We purchased insurance in 08 at the last minute (must do so at least 24 hrs beforehand), and glad we did as my wife fell and broke her shoulder while in Ireland. The ins. co. paid for an upgrade to 1st class as per Drs orders. It was a $3,000 value, and made the trip much more comfortable for her than it would have been in the "cattle car" section. Make sure you check the fine print on pre existing conditions. About 5 years before that, My Aunt could not go to Ireland due to severe back pain. She thought they would get their money back, but did not because she had been treated for back pain 5 years earlier. Because of that, she was denied a claim due to "pre-existing conditions." Most of the time, if you buy the insurance as soon as you put down the first dollars, they will cover the entire expense and disregard any and all pre existing conditions. So insurance buyer beware ....read all the fine print and know exactly what you are or are not getting for insurance. I wouldn't go with out it! Dan

-- Edited by murphy on Wednesday 15th of February 2012 07:32:55 PM

-- Edited by murphy on Wednesday 15th of February 2012 08:16:07 PM

Last year was the first time we took out trip insurance before going to Ireland. We almost needed it this time because our flight was delayed at Shannon and we missed our connecting flight. However, since it was the fault of Aer Lingus out of Shannon, they put us up in Boston and settled with our connecting airline. We were told that if the delay was weather related etc., we were on our own.

One other time after everything was booked and 3 weeks before our flight my husband needed emergency surgery but, Aer Lingus was kind enough to rebook (with a slight increase charge) because we had a medical emergency.

I can tell you that we will always get trip insurance in the future. It was great peace of mind knowing that if we were delayed coming home or had a medical emergency while in Ireland the trip insurance was there if we needed it.

So it all depends if you are a gambler or not.

Judy M.