next »

[wegie]

Am flying memorial day weekend connecting in Munich.  Will keep a watch on this.  Would hate to be stuck in Europe. 

Getting stuck in Munich is a fate that most of us pray to experience ;-)

[ucprof]

Am flying memorial day weekend connecting in Munich.  Will keep a watch on this.  Would hate to be stuck in Europe. 

Getting stuck in Munich is a fate that most of us pray to experience ;-)

Except that I am supposed to be on vacation in a US National Park a few days after coming back from Europe.  And Europe is work and the National Park is vacation.  Also I will be on my own in Europe and the only German I speak is counting from one to ten. Whereas spouse is coming with me on vacation.  It would be nice to get back on time because otherwise I will have to explain to Lufthansa that they need to fly me to some obscure place in the US rather than a major city.

[wegie]

My experience with Lufthansa's version of customer service strongly suggests that they will enforce their side of the contract to the letter, and they will fly you only to the major city :-(

if you do get stuck at MUC for a couple of hours, just go and sit in the biergarten of the Airbrau. This tends to make even flights delayed by several hours extremely bearable. The food isn't as good as the beer, but that's only because the beer is excellent even by Bavarian standards.

[ucprof]

My experience with Lufthansa's version of customer service strongly suggests that they will enforce their side of the contract to the letter, and they will fly you only to the major city :-(

if you do get stuck at MUC for a couple of hours, just go and sit in the biergarten of the Airbrau. This tends to make even flights delayed by several hours extremely bearable. The food isn't as good as the beer, but that's only because the beer is excellent even by Bavarian standards.

Well I have trip insurance and hopefully this will be a non-issue.  Thanks for the tip on the biergarten I will keep it in mind.

[wegie]

My experience with Lufthansa's version of customer service strongly suggests that they will enforce their side of the contract to the letter, and they will fly you only to the major city :-(

if you do get stuck at MUC for a couple of hours, just go and sit in the biergarten of the Airbrau. This tends to make even flights delayed by several hours extremely bearable. The food isn't as good as the beer, but that's only because the beer is excellent even by Bavarian standards.

Well I have trip insurance and hopefully this will be a non-issue. 

Check carefully exactly what it covers. If it was issued recently, it will almost certainly not cover the volcano. Worse still, most people discovered the hard way that most standard travel policies don't cover knock-on costs :-(

The good news is that because you're departing from the EU, Lufthansa must feed you and offer you accommodation if necessary.

Thanks for the tip on the biergarten I will keep it in mind.

It's an excellent biergarten. All airports should have their own brewery and biergarten ;-)

[notaprof]

My experience with Lufthansa's version of customer service strongly suggests that they will enforce their side of the contract to the letter, and they will fly you only to the major city :-(

if you do get stuck at MUC for a couple of hours, just go and sit in the biergarten of the Airbrau. This tends to make even flights delayed by several hours extremely bearable. The food isn't as good as the beer, but that's only because the beer is excellent even by Bavarian standards.

Well I have trip insurance and hopefully this will be a non-issue.  Thanks for the tip on the biergarten I will keep it in mind.

Trip insurance bought after 4/13 does not cover interruptions due to the volcano in many insurance companies.  

On preview, wegie already said this but I received a spreadsheet on insurance policies and volcano coverage if you are interested.

[elsie]

So what does travel insurance cover, and is it worth while buying it? I've got a big trip to England and Wales coming up, and I'm trying to work out if the insurance actually makes sense or if it's more like purchasing an extended warranty.

[chaosbydesign]

So what does travel insurance cover, and is it worth while buying it? I've got a big trip to England and Wales coming up, and I'm trying to work out if the insurance actually makes sense or if it's more like purchasing an extended warranty.

I always buy travel insurance just to be safe--it covers things like theft, medical expenses (not so important if you are traveling to the UK), loss of luggage, injury (for example if I go skiing and break a bone, meaning I cannot work when I return, my travel insurance policy compensates loss of earnings) and also some travel insurance companies will cover the cost of making alternate travel arrangements if a flight is cancelled, although not if the situation it was cancelled in was known to you when you booked it as the volcano issue may have been. I think they will also not pay out on extra costs such as money spent on food whilst you are waiting to get your next flight.

Another thing travel cover is important for is personal liability--if you cause an accident of some sort whilst you are on holiday, you could be liable for expenses relating to that, and travel insurance policies do cover you for it.

[wegie]

So what does travel insurance cover, and is it worth while buying it? I've got a big trip to England and Wales coming up, and I'm trying to work out if the insurance actually makes sense or if it's more like purchasing an extended warranty.

You would only receive emergency treatment from the NHS if you fell ill or had an accident. Anything other than a visit to the ER, and we want payment. We won't ask for it up front, but we will ask for it. Insurance is a lot better than an umpteen thousand pound bill.

[ucprof]

The trip insurance automatically comes with the ticket when we purchase the ticket on a federal grant through the University travel office.  I don't worry about it if the insurance does not cover the delay either the conference will cover it or my grant.  We've been advised to use the univ travel agent when purchasing tickets abroad especially in regards to the volcano.  We got some official memo about it so presumably they have thought about these things.
I'm more concerned about missing the second trip coming just two days after the first trip.

[wegie]

I'm more concerned about missing the second trip coming just two days after the first trip.

That's what I was trying to say. Your university travel insurance will take care of any problems that might occur whilst on the trip to Europe, but it almost certainly won't contain a clause for "contingent losses", stuff like still being stuck at the Franz Josef Strauss memorial shopping mall when you should be vacationing in the wilds of Montana.

Equally, your normal travel insurance, or whatever insurance you've bought for the vacation, may not cover you if you're stuck in Europe, as there has been no material change in the availability of the vacation and the flights to the vacation. Check very carefully to see whether delays that aren't part of the actual trip are covered.

The good news is that Eyjafjallajokull seems to have gone back to sleep for a while.

The bad news is that the forecast for Munich and surrounding areas for the weekend (I'm going to be there as well) is absolute pants.

[chulhee]

this event take a heavy toll of profit

[ucprof]

I'm more concerned about missing the second trip coming just two days after the first trip.

That's what I was trying to say. Your university travel insurance will take care of any problems that might occur whilst on the trip to Europe, but it almost certainly won't contain a clause for "contingent losses", stuff like still being stuck at the Franz Josef Strauss memorial shopping mall when you should be vacationing in the wilds of Montana.

Equally, your normal travel insurance, or whatever insurance you've bought for the vacation, may not cover you if you're stuck in Europe, as there has been no material change in the availability of the vacation and the flights to the vacation. Check very carefully to see whether delays that aren't part of the actual trip are covered.

The good news is that Eyjafjallajokull seems to have gone back to sleep for a while.

The bad news is that the forecast for Munich and surrounding areas for the weekend (I'm going to be there as well) is absolute pants.

Interesting.  Well it turns out the second trip also was bought on the univ travel because it is for a conference that happens to be near a national park.  I'm not sure how the travel insurance works when you have multiple trips but hopefully I won't have to find out.  I assume pants is not good for a weather forcast.  I do not know that expression.

[wegie]

I assume pants is not good for a weather forcast.  I do not know that expression.

Pants is British English for atrocious (well, amongst many other things ;-). The Munich area weather forecast for this weekend is basically mid-upper 60s and rain.   

[obprof]

I heard but I can't corroborate it: did the volcano stop erupting??

I've also heard that the one next to it (Katya -- the one people can pronounce) is about to blow??