Traveling to an Oasis concert next year? You might want to consider insurance.
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Traveling to an Oasis concert next year? You might want to consider insurance.
Liam and Noel Gallagher aren’t letting their longstanding feud get in the way of some extra cash.
The brothers are reuniting for an Oasis tour next year. Its North American leg includes stops in Pasadena, California; Chicago; East Rutherford, New Jersey; Mexico City; and Toronto. A private presale is Thursday, while general ticket sales are Friday.
But some fans are nervous that the concert will fall apart before the band steps onstage, especially those traveling long distances to see a show.
Animosity between the brothers began to grow sometime during childhood. Their path to stardom has been filled with physical altercations (Liam hit Noel with a tambourine during their 1994 tour), scrapped concert dates (the U.S. leg of their 1996 tour prematurely ended after Liam allegedly wanted to go house hunting) and taunting in the press and social media.
“He’s the angriest man you’ll ever meet. He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup,” Noel once said of Liam, while Liam has accused his Noel of turning into the establishment and repeatedly posted his photo on Twitter with the caption “potato.”
Their volatile relationship means Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, is at risk of cancellations, veteran tour manager Mike Finn told Marketplace in August. (He’s planning to buy a ticket, but closer to the concert date.)
Several major artists have canceled dates this year, including The Black Keys, Chappell Roan, Jennifer Lopez, the Jonas Brothers and Pink. They’ve cited a mix of reasons, including scheduling conflicts, health issues, mental health concerns and a desire to spend more time with family. The Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Desert Daze and the Skull & Roses Grateful Dead tribute festival canceled their events due to inflation and low ticket sales, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Oasis tickets we viewed for a show at the Pasadena Rose Bowl ranged from $532 to $4,500. If that concert is canceled thanks to a sibling rivalry or some other reason, Ticketmaster will automatically refund your ticket through your original form of payment, a process that takes between 14 and 21 days, according to the company’s website.
If you purchased your tickets through StubHub, you can either receive a company credit worth 120% of the amount you paid (valid for one year), or you can request a cash refund, which can take up to 10 business days to process.
But not all events may reimburse you. At the 2024 Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, organizers said they lacked sufficient funds to issue refunds after canceling. If you don’t receive a refund, you can file a dispute with your credit card company.
“In general, credit card companies are favorable toward disputes involving undelivered services, especially in cases where the concert was canceled and no alternative was offered,” said Rachel Fu, chair of the University of Florida’s tourism, hospitality and event management department and director of the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute.
“It is essential to act quickly and ensure all relevant documentation is provided during the dispute process,” she continued.
Relevant information can include proof of purchase, the cancellation notices and communication records between you and the event organizer, Fu said. She noted that card companies typically allow disputes to be filed within 60 and 120 days of the charge.
If you’re making a trip to see a show and you want to protect your investment, travel insurance can provide a safety net. But you typically have to be traveling at least 100 miles away from home, and your policy might only allow you to cancel within a certain timeframe, said Meghan Walch, director of product at InsureMyTrip.com, a website that allows you to compare insurance plans.
There are policies that allow you to insure the prepaid, nonrefundable cost of your trip, which includes transportation, such as airline tickets, hotels and the cost of the tickets themselves, Walch said. Some of the travel insurance companies out there include Allianz Global Assistance, AIG Travel Guard, Faye, Nationwide Travel Insurance and Travelex.
Policies might also include medical benefits and provide reimbursement if you lose your luggage, she added.
“If you’re spending a good deal of money and you’re concerned about protecting that investment, you might want to look at a comprehensive travel insurance plan,” Walch said.
Most comprehensive travel insurance plans offer a trip cancellation benefit, allowing you to cancel under a “covered reason,” which typically include unforeseen natural disasters, an unexpected injury or the death of a nontraveling family member.
“Trip cancellation will reimburse you 100% if you’re canceling your trip for a covered reason,” Walch explained.
But an artist canceling an event typically does not fall under a covered reason, Walch said.
Some plans offer an optional “cancel for any reason” premium, allowing you to back out even if the reason you’re canceling isn’t covered. That premium typically reimburses up to 75% of your nonrefundable expenses, Walch said. But if you need to cancel, it has to be at least two days before your departure date.
“If it’s the day before or the day of the concert when you’re going to be leaving, and they call things off, unfortunately the coverage would not work at that point,” Walch said.
A comprehensive travel insurance plan typically costs between 4% and 10% of the prepaid, nonrefundable trip cost, Walch said. So a $1,000 trip would cost $40 to $100 in travel insurance expenses. Adding the “cancel for any reason” premium typically bumps up the price of your plan by about 50%, although it can range from 40% to 70%, based on some of the plans Marketplace looked at.
Some plans can even go as high as 16% of the trip cost. Everybody’s spending threshold is different, but tourism expert Rachel Fu said she considers policies above 10% to be too expensive.
As you’re making plans, pay attention to reports of low ticket sales, which could increase the risk of a cancellation, Fu said.
Also take note of: weather forecasts, health warnings and the reputation of the event company and the artist, she added.
And while it may sound cliche, it’s sound advice for a reason: Before agreeing to any policy, read the fine print.
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