I have never used travel insurance and doubt I ever will - its simply not needed in europe
...I would take insurance in both of those situations - [b]elderly[/b] and / or outside europe.
So a change of heart then?
Is your house insured against lightning damage? Subsidence? Hurricane? etcas I said I don't worry about millions to one occurrences
no change of heart. Its a different scenario to what we were discussing.
Is your house insured against lightning damage? Subsidence? Hurricane? etc
A condition of having a mortgage. My mortgage is not insured for me dying tho
You said you doubt you will ever get insurance - then a little later say you would get it when you are elderly (not sure when you are planning on dying, but presumably you think 50 is too young).no change of heart. Its a different scenario to what we were discussing.
so you'll stop the insurance once the mortgage is paid? Life cover is less clear cut to me (although I am covered to protect my dependants) - because you won't actually be around to reap the rewards. Having said that, and administered an estate where the deceased (considerably younger than you!) had the mortgage covered it was a mighty relief to not have to worry about whether his wife would have to move.A condition of having a mortgage. My mortgage is not insured for me dying tho
Normally TJ I have a lot of respect for your views on risk. On this occasion I think you are taking the "it won't happen to me" approach though which is not your usual intelligent position! Edukator on the otherhand has a quite rational approach - it might happen to him, but mathematically he should be ok in the long run; of course that only works if you have the resources to underwrite the risk when waiting for the lucky years!
When I travel to the Alps, I get on a train in Edinburgh, hook up with friends in London, and spend a day driving across France. Does it take a long time? Yep. Is it relaxing. Yep. The only time I flew, I joined a group for week 2 of their fortnight holiday, and they had taken my bike with them the week before as there was no way I was risking a damaged bike, and I missed the drive. There's something about that drive to Morzine...
Having said that, about 20 singlespeeders got on an Easyjet flight to Berlin for the 2004 SSWC - they managed that fine, bikes arrived in the baggage hall before we did, still freezing cold. On the way back, they forgot to wheel the trolley into the baggage reclaim - causing a bit of a delay, but all arrived safe and sound. Perhaps, as people have said, they are getting worse.
And FWIW, Endsleigh insurance covers DH mountain biking (I phoned and verified) and costs less than a round of drinks in Morzine. I think that's a price worth paying.
Poly - its the same as my usual position - tiny chances are not worth worrying about and combine that with being comfortable with the reciprocal arrangements.
You only get the huge bills if you are insured. You can get home in comfort and ease quickly if you are insured, if you are not it could be awkward. Thats the only significant difference.
As I said a pal of mine broke his leg and was home not long later with a full plaster on his leg with no great hassle or cost.
As I said a pal of mine broke his leg and was home not long later with a full plaster on his leg with no great hassle or cost.
He probably went on and on as much as you and they couldn't wait to get rid 😉
This sort of backs up TJs claim but it could well be just another sales pitch 🙂
Somewhat apt article from Aunty....
http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20110718-is-travel-insurance-right-for-you
But the usually superficial and useless BBC reporting with scaremongering and bigging up of insurance companies. Look for anything specific and it fails you. I looked for "reciprocal azgreement" or "European card" and failed to find both.
Edit: No but seriously, the BBC that blocks some of its content in my country provides more information for Americans than Britons about whether they have free cover abroad.
Have the Op's bikes turned up yet?
Blimey - all this sleazy / easyjet hatred. I use them loads and think they are fine so long as you aren't stressed by seating and quick turn around times.
Good routes, cheap and flying a super modern fleet with some of the best pilot training around is fine for me. You can't argue about the bagage handling agency at the end of the day but that isn't always the airline's fault.
Edukator - for someone who purportedly leads an almost self-suficient and care-free lifestyle, you seem to spend an awful lot of your time in a foul mood... Perhaps us conventional sheep have the right idea after all
back to the OP - we used to have a couple of bikes each year get delayed with people out on holiday with us - this year there's been a shed load - not sure why, but it doesn't seem to be just about easyjet. I am currently waiting for a bike from Hong Kong to turn up!
Liverpool seems to be the worst route for missing bikes for our guests...
Hijacking the OP, I am flying from Newcastle with Air France to Geneva and then back with KLM in a few weeks time.
Does anyone have experience of taking bikes with these airlines?
It's not a question of the airline being more or less competent. The culture in the entire transport industry, road, sea, air cargo and air passenger, is that if you are overloaded you simply bump the cargo onto the next service. What else can you do?
Where the name of the airline matters is in the quality of the information they give you and the speed of the delivery of the delayed item once it is in your country.
That's the way things "seem", Zokes.
