TEMPORARY CANCELLATION INSURANCE

GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

If you book a trip or flight from our offer, cancellation cover is not included in the trip price. Within this scope, we recommend our PLATINUM or ALL RISK cancellation insurance. These cancellation insurance plans need to be taken out when the reservation is made.
 
1. Purpose of the insurance
 
The PLATINUM and ALL RISK cancellation insurance plans reimburse the traveller for the cancellation or modification costs in case of cancellation of a trip or a rental agreement of a holiday accommodation due to one of the reasons defined in the plan once the insurance plan has been taken out and the travel contract has been signed.

2. Concerned parties

a) Insurer: Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell; The Landmark, Level 1, Suite 2, Triq L-Iljun, Qormi, QRM3800, Malta, approved by the MFSA. Authorised claim handler: Pats nv, company number 0436.072.606, Gistelsesteenweg 1, 8400 Oostende (Belgium).
b) Insurance policyholder, insured party and beneficiary: the insurance policyholder is a natural person who takes out the PLATINUM or ALL RISK cancellation insurance policy and resides in a member state of the European Union or in Switzerland. The insured parties are the beneficiary and possible travel companions (3.d)).
 
3. Definitions

a) travel contract: any transport, stay or holiday accommodation rental, or combination thereof, booked by the beneficiary in the capacity of traveller and/or renter with TUI Belgium nv as travel agent and/or tour operator. 
b) departure date: the date of departure specified in the travel contract.
c) registration date: the date when the booked services were booked with the tour operator.
d) travel companion: the person who is mentioned together with the insurance policyholder in the registration and with whom the insurance policyholder decided to undertake the scheduled trip and whose presence is essential for a successful holiday.
e) life partner: the person with whom the insurance policyholder is engaged in registered or unregistered cohabitation and who lives together with the insurance policyholder at the same address in a long-lasting manner.
f) illness: any sudden and unexpected deterioration of health not caused by an accident of which the cause and symptoms have objectively and medically been determined by a certified physician before or on the date of cancellation, consequently making the concluded travel contract impossible.
g) stable disease: a disease is considered to be stable when a patient does not present any new symptoms of this disease before or at the time of booking the trip and no new or supplementary treatment or medication is necessary during the 3 to 6 months (depending on the pathology) before the time of booking the trip.
h) accident: any harm to the physical integrity as diagnosed by a certified doctor that is attributable to a sudden cause beyond the insurance policyholder’s control and renders the performance of the concluded travel contract impossible from a medical point of view.
i) significant material damage to immovable property: exceptional and accidental damage of at least 2.500 EUR to immovable property of the insurance policyholder (regardless of the purpose of the property) beyond the insurance policyholder's will that is attributable to an accidental cause and that requires cancellation of the travel contract to enable the insurance policyholder to protect their material interests.
 
4. Right to compensation

The insurer reimburses any cancellation or modification costs to be paid to the tour operator in accordance with the travel terms and conditions if any of the following situations occur after the date of subscription. The insurer reserves the right to appoint an advising physician who has the right to request additional medical information or access to the complete medical file of the patient whose illness is the reason for the cancellation or modification of the travel contract. The final decision will always lie with the insurer.

a) accident, decease or unexpected necessary treatment of a disease of:
· the insurance policyholder;
· the insurance policyholder's life partner;
· a relative of the insurance policyholder up to the third degree;
· the minor children from the insurance policyholder's reconstituted family;
· the person who would look after your minor children or disabled family members during your trip;

The insurer covers the consequences of an accident or a disease on condition that the disease or the consequences of the accident were stable at the time of booking the trip, if before departure the insured party appears not to be able to start the trip because unforeseeable medical treatment is necessary.

