Zika Scare Can't Get Expectant Couple A Refund On Florida Trip
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Zika scare in Florida is causing one local family thousands of dollars.
An expectant couple had to cancel their upcoming vacation to Florida. And though they bought travel insurance, the travel agency still won't give them their money back.
"I found out I was pregnant," Dana Bator tells CBS2's Charlie De Mar. "Those results just came back yesterday."
She and her husband were supposed to leave for a trip to Miami on Saturday, but after finding out she's pregnant, she thought twice about travelling to an area experiencing a Zika outbreak--a virus which has been linked to serious birth defects.
"I reached out to my doctor and they advised me not to go," she said. "I don't want to be a guinea pig and I don't want my unborn child to be one either and the birth defects are so devastating it's not worth the risk."
But even though they had travel insurance, when they tried cancelling their trip and getting a refund, "They alerted me right away...have you read the terms?"
One of the exclusions in the contract is pregnancy, and local travel agent Michelle Campion says that's standard.
"Even if you are scared to go because you are going to be pregnant, fear is not a covered reason," Campion, who is a travel agent for CRC Travel, says.
Bator said she tried explaining to the travel insurance company that she isn't cancelling the trip because she's pregnant and has to fly; it's the threat of Zika in Florida.
"With Zika outbreak in Florida and me being newly pregnant I thought that they would be understanding and issue a refund," Bator said.