cancellation insurance and prems
 

So do i need to purchase the cancellation insurance for Prems tickets from Paris to Caen for a Normandy side trip in April? I never get cancellation insurance for my US trips so my first reaction is no but thought I would check with my friends here.

Thanks.

Are you talking about buying special insurance just to cover the eventuality of missing a train that you have a PREM ticket for? I didn't know that was even available. What "cancellation insurance" are you talking about?

As far as I know, you're just merde out of luck if you fail to show up for a train that you're traveling on with a PREM ticket. Please clue me in if there's something I don't know....

It is available now, but if you buy it you can't print your tickets. It was not available when I went to France last May but when I bought tix for this past Dec. (trip cancelled, cousin afraid of riots, etc.), it was an option. In retrospect, I should have bought it this time around.

Hi lhs624,

Will you be out a lot of money if you can't make the train?

((I))

Depending on the small print, it might be worthwhile. And, it's not expensive. I just bought our PREMs tickets, and like a total idiot used our air dates. So, they are for the wrong date, and I will have to eat them. Tried to get a refund, and was politely and firmly told no way. If anyone wants to go to Souillac from Paris April 5, return April 19th I can fix you up, although if they check ID we will all be in trouble...

The reason I didn't get the insurance when I bought tickets a couple of days ago is that it said you had to file the claim within <b>1 hour</b> of the departure time on the ticket. So, if your plane is late or you're behind so some other reason and you can't get there within an hour, you don't get the refund. I figure this is the most likely reason for missing your train, so I decided it was pretty much useless to buy the insurance. YMMV.

Thanks g33kgl. I didn't realize they give you a limited time to file a claim. Then that won't make it worthwhile to buy the insurance which is not that cheap.

But, no, lhs624, you don't need to buy the insurance which is now offered. But if you do, as Grandmere advised, the system won't allow you to print the PREM tickets.

Thanks everyone. I plan on passing on the insurance...especially when I read the fine print like the one hour time limit g33 mentions. Also, strikes are not covered. The tickets weren't overly expensive so its not that big of deal.

I love how quickly one can get answers here! Maybe one day I will actually have a good answer to someone else's questions. ;-)