83 yo uninsured for travel

[Guest oldlondonpom]

My pet hate is that as you get older,you get to the point when you cant get travel insurance to travel Perth-London.or if there is then the cost would be more than the fare. this must affect thousands of elderly poms and also thousands of mums&dads living in England. What we really need is a non stop flight ,and then you wouldn't need insurance.I think virgin talked about a non stop service a couple of years ago.Planes capable of the trip are in service.

[Admin]

Don't know an insurer in Australia, but if you live in the UK and go London->Perth-London ie, are a UK resident and are flying to Aus then back to the UK, then Go Walkabout offer travel insurance for people up to the age of 85 (aged 80-85 the max trip duration is 24 days)

[StraighttothePoint]

My pet hate is that as you get older,you get to the point when you cant get travel insurance to travel Perth-London.or if there is then the cost would be more than the fare. this must affect thousands of elderly poms and also thousands of mums&dads living in England. What we really need is a non stop flight ,and then you wouldn't need insurance.I think virgin talked about a non stop service a couple of years ago.Planes capable of the trip are in service.

 

Nice one, first post and it is a whinge. You will get on well here on his site

 

Anyway not sure I follow though? Non stop flight = no insurance needed? What happens if a person took ill on the flight and they needed to do an emergency landing at say Dubai for example? Who covers that and the resultant ambo and hospital services? Still a risk involved in any long distance travelling regardless of method I would have thought, especially the older you get. Also if people travelling the other way took ill on a non stop flight the same principal would apply if they had to stop enroute due to an emergency who would pay?

 

You can bet your bottom dollar if they introduced non stop flights there would be specific rules relating to insurance because the airline would want to cover all eventualities and reduce their risk.

Edited May 9, 2013 by StraighttothePoint

[Guest oldlondonpom]

Not exactly a winge, but an attempt to find out how many older people are in this position, so that the airlines know if a service is needed. we have travelled twice without insurance because the insurance industry are not concerned about the elderly .Most insurers put a cut off point at 76 and some as low as 69.They also know that most people don't understand the policies,and assume they are covered ,until a minor existing condition stops them travelling for a few days ,and they don't cover existing conditions .At 83 I don't want $12000 cover for my luggage ,I could replace it all at the op shop for $500.It does seem that a pilot does,nt have to change flight arrangements even if someone dies, so us plane load of old poms wouldn't be too worried

[Lou8670]

Marks and Spencer's credit card used to cover the wrinkles over 75 years For worldwide travel. I don't know all the details or whether they still do it but I remember a lady who was amazing and did some part time work for us in her retirement to fund her travelling telling me about it.

[StraighttothePoint]

Not exactly a winge, but an attempt to find out how many older people are in this position, so that the airlines know if a service is needed. we have travelled twice without insurance because the insurance industry are not concerned about the elderly .Most insurers put a cut off point at 76 and some as low as 69.They also know that most people don't understand the policies,and assume they are covered ,until a minor existing condition stops them travelling for a few days ,and they don't cover existing conditions .At 83 I don't want $12000 cover for my luggage ,I could replace it all at the op shop for $500.It does seem that a pilot does,nt have to change flight arrangements even if someone dies, so us plane load of old poms wouldn't be too worried

 

Look I know you were not whinging hence the smiley but I honestly do think you need to look at it from their point if view, which is running a business, not a service. "They" really have to be careful in relation to the risk associated with this issue.

 

You are also right and understanding how many folk at that age use the service is certainly good information. I would hazord a guess that the airlines already know this, have passed it onto the insurance companies and that will be part of how the latter manage their service offerings. I fly regularly and do notice a number of oldies on each flight is increasing however over 80's not so sure that there are ever that many to be honest in comparison.

 

Long haul flights are tough on the body and, although many people can cope with it, they are partiularly hard on you as you get older even more so if you have any health issues. At my young mid fifties I do struggle with jet lag at both ends however do appreciate that many people breeze through it. I am not sure how many folk at an older age would feel and what their thoughts would be though. Many will be excluded from flying at that age anyway due to medical conditions. My mother was 76 when she first came out here, did it twice and said never again. Everyone will be different. As for the pilot not having to do anything if there is a serious health emergency that would be another good piece of information to have, i.e. how many times has it happened to the over 60's for example and what actions were taken. Again useful for insurance companies to know. Do you honestly believe if there was a non stop filght and somebody was serious, and the plane was near Dubai, that the pliot would just say carry on? He would be a hard man if he did.

