[firstkings]

Everything is looking good...I just need Teacher registration then to send everything off...etc...but it will happen. I mustn't stress. :o

Now, I want to book flights...I yearn to book flights. :yes

Wifey one asks "What if the children are ill and we can't fly....or something?" :wah

What happens? We have 4 smallish children. What if we are down with the lurgy or something?

What insurance do you get? Or will that be way too expensive?

The one's I have seen so far do not cover for this.

Any help would be muchly appreciated.

Cheers

David

[veronica]

for normal stuff I think most of us would just dose them up and go.
I do know that one flight many years ago I sat in the bulkhead seats with our 3 year old and a 6 week old and the family next to me seemed to have the grizzeliest, most moany children I have come across. the mum kept shushing them when they went to talk. 2 weeks later I had two kids with german measles and I have always had a strong suspicion that was what was wrong with the kids on the plane. that I don't think is fair to either the kids or other pasengers, with something like that then they shouldn't travel and for sure the airlines wouldn't want them too. Might be worth phoning a few airlines on that and asking what they would do in that event. I know a lot of noise is made by the agents when you book a flight about the outward not being changable but I have changed the outward flights direct with the airline (singapore air) on two occasions with no problems.

[Oregonkiwi]

I've just been looking at travel insurance... yes you can get travel insurance that covers flight cancellation if a family member is ill (ill enough that a doctor says they can't fly, that is) and there are also some policies that will cover cancellation "for any reason", not sure how expensive they are. I was looking at http://www.squaremouth.com/ which gathers a lot of different insurance companies together and does instant on line quotes, that might be a place to start, although it's a US site so not sure if it would be good for you.

[SharpBlade]

Hi,
we also have 4 young kids, and the little on got sick on the way to Singapore.. more than once ! A bit of inconvenience for everybody, lots of bad smell but the cabin crew was great about it..Make sure you pack a least a change of clothes for everyone (and that they are easily accessible..)
Most of the time, you won t be able to predict if your kids are going to be sick or not, so I wouldn t worry too much.
Another time, one of our sons got very very sick just a few hours before flying back to Ireland from Belgium, he actually had a peritonitis on a burst appendix, spent 4 days in intensive care in Belgium, the timing was really perfect because I don`t even want to think about what would have happened to him if he had been sick on the plane (although it is only a short flight, it was a real emergency).
anyway, good luck,
laura

[katandbob]

my boss was going on a skiing holiday the week before I left, his daughter got chicken pox........the agents wouldnt cancel the flight unless they had confirmation in writing from the doctor......so they went, got a sick note, emailed it to the agents, and they moved the holiday to a week later.

so I think you just need evidence, for most companies, but dont quote me ;)

I think that some of the internet tickets (specially the cheaper tickets) are non refundable...so you need good insurance to cover this...

we wanted to bring forward our tickets, but travelbag won't do that, and in the end I decided it would be better to stick around for a few of my kids GCSE's and be bored for 8 weeks than be selfish and leave earlier.

So I didnt bother (havent looked at insurance yet...........must do that!)

Kat

[urban78]

my boss was going on a skiing holiday the week before I left, his daughter got chicken pox........the agents wouldnt cancel the flight unless they had confirmation in writing from the doctor......so they went, got a sick note, emailed it to the agents, and they moved the holiday to a week later.

so I think you just need evidence, for most companies, but dont quote me ;)



I agree with Kat, insurance companies will ask you for evidence. I believe insurance sold with your plane ticket will cover you for unforseen circumstances (can only speak for the Air NZ one), they will ask you to send anything to prove your claim. A passenger I was speaking to today had to send the insurance company a bill from the towing company cos his car broke down on the way to the airport and taken for repairs so he missed his flight :roll

Jen

[Simon & Emily]

Have to say that I've been worrying about this as well. It seems the chicken pox is always going around here, but neither of mine have ever had it, despite being with the infected children all day every day :laugh . Knowing our luck, I can virtually guarantee that the day we get up to go onto the plane will be the day they get the spots.

Most of the flights I've looked at don't seem to mind changing dates, as long as the flights themselves are'nt changed.

Emily

[Oregonkiwi]

It seems the chicken pox is always going around here

sorry, I know this is off topic, but you've made me curious - is the chickenpox vaccine not available in the UK? Or are people just not getting their kids immunized? (Not trying to start off an immunization debate, just curious.)

[reevos]

Hey ..funny you should say that about chicken pox .. we lived in the US for 4 years and the schools kept asking us why our kids hadn't had the chicken pox shot ... they couldn't believe that no-one minds about kids getting it in the UK ..in fact you even organise playdates so they can catch it!!!!

Katy

[veronica]

For any of you I would really stress that its worth checking the airlines policy directly before taking out expensive insurance.

[Oregonkiwi]

That's a good point, Veronica. Air NZ allows date changes for $100 per ticket (I don't know if this applies to all Air NZ fares) which could well be less than full travel insurance. Also, some credit cards offer insurance if you use that to buy your ticket.

[Simon & Emily]

..in fact you even organise playdates so they can catch it!!!!

Katy

Yep .... tried that, but they have still never managed to fall get it :laugh . That's why I'm so convinced that they will have it when we are due to catch the plane. We must have had at least 10 separate 'breakouts' in the village since they were born, and they still haven't had it. I can't think of anything else that would be serious enough for us not to be able to get the plane, although I'm sure there are a million and one things.

Emily

[Delson]

Simon & Emily, you can't put it off in case they catch it, I caught it when I was 32, it would be a very long wait :laugh

[PECJ]

A related answer:

We did the Heathrow - LA - Auckland - Christchurch with our 4 year old a couple of years ago. What we did find very useful was telling him every day for a couple of weeks before hand that we were going on 3 aeroplanes (actually 2 but that would have been too confusing) and that we were going to sleep on 2 of them. The flight left quite late (about his bed time) and once he had eaten (and watched "Finding Nemo" on the screen) we got him dressed into his PJs and went through the normal bedtime procedure. We feel that this was quite important to mentally prepare him for the journey. We didn't have the crowd that some others have and the ratio of 2 adults to one child make life a little easier.

Insurance is a must I would say. There are child sedation medicines you can get hold of but I would recommend that you try this before the trip (we have never tried these but have friends who swear by them on regular trips to the US.

Hope this helps

Peter J

[veronica]

deffinately try the child sedation things before you go, one had a reverse effect on our daughter and we didn't find out til on the plane, it was a long 24 hours with a hyper active 12 month old.