and, for example, proof of the family relationship. “The insurers then say what they need,” says Brümmel.
Don’t hope for goodwill
If there is no insurance, you may be left with all the costs incurred as a result of cancellation or interruption of the trip: a death in the traveller’s environment is per se no reason for a free cancellation of the trip, as the German Travel Association (DRV) wrote on request.
The organizer or the hotel may be accommodating in such a situation – if you have not taken out a protection policy, you could try to ask for the cancellation fees to be waived. However, travelers should not expect that this will work out in the end. dpa
