Today, Virgin Atlantic rolled out a new insurance policy to cover you in the event you fall ill with the coronavirus after flying Virgin Atlantic.
In this article
Virgin Atlantic’s Coronavirus Insurance Coverage
If you have an existing booking, you’re already covered. Else, any mew bookings made for travel between August 24th, 2020 and March 31st, 2021 are automatically covered for up to £500,000 necessary and emergency medical expenses incurred due to Coronavirus affecting you or your travel companions.. The coverage is provided by Allianz.
The Fine Print: Conditions of Coverage
This is the most important bit.
First of all, you must have a Virgin Atlantic issued ticket which starts with 932.
If you book via Delta or another partner, you will not be covered. Even if the whole journey is on Virgin, if the ticket stock is now 932 (issued by Virgin Atlantic), you will not be covered.
Award tickets are covered only if you have at least one of the award segments on Virgin Atlantic metal.
If you buy a Virgin Atlantic ticket (starting in 932) but all flights are operated by another carrier, that will work.
Most important: If you fly a one-way ticket, your coverage ends 12 hours after your flight. This is super important, as it’s very likely you wouldn’t even show symptoms that fast (and so, I think this is a huge oversight in Virgin’s thinking here).
So, realistically, you need a round trip ticket for this coverage to be meaningful.
What does Virgin Atlantic’s COVID-19 Insurance Policy Cover?
Per the Virgin website, it covers the following:
- Up to £500,000 necessary and emergency medical expenses incurred due to Coronavirus affecting you or your travel companions.
- Repatriation due to Coronavirus, should it be medically necessary.
- Denied Boarding/Quarantine – We will cover many necessary additional costs should you or your travelling companion be denied boarding or individually requested to quarantine in your destination due to Coronavirus, including personal accommodation, transport charges, refreshments, booking amendment fees and other travel expenses incurred.
- Cover for your whole trip, with no upper limit on the length of your time away.
- Cover for all passengers with no restrictions on age, travel class or length of journey.
- There is no excess payable with this policy (unlike other traditional travel insurance policies).
- Terms and Conditions apply.
Note that this is NOT comprehensive travel insurance. It covers coronavirus related issues only.
Have a read of Virgin’s FAQ if you have any questions at all about the coverage or limitations.
Bottom Line:
I think it is a great move for Virgin to offer this. To date, I’ve only noticed Emirates offering similar, and with a much lower limit (less than 1/3 the coverage limit of Virgin).
Would this incentivize you to choose travel with Virgin over another airline?
Let me know below in the comments, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.
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New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
