Dan Travel Insurance failed us again are there any better alternatives

[dberry]

OK, this thread is relevant to me. I'm supposed to meet up with old friends in Key Largo in the first week of Nov for a dive trip. Irma may be long gone, but it's not impossible that the VRBO condo will still be missing a roof, the dive ops will still be out of commission, or even that the reefs could be FUBAR. I guess with some luck we could cancel and get refunds for the VRBO and car rental, but will left be on the hook for the airfare to MIA. That is, the airport will be open in November, even if it might not be practical for us to stay on the Keys and dive.

Even if we could still sign up for insurance, is there any policy that would let us get the airfare refunded if our reason for traveling has evaporated?

[BTW, I realize my concerns at this moment are trivial compared to those who live and work in south Florida... prayers and best wishes to those folks.]

 

[DandyDon]

Even if we could still sign up for insurance, is there any policy that would let us get the airfare refunded if our reason for traveling has evaporated?

Don't think so. Too much to ask. There will be sad evidence of the hit that you will see, but you can still enjoy the trip - and the vendors will hurry to make sure they are open for business quickly.

We did an expensive family trip to Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, etc. last month, but my primary reason for going then was the solar eclipse. I would love low cost insurance on cloud cover, but not available. Fortunately we saw a wonderful show, avoided almost all of the risks listed in news stories, and skipped by the jerks selling overpriced parking spaces to find a nice city park with a few hundred new friends.

 

[elbig]

Well there is cancel for any reason trip insurance but is quite expensive and it pays less than 100% but can be worth it in some cases.

 

[Stoo]

I
Does DAN offer medical insurance, or do you mean dive insurance?

Yes, the DAN dive insurance. While her injury didn't occur while she was diving, it happened on the dive boat, and so was covered. DAN has been on an "auto-renewal" for eons, but this was out first time needing it.

And yes, the boat insurance I had (and still have, although a different company) is full replacement cost for the amount that I choose. My current boat was valued at $110K when I bought it. If I totalled it now, they just cut me a check for $110K. I actually talked to them about this a while ago. I figure at my age, if I was looking to replace my boat, I'd likely got to something smaller, so I asked about reducing the covereage. I was advised that I would need to have an appraisal done, but the savings weren't really all that great, so I left well-enough alone. I have a $5K deductible to keep the premium lower. I'm really only insuring against a total loss... Like getting rear-ended by a tractor-trailer while I'm towing it someplace.

 

[Lorenzoid]

From a bit of Googling, it appears to me that it's pretty well established that a cruise ship is a common carrier. They travel a set route for a set price. The only difference between a liveaboard and a cruise ship is that you can dive from a liveaboard.

 

[toriclum]

I will be filing a claim for Irma for the costs to rebook another dive trip when its safe! Effectively the DAN folks told me if the plane leaves from Florida, as is the case, to Grand Cayman, then my wife and I need to be on it, regardless what kind of weather you may be flying into!! If the flight is canceled or delayed they will pay for the days while you sit in some motel for the next flight out. Just Great!

The other condition of the plan was is if the destination island declares an emergency evacuation, then you get compensated, which in this case did not happened. I have my doubts about this DAN Travel Insurance, when the agent I called tells me to get to airport and wait it out. I would hope that Dan will be fair and realistic as to my future claim or tell me to read the fine print there guy, oh do have a nice day.

I guess the real insurance plan is to cross your fingers and hope that the plane makes it through rough hurricane weather and then you can sit in your expensive booked motel room until the weather clears, maybe in X number of days.
No Thanks! My trip is blown up, cancelled, I rather be safe than sorry. Dan..... please do the right thing!

So, I’m Warren’s sister. After some careful and polite discussions with the CSA insurance people (who provide the actual
Coverage sold by DAN) I was refunded the cost of or cruise. JetBlue gave me a cash refund 100%. I would purchase DAN again

 

[toriclum]

Warren’s sister here, I just thought I’d update people. Today we got notified that we were being sent compensation for the entire trip cost (minus the refund given to us by the airline as they don’t double refund). It was a little frustrating at first but cleared up quickly. It did take some patience but was worth it.

I would purchase it again. Also shoutout to DAN for reaching out to warren and me personally about this.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Warren’s sister here, I just thought I’d update people. Today we got notified that we were being sent compensation for the entire trip cost (minus the refund given to us by the airline as they don’t double refund). It was a little frustrating at first but cleared up quickly. It did take some patience but was worth it.

I would purchase it again. Also shoutout to DAN for reaching out to warren and me personally about this.

Hi Warren's sister!

Did they give you any clue as to what changed about their opinion? For instance, did they admit that a liveaboard cancellation is a "common carrier cancellation"?

 

[WarrenZ]

I am glad to hear that it worked out for you. When Dan emailed me I asked them to contact Tori as I was able to move my trip to minimize any loses but she couldn't I have no idea what changed for her policy to pay out.

 

[bada3003]

I use DAN primarily for dive related emergency medical coverage for which they have excellent reputation. I had to use them once and they were very responsive, providing professional medical consultation. If I'm not mistaken, DAN is a non-profit and I hope the travel related insurance component doesn't dilute their core mission.