The guarantee expires when the beneficiary departs against the advice of the attending physician.

b) unexpected care for a family member up to the 2nd degree for medical reasons after a hospital admission on condition that the person in need of help was not hospitalised at the time of booking the trip and that the insurance policyholder did not provide care for this family member in the same way at the time of booking the trip. You have to demonstrate the need for this unexpected care by presenting proof provided by the hospital to which the family member was admitted;
c) pregnancy if the insurance policyholder was not yet pregnant before the trip at the moment of the registration date and the departure date falls within the last 3 months of the pregnancy;
d) unexpected pregnancy complications for the insurance policyholder, their life partner not participating in the trip or a family member up to the 2nd degree , including premature birth at least one month before the expected date of birth;
e) termination of the insurance policyholder's or their life partner’s employment contract by the employer for economic reasons after the registration date;
f) conclusion of a new employment contract by the insurance policyholder for at least 3 consecutive months after the registration date if this time period fully or partially coincides with the duration of the trip and if the holiday period was not approved by the new employer;
g) significant material damage (at least € 2500) to the insurance policyholder’s immovable property or business premises, for which the necessary findings and reports have been made by a public authority and/or expert, which requires the policyholder's presence, with clear traces of tampering being found in the event of a burglary, within 30 days prior to departure or during the trip;
h) summons of the policyholder or their life partner after the registration date:
· for organ transplantation (both as donor and as recipient) (medical certificate mentioning the impossibility to travel) (including for family members up to the 2nd degree);
· for the adoption of a child (arrival of the child in the family between one month before and one month after the departure date);
· for an unexpected military mission;
· for jury service at the Assize Court or for witness service in a court of law at the time of the trip;
i) disappearance or kidnapping, at the hands of a third party, of the policyholder, their life partner or a relative by blood or affinity up to the second degree;
j) suicide of
· the insurance policyholder;
· their life partner;
· any individual related to the insurance policyholder by blood or affinity up to the second degree (i.e. parents, parents-in-law, brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, children, grandchildren and grandparents);
· the minor children from their reconstituted family;
· the person who would look after your minor children or disabled family members during your trip;
k) divorce or separation, if the proceedings were initiated on court level after booking the trip, or dissolution of a civil partnership, after booking the trip, provided that the official address of the insurance policyholder or the former spouse has changed after reservation, subject to presentation of an official document;
l) honeymoon cancellation because of cancellation of marriage, subject to presentation of an official document;
m) exams to be retaken by the policyholder as a student during or within 30 days after the trip, on condition that they were not aware of the retake at the time of booking and that the retake cannot be rescheduled;
n) total loss of the private vehicle of the insured party or their life partner due to an accident, a fire or a theft within the week before the date of departure. The insured party must in any case provide us with proof of the damage or theft (police report, public authority report and/or expert report);
o) immobilisation of the private vehicle that was supposed to take the insurance policyholder to the port or airport of departure because of accidental damage, fire, technical breakdown or theft to such extent that the port or airport of departure is not reached or cannot be reached in time and for which the necessary findings and/or reports have been made by a public authority and/or expert; Any incident resulting in immobilisation that takes place less than one hour before boarding is not covered by the guarantee of this contract. The insured must in any case provide us with proof of the damage or theft (towing service invoice, police report, public authority report and/or expert report);
p) home invasion or carjacking against the insurance policyholder, at the hands of a third party, in the week before departure, subject to presentation of the police report; 
q) termination of the rental contract for the principal place of residence of the beneficiary by the landlord after the registration date and within three months prior to departure if the beneficiary needs to move out of the property within 30 days prior to departure or during the trip;
r) cancellation of leave granted to the insured by their employer because of unavailability of a colleague substituting the insured due to illness, accident or death. The insured must provide a certificate from the employer indicating that their substitute had been designated before the trip was booked as well as a medical certificate of incapacity to work or, if applicable, a death certificate of the insured's substitute;
s) Necessary presence of the insured exercising a liberal or independent profession due to unavailability of the insured's substitute as designated in the certificate of affiliation due to illness, accident or death.  The insured must provide a certificate indicating that their substitute had been designated before the trip was booked as well as a medical certificate of incapacity to work or, if applicable, a death certificate of the insured's substitute;
t) theft with violence or burglary of the identity documents or flight tickets required for the journey within five days before departure, subject to presentation of the police report;
u) impossibility to vaccinate the insured due to medical reasons even though this vaccination is explicitly required according to the World Health Organisation (WHO);
v) refusal by the authorities of the country of destination to issue a visa for the insured, their life partner or a relative in the 2nd degree who travels along with the insured on condition that this refusal is not due to a late request from the insured or due to a request for which incorrect or incomplete information was provided and that it was impossible to know on the date of subscription the visa could not be issued in time or could not be issued at all;
w) decease of the dog, cat or horse of the insured within two days before the departure date. The insured must submit the following documents: a death certificate from the veterinarian, a certificate of good health of the animal on the day when the insured booked the trip and proof of ownership.
x) if the insurance policy holder took out an ALL RISK cancellation insurance plan, the insurer shall also reimburse the insured for any cancellation and modification costs of the trip for a different (personal) and verifiable reason than those listed above, subject to presentation of supporting documents and taking into account the exclusions as described in article 6.2.  

