Travel Insurance People Over Ruling Doctors Orders

[pumpjack]

lung infection here in thailand, i am insured by nationwide flex plus. doctors said i cannot fly because of breathing difficulties , especially as cabin pressure on flight can affect this , 3 members of insurance team told me all week that in order to get me a flight i would need to visit hospital again and get a fit to fly certificate, because if any problems happened while flying then they would be screwed basically for allowing me to travel. so, last night directline called me to say i did not need a cert to fly and they have booked me onto a flight late tomorrow night. i told directline that 3 of their colleagues plus the doctor said i cannot fly without fit to fly cert and was she now over riding her own colleagues plus a professional doctors advise and she said yes she was, she told me her colleagues are trained in aviation guidelines ....

also this insurance company only paying for my hotel, flight, taxi ...no food or allowances are said to be covered ? what if i had of been stuck here with no money for food or expenses ?

advice please , my breathing is still a struggle and weezing hard...cant get a deep breath.

should i return to hospital or just fly....

[pumpjack]

i thought that doctors orders were paramount ?

[Zacs-Master]

I don’t understand the nationwide flex / direct line relationship.

As for food if you were there, you’d have to tell us what it says in the small print of your policy.

[Flonska]

If there is time, I think I would:-

(a) speak to someone senior at the insurers
(b) get the insurance company to speak to the doctor

[pumpjack]

""" I don’t understand the nationwide flex / direct line relationship.

As for food if you were there, you’d have to tell us what it says in the small print of your policy. """

when they email me it says TMAdirectline , this baffled me too

[Zacs-Master]

Email? You said they called you.

[Zacs-Master]

Anyway, their (nationwide) 24hr emergency number is Outside the UK: [phone]

And their legal helpline is tel:[phone]

[pumpjack]

if i go to a doctor tonight, that doctor takes my respitory lung capacity , blood pressure, etc etc, he tells me i still have breathing difficulties and advise not to fly, surely any insurance guidelines must obey this ?

anu insurance people on AB who can advise on my questions.

[Zacs-Master]

Why don’t you just call the number I gave? Even if there were insurance experts on here, I doubt that they’d be able to advise as the circumstances seem pretty individual to you and they don’t know the small-print on your policy. At the end of the day, it will be airline staff who decide whether you can fly.

[EDDIE51]

Not an answer,but how do they expect you to get home without flying?

[woofgang]

Eddie, I think the OP is expecting to stay on longer until his health improves and is expecting the insurance to cover this. Not to be harsh but you would have had to eat wherever you were....have you read your policy and checked what it says it will cover and its procedure for deciding if you can fly?

[bednobs]

are you any better?
perhaps as you are not actually in hospital under the care of medical staff, they deem you as fit to fly?
It's probably cheaper to eat in Thailand than uk isn't it?

[pumpjack]

Ill call insurance today again speak with someone else.
I am ready to go home. I need to go home see my kids and get to work but with this ladies attitude the other night im concerned she is not telling me the proper truth.... She is over rulling a doctors orders so i just want prove she is in the wrong.
Also if i went to day got full lunng check etc and hospital did not give me fit to fly and i went to checkin and told BA staff that i had problems getting a breath and ive no fit to fly cert what exactluy would they do and if they said the were refusing me on the flight how would i lie regarding insurance

[pumpjack]

Can flying cause shortness of breath?
If the brain is affected, this may cause confusion, paralysis or loss of consciousness. If suffering from a fever, the body's need for oxygen is increased significantly due to symptoms which may appear at a very early stage in the flight. Passengers with fever are advised to avoid flying until the fever has subsided.

Just seen this in google

[bednobs]

I don't understand . If you want to go home and are ready to go why would you not go? It sounds like you want to cut off your nose to spite your face and teach the insurance co a lesson!

[pumpjack]

https://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/advice/general-travel-health-advice/air-travel

[bednobs]

I don't know what site that comes from but it doesn't even make sense

[tonyav]

severe chronic respiratory disease
breathlessness at rest

If I were you I'd try and get home asap. If it were me I'd rather be in hospital in the UK than in Thailand.

[237SJ]

What happened in the end - did you get home OK?

[pumpjack]

No.... BA checkin staff refused me....