Travel insurance guide: everything you need to know (2024)

Travel insurance is often the last thing you think about when booking a holiday but, as with any well-laid plans, things can go awry when you least expect it. Depending on the coverage you opt for, a good policy should insure against everything from travel disruptions to medical emergencies, and other unexpected events that could leave you out of pocket. But it pays to read the fine print here. Not disclosing certain details such as pre-existing medical conditions or being away for longer than your policy allows could invalidate your travel insurance. With that in mind, here’s what you need to know about taking out travel insurance for your next trip.

What is travel insurance and what does it cover?

Travel insurance is essentially a product that offers you financial protection against unexpected events that might cause you inconvenience, derail your holiday or leave you out of pocket. The exact level of coverage — and what you’re financially protected against — will depend on your policy. Generally travel insurance will cover things like medical expenses if you become ill while on holiday, redress if your belongings are lost or stolen, and money back if your trip is cancelled under certain circ*mstances.

Does travel insurance cover natural disasters like wildfires?

Most policies will allow you to reclaim some element of your holiday, such as the cost of your flight and your accommodation, if you can no longer travel to the destination, or if you have to come home early due to evacuation of the area. The same is true of other types of extreme weather, such as hurricanes.

However, how much of the holiday you can recoup will depend on your policy, so do read the fine print. Some policies have specific clauses for weather-related travel disruption, for example, so if you’re travelling to a destination that’s frequently affected by natural disasters, it may be worth investing in a policy with more comprehensive cover.

There is one very important thing to note: if you book your holiday when a weather phenomenon is already in play, you’re unlikely to recover any losses through your travel insurance.

• Long-stay travel insurance: providers that cover for 90 days

Will travel insurance cover strikes?

As with all questions about hits to your wallet caused by travel plans going wrong, you should look first at what you can claim from the airline or holiday provider before getting insurers involved. Delays and cancellations due to strikes involving airline staff will usually result in the airline having to pay out compensation, but this of course depends on the circ*mstances of the travel disruption.

Although strikes outside the airline’s control (such as by air traffic controllers or border control officers) may count as extraordinary circ*mstances, regular disputes over pay and conditions should not allow a UK or EU-based airline to duck its legal obligations to passengers, including duty of care, as reinforced by a judgement against Ryanair following pilot strikes in 2018.

How airline strike action might affect travel insurance will vary to some extent depending on the policy, but one common point is that any disruption should not have been ongoing, planned or predicted when you bought your policy or your ticket. Aside from that, it’s quite common for policies to offer some cover for disruption to your travel and accommodation plans caused by strikes. Check the policy wording around whether the definition of “public transport” includes scheduled airline travel.

If you feel a bit overwhelmed by pages of small print when comparing different insurance policies, it might help if you’re doing so online to use your computer’s Find function (usually Ctrl+F or Command+F) and then type “strike”, “airline” or any other key term to quickly click through all mentions of it in the document. Terms that are specially defined within the policy are usually in bold text, with the precise definition given near the start of the policy.

Does travel insurance cover cancelled flights?

Travel insurance will generally provide some coverage for flight cancellations, but the level of coverage will vary from policy to policy and may require certain conditions to be met. You will be expected to first approach the airline directly for any redress you’re legally entitled to, and submit evidence of this along with your claim.

• Do I get money back if my flight is cancelled?

What are my rights if my flight is cancelled?

Certain rights apply on outbound flights from the UK on any airline, and back to the UK on any UK or EU airline.

If your flight is cancelled, you should always be able to choose between taking an alternative flight offered by the airline (either around your original travel plans, or as a voucher for future travel), or receiving all your money back for any flights you booked together but won’t be using. If your outbound flight is cancelled and you choose to stay at home, you should also be able to claim back from the airline the cost of the return portion.

If you take up the offer of an alternative flight around your original dates of travel, you could also be entitled to compensation for delays to the itinerary you had planned, subject to certain conditions. Firstly, the flight must have been cancelled within the 14-day period before you’re due to depart, and for reasons within the airline’s control, not “extraordinary circ*mstances” such as extreme weather or airport strikes, including those by airport-employed baggage handlers, air traffic controllers and border control. There’s a sliding scale to this compensation, based on the distance of the flight, the length of the delay and how soon before departure the flights were changed, with payments ranging from £110 to £520.

