I don't want us to lose our holiday - can anyone help?

[Steve Fifield]

Dear All,

I'm supposed to be flying out to Tobago for 3 weeks on Thursday with Golden Caribbean at 9:30AM with my wife and boy Jack. We've been looking forward to this holiday for nearly six months now.

Unfortunately, things are not going too well, as my wife was told this morning by her doctor that she has perforated her eardrum, and probably should not fly for a few days at least.

I've just contacted Golden Caribbean, and they told me that there is no possibility to move our outbound flight, and suggested that we use our travel insurance to cancel the booking.

I hoping that someone can think of a way to get around this problem - GC were very unsympathetic to say the least. If you have any ideas at all, they are very welcome.

Steve.

[David Watkins]

Gosh Steve,that is bad news.Definitely have crack at the insurance angle-but-just a thought have you mentioned MYTOBAGO to GC?Hope things work out
David

[Sharon E]

Steve, hope you have sorted this out, if not if you contact steve he will give you my e-mail address, my dad may be able to help you out on this as long as there are seats available on later GC flights out.

[Julia C.]

Is it possible to use your travel insurance to cancel the flight and then book another flight a few days later? I don't know - it's not an area I know a lot about. Though available seats at this time of year may be difficult to find.
It may be worth contacting Barry "the Travel Man" - I found him very helpful, we bought our flights through him on both our trips.
You can get his contact details here http://www.askthetravelman.com/index.html

Good luck - I hope you can sort it out.

[Sharon E]

Sorry Steve can I also just add, that any ear problem causes terrible problems when flying the pressure to the ear is unbearable and can lead to total rupture of the eardrum and bleeding from the ear, (this is why pilots even with a cold cannot fly due to the pressure on blocked ears and nose) the amount of flights that are redirected as a medical emergency each year due to ear problems are huge and insurance companies end up footing the bill as the passenger is charged for the airlines expenses for rerouting, landing, extra fuel, compensation etc.

Your insurance once you inform them of this problem will want to see an all clear from her doctor before letting her fly, they may also insist on an experts opinion and may very well give you an exclusion for a number of weeks before they will reinsure her for travel (it does depend on the company you have taken insurance through) and covering her with full insurance, also swimming will be a no no until the ear has fully recovered.

Also as a point out here infection due to heat spread far quicker than back in the UK (one story was a chap who had root canal surgery before coming out here, within 24 hours the whole side of his face was swollen the infection that would never have caused a problem in the UK had taken hold with the heat and humidity and ruined his holiday and had to have serious courses of antibiotics to clear the infection up. He had to delay return to the UK by and extra week).

Best of luck with getting it sorted out and hope you get out here very soon.

[Steve Fifield]

Cheers all. I hope that I now have it all sorted, but I'm a bit nervous now having read the post above. The Doctor said that Claire would need a good few days to recover, so I've now booked he an open ticket with BA for Monday the 19th, whilst Jack and I will travel on our existing tickets on 15th with Excel. If still not ready, Claire can change to a later date, but still join us. It will seem very strange to travel so far without Mummy for an 8 year old I'm sure. Don't scare me any more please, I don't even want to contemplate the possibility that Claire will still not be permitted to travel and we might be separated at Christmas.

Hey I won't even mention the cost, or that I was made redundant on Wednesday last week eh . Set me up a Carib at Castara David!

Steve.

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Steve

I am SO sorry to hear of your run of bad luck. A holiday in Tobago is obviously just what you all need. I'm sure life will look very different when you return.

Like all our readers, I can only hope and trust that you will all have a fabulous holiday.

[Sharon E]

Sorry Steve, had no intention to worry you just wanted to point out that most people forget that insurance is there to cover unforeseen circumstances and not for existing problems or continuining problems and failure to notify your insurance company also means they will not pay out if ever the need arises, have seen so many people fall foul of this each year. To divert a plane costs thousands of pounds and people are not aware that they are not always covered.

Forewarned is forearmed and once you notitfy your insurance company of a problem you will be automatically be excluded if the situation arises whilst abroad without their clearance that you are now fully fit to travel. Insurance companies also ask your doctor to supply them with full medical history before they pay out on any claim to check that the condition was not pre-existing prior to travel, they also share all details with all other insurance companies so changing companies is not an answer. Just a warning to other travellers. Hundreds of travellers fall foul to this every year and I would hate for it to happen to you because I had not informed you.

Saying that Im sure Claire will be with you well before Christmas and you will have a wonderful relaxing time. Well lets be honest who can fail to out here. Have a great Christmas and New Year and lets hope it gets better for you from now.

[Steve Fifield]

Thanks Sharon. Any chance that you could email me so that I can email you back a with a couple of questions, since you seem to be well informed in these matters? I don't really want to share all on the forum, but the PM buttons seem to have gone since I was last here!

I perfectly understand if you don't want to give me your email address though.

Steve.

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Steve

The Private Message system was withdrawn for a variety of reasons. Readers willing to share their email address can do so through the appropriate setting in their Profile (link at top of page). This will enable an Email button at the bottom of all posts made by them.

If Sharon's email button isn't showing, you can email it to me and I will forward to her in the strictest of confidence. I won't even read you message, provided it is clear at the top who its from and that its for forwarding (or attach your actual message in a Word document, which I can forward without bothering to open/read).

Good luck.

[Jane H]

Hi Steve (Fifield)

Really sorry to hear of your redundency on top of everything else.

All I can say is that Hugo and I have been made redundent 10 times between us now - and we've had some of our best holidays when one or other of us was temporarily resting. It seems to put everything in perspective when you can look at the job situation in the sunshine with a glass of something nice in your hand.

We just want to send our best wishes to you (for something better coming up soon) and to Claire (for a speedy recovery).

Jane