Footloose seniors may face age bias

'SORRY KIDS, but the Bank of Mum and Dad is closed. We're off to see the world." The opening lines from a recent advertising campaign for a travel company reflect the fact that older generations, who have most likely financed their children's gap year in Australia, are catching the travel bug and are now holidaying more frequently and in more exotic locations.

Unfortunately, footloose senior citizens looking forward to filling their retirement with relaxing cruises or action holidays face a rude awakening when they discover that travel insurance companies discriminate - quite severely - on the basis of age.

Gerard Scully of Age Action Ireland says that the agency receives calls "all the time" from older people having problems accessing travel insurance. "Once you reach 70 you start having difficulty. You certainly start paying more for it," Scully says. Once people turn 75 or 80, it's almost impossible to get holiday cover, he adds.

"This is something that Age Action Ireland completely condemns," he continues. "We don't see the justification for it. We think individuals should be insured as individuals, rather than collectively as a group."

Most travel insurance companies in the Irish market operate an upper age limit. For example, Sunway Travel only offers travel insurance to customers up to the age of 69.

Even if the door isn't slammed in their face, older travellers find that insurers will no longer sell them cost-effective multi-trip insurance once they reach a certain age (often 65), leaving them with no option but to take out a single-trip policy to cover each holiday, which tends to be far more expensive.

VHI Healthcare is unusual in that it offers multi-trip cover to holiday-makers in their eighties.

However, octogenarian customers will find their travel plans cramped by certain limitations.

For instance, those who had always dreamed of visiting the US or Canada or soaking up the sun on a Caribbean beach won't be covered to do so on their VHI policy.

Certain pre-existing medical conditions are also no longer covered under the multi-trip policy once a person turns 80, while trips outside Europe are limited to a maximum of 17 days.

Meanwhile, slightly younger VHI customers with worldwide multi-trip travel insurance may get a nasty shock when they see their premium skyrocket from € 49 to € 139 as soon as they reach their 65th birthday.

At least VHI doesn't request any additional medical reports from people hoping to take out its over- 65 policy, unlike many other insurers.

Accident and General, which sells its insurance products through travel agents, also offers holiday cover to travellers over 80, although those over 74 are limited to the company's single-trip product.

According to a spokesman for Accident and General, senior travellers can expect their premium to double once they turn 70 and triple once they hit 75.

As well as facing much higher premiums, consumers in the so-called "golden holiday" sector often have to jump through far more hoops to access travel cover than younger travellers.

For example, "silver surfers" can only buy cover online with insure.ie until the age of 70. After they reach this age limit, they must contact a call centre instead, and they will be passed on to insure.ie's underwriter, who will assess them on a case-by-case basis.

According to Bank of Ireland's website, travel insurance customers between 70 and 74 will have a 100 per cent loading added to their premium.

Those over 75 will have to call AIG Ireland - which underwrites the bank's travel insurance cover - and undergo a medical screening process before they can even get a quotation.