If you are caught in a delay, the law also makes the airline responsible for some costs such as food and drink, means of communication, or accommodation if your alternative flight isn’t until the next day. Don’t expect more than a basic meal voucher or a shuttle to a nearby airport hotel for the night, but these are part of an airline’s duty of care to you. In some cases, you may be expected to pay for these yourself and claim it back later.

What about train strikes?

For industrial action on Britain’s railways, the usual choices available to passengers with pre-booked tickets are: tickets honoured on alternative services, perhaps with different rail companies, on the day itself or on adjacent days; varying levels of compensation if you do travel but experience delays longer than 15 minutes (look up “Delay Repay”); or a full refund if your service is cancelled or significantly delayed and you choose not to travel.

As with air travel, insurance policies aren’t geared towards recovering costs that you can by right claim from the travel providers themselves. However, some policies’ sections on delayed or missed departures, or travel disruption cover, may be helpful in cases where you miss your flight because of a train strike, or are unable to stay at a hotel you have paid a deposit on. Check the terms and conditions for what’s covered if it’s a purely domestic trip, and also what level of proof you would need to show — such as a letter from the transport provider confirming that a strike was the reason for a cancelled service.

Can I get insurance that covers Covid?

Emergency medical expenses abroad are covered as standard by most if not all policies, and Covid is, in insurance terms, just another illness to add to the list — provided it wasn’t a pre-existing medical condition before travel. If you catch Covid before you’re due to travel, you may be covered for travel disruption under some policies if you have to cancel your trip — but read the fine print and make sure you’re clear about what aspects are covered under terms such as “Covid-19 holiday insurance”.

Medical costs abroad and repatriation should you or a family member fall ill are the obvious ones, but others include not being able to board a flight because you have Covid, or having to come home early because a close relative is severely ill with it.

It’s also worth checking for the latest Foreign Office travel advice, including about areas where there are protests and natural disasters. Travelling against official advice will almost always invalidate your insurance, but policies may be more helpful if this advice changed after you have booked your trip, or while you’re in the destination.

Can I cancel my holiday before I go?

You may be able to cancel your insurance policy (before travel, of course), but cancelling the holiday itself is very likely to come under what insurance companies call “disinclination to travel”. Policies usually recognise the need to cancel a trip because of a family bereavement, for example, but there are few other reasons for which you could recoup the cost of tickets or deposits if you make the choice not to travel. If the Foreign Office isn’t advising against a destination, and if that place is prepared to let you in, the insurers will likely expect you to go ahead with your trip as booked.

That said, there are insurance policies that cover for disinclination to travel. You won’t be able to get a full refund but it will allow you to get back a percentage of what you paid for your holiday.

Should I get a family travel insurance policy?

Buying one policy for the whole family (whether for a single trip or annual cover) can be significantly cheaper than getting individual policies for each member who needs one, and you could also enjoy more generous benefits if grouped together.

There are exceptions: for a couple with one child, a couple’s policy plus one for the child might work out cheaper. You should check if in doubt about who counts as a family member — and family policies might not cover members travelling separately or with people not named in the policy. Pre-existing medical conditions such as asthma may also affect the cost of policies for everyone. But for one or two parents plus two or more children, it can be an attractive option.

As with solo insurance policies, you’ll need to decide how many trips and what kind your family is likely to take together in the next 12 months to choose between annual cover or not, which regions to include, and whether to add on extras such as winter sports cover.

How much does travel insurance typically cost?

Travel insurance can start from “free” — some banks provide coverage as part of a package of benefits, for example — and go up to over £100. It’s one of those things with lots of variables.

Annual travel insurance policies will cost more than single-trip ones, while those that include more comprehensive cover or additional protection for things such as gadgets, cruises and winter sports will come at a premium. You can also expect the cost of your policy to rise as you age, or if you have any pre-existing medical conditions. And, of course, prices will vary depending on where you’re travelling to, with cover for the US and the Caribbean typically costing more than for Europe.

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