5. Extent of the guarantee

If the insurance holder is entitled to reimbursement, the PLATINUM and ALL RISK cancellation insurance plans cover:

a) reimbursement of the cancellation or modification costs due to the tour operator in application of the travel contract;
b) the unrecoverable part of the paid travel amount as mentioned in the travel contract in case of cancellation by the beneficiary during the course of the travel contract (trip interruption);
c) any nights not spent at the booked accommodation if the policyholder(s) can only depart at a later time than the scheduled date of departure for one of the reasons for cancellation as set out in article 4.

The insurance policy holder does not have to pay an excess fee nor an administration fee. The insurance premium and the administration fee in the travel contract are not reimbursed.

5.1 PLATINUM guarantee
The PLATINUM cancellation insurance plan covers 100% of the cancellation or modification costs of the trip in case the trip is cancelled or modified due to a reason mentioned in art. 4 (a) to w) included).

5.2 ALL RISK guarantee
The ALL RISK cancellation insurance plan covers 100% of the cancellation or modification costs of the trip in case the trip is cancelled or modified due to a reason mentioned in art. 4 (a) to w) included).

In case of cancellation or modification for a different (personal) and verifiable reason, this compensation shall amount to 75% of the cancellation or modification costs, taking into account the exclusions specified under article 6.2.

6. Exclusions

The insurer will not be required to reimburse the insurance policyholder for any costs in case of the following reasons of cancellation or modification:

6.1 PLATINUM Cancellation Insurance
a) chronic or existing diseases in a terminal phase at the time of booking the trip;
b) all events caused by excessive use (beyond the “at risk” and legal threshold) of alcohol, drugs or medication not prescribed by a physician or when problems occur associated with the use hereof;
c) depressions, psychic or psychosomatic illnesses, mental or nervous disorders, unless there has been an admission to a hospital or an institution and on condition that the disease was stable at the time of booking the trip, if before departure the insured party appears not to be able to start the trip because unforeseeable medical treatment is necessary;
d) illnesses or accidents which cannot be diagnosed with a medical examination or which do not involve objective symptoms on the basis of which an indisputable diagnosis can be made;
e) all events that cause the cancellation of a trip known at the time of booking of the trip, except stable illnesses and diseases (not in a terminal phase);
f) medical or surgical procedures that were planned before the time of booking the trip or that were performed before the time of booking the trip and all complications linked to these surgical procedures;
g) not medical urgent surgical intervention (such as a.o. aesthetic intervention, gastric bypass, obesity surgery,…) and all complications linked to this intervention;
h) illnesses, accidents or disturbances resulting from:
a. the practice of dangerous sports such as: mountaineering, big game hunting, speleology, deep-sea diving and martial arts
b. participation in speed attempts or contests
c. professional sports practice, including trainings
i) epidemics (in the country of destination);
j) every loss being directly or indirectly the result of deliberately caused events with fraudulent intent or malicious, voluntary and/or wrongful acts of the insured;
k) effects of nuclear or atomic attacks or radiation;
l) war, strikes, riots, civil war or acts of violence with a collective motive, unless the beneficiary is able to demonstrate there is no causal link between the cancellation and the event;
m) earthquakes, tidal waves, volcanic eruption, floodings or other natural disasters;
n) all events that cause the cancellation of a trip known at the time of booking of the trip, that are not explicitly mentioned in the art.4.

