What Date Is Your Initial Trip Deposit Date?
Your Initial Trip Deposit Date is the earliest date that a payment of any kind was paid and / or applied to your trip. There's one exception: if you paid money on a cruise for a future cruise without set travel dates, there are three travel insurance companies that will not consider that your Initial Trip Deposit Date.
Example #1:
You book a trip on July 1st and put it on your credit card. Three weeks later you get your credit card bill and pay it on July 23rd. Even though you think you "paid for your trip on July 23rd", your Initial Trip Deposit Date was really made on July 1st.
Example #2:
You use frequent flyer miles to get a ticket. A month later make the deposit on your tour or cruise. Your Initial Trip Deposit Date is the is the date you arranged for your ticket with your frequent flyer miles. That's because the taxes you paid are the first payment made on your trip.
What if you re-book your trip? Does your Initial Trip Deposit Date change?
Yes, your new Initial Trip Deposit Date will be the date you pay the first payment on the new trip.
How does switching the cruise to a different travel agent effect my Initial Trip Deposit Date change?
Switching the cruise to a different travel agent doesn't neccessarily re-set your Initial Deposit Date. If any of the money you paid previously is either transferred or applied to your new cruise's booking, the original deposit date will be the same.
The only way the new cruise booking is treated as a new cruise with a new Initial Trip Deposit Date is if:
You can show documentation (at claim time) that you completely cancelled the 1st cruise and received 100% of your money back as either a credit card refund or in the form of a check made payable to you, and
You then have to book a trip with different travel dates from the trip you cancelled.
Why does changing my trip to different travel dates change my Initial Trip Deposit Date?
The reason is because you have a new trip.
In addition, if you examine our travel insurance policy wordings, you'll see that all plans all include wording like "this is the first and only booking for this same destination and dates of travel" as a condition of waiving the pre-existing medical condition exclusion. You cannot cancel your trip & re-book it to just reset your initial trip deposit date. Read Steve's Blog post to find out more.
Click here to find out more about pre-existing conditions coverage.
The Exceptions to "What Is Your Initial Trip Deposit Date?"
If you are / were on a cruise and you paid a deposit for a future cruise without setting travel dates, Travelex Select, Travelex Max and Travel Insured will not consider that date your Initial Trip Deposit Date. Your Initial Trip Deposit Date will be the date you have a confirmed reservation with specific travel dates. Global Alert's and TravelSafe's policy wording, "Payments or Deposits" strictly refers to a confirmed deposit. In other words, if a particular category is not available for you at the time of your initial deposit, or the tour is sold out and you are put on a waiting list, or if an "interest deposit" is taken for an early promotion to see if there is enough interest in a specific tour but the tour is not yet a definite, don't buy a Global Alert or a TravelSafe plan yet.
You can still receive the pre-existing conditions waiver, supplier default coverage and the optional "Cancel For Any Reason" benefits when your initial deposit date is the date your "interest deposit" becomes a confirmed deposit. CSA counts the earliest date but it doesn't matter much as CSA uses the Final Payment Date as the deadline to cover pre-existing conditions. Travel Guard counts the earliest date when any monies are paid as the Initial Trip Deposit Date regardless of whether there are set travel dates set. |
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