I am aware of various recommendations for snowcard, bmc etc, but wondered whether anybody has used the option of AAC membership @ £38 (which will cover helicopter rescue and repatriation) supplemented by inexpensive "normal" travel insurance to cover cancellation, lost baggage etc?
Been a member for a few years (I presume you're talking about the Austrian Alpine Club) I think it provides good value, you also can enjoy the "reciprocal rights" feature to gain discounts at participating mountain refuges across Europe. Though (luckily) I've never had the occasion to use the rescue and repatriation part, so I can't really comment.
Nearly did in Austria once, but I managed to get out of a snow filled gully a couple seconds before a fair sized boulder came crashing down...
Would be very interested in people's opinions about this as well. I'm slightly nervous that given a need to claim on the normal travel insurance that they would find a reason not to pay up...
The key in this one is to get an approval in writing....so, if you are going for a combo. of AAc and ordinary...tell the AAC in writing that you have ordinary and get a written acknowledgement from them and also tell the ordinary in writing that you have got AAC...and get their agreement in writing as to what you are/are not covered for!
Looking at the details whilst the repatriation costs are unlimited, the medical costs aboard are limited to EUR7,500 which doesn't sound like a lot. Guess it might be ok in Europe with the reciprocal health agreement (EHIC/E111) but probably not sufficient for other countries.
BMC is okay it is the insurance company that they use that is the problem. They split up their insurance policy (maybe others do as well), but in one section they reused my claim completely, and paid out on the other two sections. However I had to pay the first whatever (can't remember the amount) on each of the two sections so I lost out even further.
The chap at BMC was very helpful and even tried on my behalf to resolve the matter but the insurance company stood firm. Hence I wont be using them again. Someone suggested Snowcard (I think it was) and I'm more likely to use them on my next trip whenever that may be.
The excess being applied to each section of the policy might not be that unusual. The same thing happened to me when I claimed on my 'normal' travel insurance policy.