6.2 ALL RISK Cancellation Insurance
a) all events causing the cancellation of a trip that were known to the insured before taking out the insurance policy (except chronic and pre-existing illnesses);
b) every loss being directly or indirectly the result of deliberately caused events with fraudulent intent or malicious, voluntary and/or wrongful acts of the insured;
c) the insured no longer wants to go ahead with the trip;
d) the weather conditions at the destination do not meet the expectations of the insured (excess or lack of sunshine or rain etc.);
e) the tour operator or airline company has been declared bankrupt;
f) trips to destinations in a country if at the time of booking a warning was issued advising the public to avoid all (non-essential) trips to that country. Within this scope, the insurer shall rely on the travel advice issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Belgium.
g) cancellations in case the tour operator does not charge any costs or is not allowed to charge any costs or offers an appropriate alternative free of charge.
h) all events caused by excessive use (beyond the “at risk” and legal threshold) of alcohol, drugs or medication not prescribed by a physician or when problems occur associated with the use hereof;
i) cancellations due to non-specified, materially intangible or non-verifiable reasons not substantiated by supporting documents;
j) trips that do not meet the definition under 3 a) "Travel contract".

The guarantees and the exclusions apply to the policyholder as well as to any person whose medical condition is the cause of the request for reimbursement.

If the policyholder, after having been served a formal notice of default, fails to pay the advance amount, the travel amount or the fee that is required of them, the touroperator/airline shall be entitled to terminate the contract with the traveller without further warning at the traveller's expense. In this case the insurance company will not pay any amounts under this insurance policy until the aforesaid outstanding amount has been settled. It is not possible to settle these costs with a TUI MasterCard voucher. The TUI MasterCard voucher will be activated once for a maximum of 6 months upon expiry of the original voucher. 

7. Duration

The cover commences upon registration and lasts until the start of the trip.

8. Up-/downgrading the cancellation insurance plan

8.1 Upgrading
Upgrading the cancellation insurance plan is permitted until 7 days after the booking and 57 days before departure.
 
8.2 Downgrading
Downgrading the cancellation insurance plan is not permitted.

9. Obligations of the beneficiary/insurance policyholder

a) the policy holder will make all reasonable efforts to minimise cancellation or modification costs. More specifically he/she will inform the tour operator as soon as something happens that may be a reason to cancel, modify or interrupt the trip;
b) the policy holder will file the insurance claim online on https://claims.tui.be. Further communication will be done by phone on +32 (0)59 56 58 01 with Pats nv, which was appointed by Advent Insurance PCC Limited as its authorised loss adjuster. In order to assure fast claim handling, the policy holder will:
- download the necessary medical documents on https://claims.tui.be,  fill out the declaration form online and upload the filled out medical documents within 30 calendar days from the date of cancellation of the travel contract (or the date of departure in case of a no show), which corresponds with the issue date of the cost invoice, on https://claims.tui.be, otherwise you will risk a lower coverage;
- follow the instructions of Pats nv and provide all useful information and/or documentation they deem necessary or useful;
- present a medical certificate from the attending physician or a medical certificate from the local physician in case of travel interruption;
- allow your insurer to perform a medical assessment and to access your medical file in case of an accident or illness.
c) by taking out cancellation insurance, the insured accepts that the insurer or the competent entity or physician (in the case of medical information) mandated by the insurer can carry out a check and gain access or have insight in the full medical file in case of an illness or an accident of the person whose medical condition is the reason of the claim for reimbursement.  Furthermore, the insured accepts that in case no check can be carried out and therefore the reason for cancellation and reimbursement is not sufficiently proven, the insurer shall be entitled to refuse reimbursement.
 