 

For everyone who says they cannot afford it there will be at least one that pays up. The bottom line is there are many people at that stage in life that pay the cover and also many where immediate family members would pay it for them due to concern. Not everyone is hard up, does not understand the actual policy cover or cannot afford it. As you suggest it is all about risk and many people, like you and me, take the risk with no travel cover. Choice is a wonderful thing although I know that, even at my age I worry a bit, about not having cover each time I fly. Not about the luggage, which is not worth bothering about because nothing valueable is in the case in the hold, but more about what would result as anything happening enroute to, or in Dubai during stop over.

 

The number of parents and grand parenst flying out here now muct be quite high and so as you say it would be interesting to hear about any numbers of over 80's and if they were insured or not. I made sure my mother was insured.

[Guest oldlondonpom]

I was refering to reading about what problems air hostesses have ,and they talked about just propping the body up in vacant seats .Not a very rare occurrence it seams It probably depends on airline instructions to the crew Not every older person has family that can toss them $2000 and relatives in the uk that can afford to keep them for nothing when they get there.

Of course there are risks but in these days of computers, it should be easy to get a good idea of the need .of how many don't fly because of the insurance thing and then work out the cost of the risk .I have never met an 80 yo who has got travel cover for a perth -London trip but I would like to hear from them and the cost .

[portlaunay]

Do you have private medical? If so, is there any way the policy can be extended temporarily to cover travel?

 

My FiL is 83 and didn't want to make the trip. He is in great health and he would likely be fine but there are a number of factors that we all agreed should be considered;

1. The air quality on your average aircraft is dire and the chances of being infected by some awful lurgy being carried by one of your fellow passengers is dramatically increased as a result of being cooped up with them for 14+ hours.

2. Unless you can afford to turn left when boarding your opportunity to stretch out, get up and walk around is greatly diminished.

3. Seating in coach is awful. What happens to aircraft seating when life expired? How many do you see being bought up and converted by enthusiastic design students? Why? They're sh*t.

4. Jetlag. As SttP said, it is harder for some than it is for others. It finished me coming this way. For the first four days in Singapore I felt awful.

5. Food. Plastic tray, baby vom, more than your own weight in waste cellophane, served two ways; super heated to 400 degrees kelvin or tepid and congealed. Lets face it, most of us would be a lot happier with a cheese and pickle sarnie.

6. Worry. Clearly everyone is different but my FiL would worry about what was happening back in Blighty. He'd worry about here too; a million 'what ifs'

 

As a result the decision was made not for him to join us here but for him to fund mrs portlaunay's flight back there. That way he gets to see her and she gets to fill a case with M&S knickers and another with shoes.

[StraighttothePoint]

http://www.1cover.com.au/travel-insurance/quote/select/input.html?sessionFormKey=LExQttu5AxSuZnIy5MgX

 

Does not seem that hard to get. Anyway the more I think about it travelling at 80+ will not be on my bucket list. As Porty says way too much hassle. If I am lucky enough to get to that age the mountain will be coming to Mohamad even if Mohamad has to pay for the priviledge.

[Guest oldlondonpom]

http://www.1cover.com.au/travel-insurance/quote/select/input.html?sessionFormKey=LExQttu5AxSuZnIy5MgX

 

Does not seem that hard to get. Anyway the more I think about it travelling at 80+ will not be on my bucket list. As Porty says way too much hassle. If I am lucky enough to get to that age the mountain will be coming to Mohamad even if Mohamad has to pay for the priviledge.

 

 

What is not hard to get ? I would like to hear from an 80 yo who has been issued with travel insurance I hav.nt personally but I do know from reading Travel insurance product statements that an over 80 has to phone personally about insurance to get a quote.and the first thing they want to know is when are you travelling.How the hell can you book if you dont know if you can get, or afford the insurance.There are so many existing conditions that they dont cover,and most fit and healthy 8o would have these minor conditions.

Anyway the reason I started this thread was to find out how many older poms would travel if an airline ran a non-stop Perth-London service.