Wow - that was a beneficial change.
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Today I learned something.
Yikes!
I saw the date Cooke wrote, assumed it was that, wikiād to doublecheck.
I got this message from my airline saying that I needed the following to get into France:
- Passengers must hold an insurance certificate covering all medical, hospital and death-related expenses during their stay in France, including the cost of repatriation for medical reasons. The certificate must be translated into English.
Has anyone dealt with that before? Itās been more than 10 years since I last traveled to Europe so wasnāt aware of this requirement.
This is a common, but rarely checked on, requirement for many countries. To be safe you may want to have the necessary documentation handy.
Presumably you will have taken out such coverage in any event.
Any recommendation on companies that carry it? I looked at the first policy listed on Forbes, Tin Leg, standard policy $19, sounds reasonable.
I am only familiar with the Canadian providers but coverages are usually pretty cheap. Many premium credits include a qualifying out of country coverage for emergency medical so check your credit card coverage as well.
Yes, good idea, I have to call my CC companies anyway to tell them that Iāll be out of the country. My health insurance program at work covers the cost of emergencies, but probably not the cost of sending me back to the US in a body bag.
So when I went to notify Chase that I would be out of the country, they said they no longer require notification. Maybe thatās becoming a thing of the past on a larger scale.
Check with your Group Life insurer to see if the life or the AD&D policy includes repatriation benefits. When I worked in Group one of those contracts typically did although we also offered a āno frillsā product at lower cost that did not. I no longer recall whether it was on the life or AD&D contract though.
And despite the name which makes it sound like international boundaries must be crossed, the definition was based on miles and I think it was in the vicinity of 150 miles. If you died more than 150 miles from home the insurer would pay to transport your body to the funeral home requested by your beneficiary or something close to that. Less than that I guess the funeral home could collect the body in a hearse.
My post-retirement medical benefits have been eviscerated over the years but the out of country emergency medical has fully survived. I would therefore check your employer group coverage in detail as repatriation is a pretty standard feature.
Thanks, good thing to check on. A college professor of mine died of a heart attack while at a conference in France, as did my bffās father while on a bike trip in Canada. Definitely good thing to keep in mind, especially with all the fattening food Iāll be eating.
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On a different, but related, subject, there are incredible delays currently in getting Canadian passports issued or renewed. Donāt know if this is also a US issue but may be worth checking on to ensure you have your travel documents in time. Also many countries require at least three months left on your passport for entry.
Iāve heard that US passports were similar. But we renewed our sonās passport in April, and paid $60 for expedited service (5-7 weeks), and Iām not sure it took 5 weeks. n=n+1
Yes a friend of mine lost her passport, figured that she could get it replaced during the 2-week period before the flight, but after trying all day to call the passport agency she found out that all appointments were booked where she lived. They told her that there were appointments available in a different city, so she flew up there, only to find out that they were giving priority to people attending funerals so the trip was for nothing. She was left with the following 3 options: get a guaranteed renewal through a third party for a cost of $3k, turn the house upside-down hoping that her passport turns up, or cancel the flight (nonrefundable but can get credit for a future trip).
Not an issue with me, I keep my passport in my top desk drawer and it doesnāt expire till next February.
i just remembered i have less than a year to get this āreal idā bullshit. the US is dumb.
But if you travel somewhere that wants your passport to be valid for 6 months after the date of travel, then you need to renew fairly quickly.
Ours are expired but recent enough that we should be able to mail in a form. Need to get on that. I need the Real ID too if they donāt keep pushing back the date.
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My preference is not to do any more international travel until air travel becomes somewhat tolerable again, but definitely a good idea to get my passport renewed sometime soon - better to have the option available than not.
Well, my flight tonight was canceled. They offered to fly me out on Sunday, but that would leave me 4 days in Paris which I didnāt think was enough time to make it worthwhile. Besides, how would I even know if the Sunday flight would happen, not to mention all the stuff that could go wrong on the return trip. So I made domestic travel plans instead. I was told that Iād get a refund, but they are giving me credits instead. Not a big deal, certainly wouldnāt be a bad thing to go back to France next year, hopefully when the airlines have their shit together.