10. General conditions

10.1 Policies previously taken out
When the same interest has been insured by different insurers for the same risk, the insured can, in the event of losses, claim an indemnity payment from each insurer within the limits of each one’s obligations and for the amount that they are entitled to. In that case, the insurer cannot invoke the existence of other contracts covering the same risks to refuse its guarantee, except in the case of fraud. The claim will be settled pursuant to Article 99 §2 of the Belgian Law of 30.04.2014 on terrestrial insurance contracts.

10.2 Subrogation
Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell automatically takes over the beneficiary’s rights versus any liable third party to the amount of its contribution.

Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell respects the privacy of its customers and of the users of its website. The collection of personal data and their use by Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation. If you affiliate yourself with Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell, your personal data will be stored in a data file. The controller of that site and of the personal data contained in that file is Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell.

Your personal data and contact details are in order to conclude, manage and implement the insurance contract. In addition, Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell can, on the basis of its legitimate commercial interests, use your personal data and contact details to meet requests from its customers, to keep its customers informed of the activities of Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell as well as for marketing purposes, such as the provision of services or products, membership benefits and promotional actions with partners, data file management, (direct) marketing, public relations and activities in the capacity as intermediary. Furthermore, it is possible that Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell is also required to process information relating to your health in order to conclude or implement the agreement and/or process your claim. We are required by law to ask your explicit consent to process your health data or those of the person represented by you. You are at all times entitled to withdraw this consent.  In case of withdrawal of your consent, Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell is authorised to further process the data without your consent, if it concerns the processing of personal data which you publicly disclosed yourself and their processing is necessary to institute or corroborate a legal action.

Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell secures your personal data by means of far-reaching technical measures. Only duly authorised individuals process your personal data and observe the highest degree of confidentiality in this respect.

Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell only shares data with the organisations with which Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell has a contractual relationship. For instance Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell calls upon the services of a sub-processor, Pats nv (with registered office at 8400 Oostende, Gistelsesteenweg 1, registered with the CBE under company number 0436.072.606)

You have a right of disclosure, consultation, access and rectification of your personal data. You can also object to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes or to the forwarding of your data to an organisation with which Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell has a contractual relationship. You can exert these rights by sending a simple letter, with a copy of your ID card, to Advent Insurance at its registered office. If you are of the opinion that the data processing does not take place in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations, you can file a claim with the Data Protection Authority.

More information about the use of your data by the insurer and about your rights can be found in the insurer's privacy statement, which is available via the website of the insurer (http://www.adventpcc.com/data-protection).  It is also possible to obtain a paper copy free of charge from the insurer.
 
10.3 Applicable law and limitation
The PLATINUM and ALL RISK insurance contracts are governed by Belgian law. Any dispute shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the materially competent court of the legal district of Bruges. Any action resulting from any of these insurance contracts is time-barred three years from the date of the event giving cause for this action.

10.4 Domicile
The domicile of the contracting parties is elected by operation of law:
- in the case of Advent Insurance PCC Limited - Absolut Cell, the registered office of its loss adjuster;
- in the case of the beneficiary, their official domicile.
 
10.5 Complaints handling
Although we go to great lengths to manage your file correctly, it might happen that you are dissatisfied with our service and want to file a complaint. If this is the case, please first address your claims handler, whose details you can find in the correspondence of Pats nv. If this does not suffice, you can contact the insurer’s complaints service, represented in Belgium by Pats nv, Complaints Handling division, Gistelsesteenweg 1, 8400 Oostende (Belgium). Phone: +32 (0)59 56 58 01- e-mail: travel_insurance@tui.be.
Always mention your reservation and file number so as to ensure smooth handling. Pats nv will examine your complaint as soon as they have received it and you will receive their answer within two weeks of receipt. If they are unable to answer you in this time period, they will inform you when you can expect an answer. If you are eventually not satisfied with the handling of your complaint, you can contact the Ombudsman for Insurances through the standard form on the website www.ombudsman.as, by e-mail to info@ombudsman.as, by fax at the number +32 (0)2 547 59 75 or by letter to the Ombudsman for Insurances, de Meeûssquare 35, 1000 Brussel (Belgium). Always mention your reservation and file number. This complaints procedure does not exclude the possibility to take legal action.