Travel insurance

If your flight is cancelled, most travel insurance policies can cover the cost.

But in many cases, the airline will offer a replacement flight first.

If you need to cancel your flight for reasons like a medical emergency, your travel insurance will usually cover this too.

However, if your flight is cancelled because of scheduled airline failure (i.e. the airline goes bust), your policy may not pay out. In that case, you might be able to claim the cost of a replacement flight through other protection schemes, like the ATOL protection scheme.

While travel insurance isn't usually a legal requirement, we'd say it's worth considering. Your EHIC or GHIC card can give you access to state-level medical care in most European countries and the Schengen Area. But some countries can still charge for treatment, and you wouldn't be covered if your doctor decides you need to return home for treatment. Travel insurance can cover medical costs and repatriation, if needed.

Travel insurance covers you for other things too, not just medical treatment. For example, lost or stolen baggage and travel disruption or cancellation.

No, travel insurance doesn’t typically cover car rental.

You have a few options if you’re renting a car abroad though. In most cases, the rental company will insure the car for you. You’ll be given an excess amount you’ll have to pay in the event of an accident.

This amount is often fairly high - sometimes close to the value of the car. If you find this to be the case, car hire excess insurance might be a good idea. This allows you to claim for the cost of the excess if you do need to claim on the rental company's insurance.

You can buy travel insurance last minute, but there's often not a lot of choice and it's often more expensive. And you're not covered for anything that's happened before you bought the policy, for example, if you lost your luggage.

If you buy travel insurance when you're abroad, there's often a delay before the start of your coverage so that the travel insurance company can do fraud checks. You're not normally covered while they're doing this. That's why it's always best to consider buying insurance as soon as you book your holiday.

It depends on the type of claim you're making. But for most claims you'll need to:

• Speak to your travel insurer as soon as you can, and the local authorities if it's that sort of matter. For example, if your belongings are stolen.
• Gather evidence. For example, save your medical bills or collect crime details from the local authority.
• Give your insurer as much information as possible. Generally, it's easier and quicker for insurers to assess your claim if you give them lots of information.

It's not a legal requirement, and probably not something people would think to buy, but UK travel insurance could come in handy. Particularly if you're catching internal flights or your trip is cancelled.

Top tip: Some travel insurers do stipulate that you need to be a certain distance from home, and be away for a minimum number of nights. So, it's worth checking the policy details of any cover you're considering, just in case.

Travel insurance can act as a safety net when you're travelling abroad and offer financial support. As long as you've stuck to the policy terms, it can compensate you for costs related to these things:

• Lost or stolen baggage
• Travel disruption because of unexpected bad weather
• Cancellations in the lead up to your break
• Medical costs if you get injured or ill while you're abroad
• Repatriation if your doctor decides you need medical treatment at home

In some cases, you might have to pay a travel insurance excess. But your insurer usually takes this amount from the final claim.

You can choose from different types of travel insurance policy too, either:

• Single trip - this covers just one trip
• Annual travel insurance - this covers multiple trips throughout the year
• Backpackers travel insurance - this covers you for a longer trip to a few different countries

If you need to claim, you should report it to your insurer as soon as the incident happens. You can usually do this via an app or over the phone. If you need to, you can claim for different trips on an annual travel insurance policy. And you don't need to buy a new travel insurance policy every time you go on holiday.

Yes, travel insurance usually covers pregnancy.

Most insurers won’t offer cover if you’re more than 37 weeks pregnant (32 weeks for twins), as the risk of going into labour is higher.

You generally don’t need to tell your insurer you’re pregnant unless you’ve developed a pregnancy-specific condition, like gestational diabetes or high blood pressure.

Travel insurance can cover routine maternity care and unexpected events, including unplanned labour. It does not cover giving birth abroad if that’s your plan.

Some airlines and cruise operators may not allow travel after 24 weeks, but this varies. If you try to travel beyond their limit and are refused boarding, your insurance may not pay out.

Travel insurance excess is an amount you agree to pay towards a successful claim. The excess amount is normally deducted from your final payout by your insurance company. There are two types of excess, compulsory and voluntary:

• Compulsory or standard excess: Usually this excess is set by the insurer and varies depending on the claim. For example, you could pay £25 towards a claim for luggage, or £100 for medical expenses. Generally though, you could expect to pay between £50 to £250 per claim.
• Voluntary excess: You set the amount of voluntary excess when you buy your travel insurance. For example, you could choose a voluntary excess of £150. Setting this at a higher amount can bring the cost of your travel insurance down overall. But you should set it at an amount you'd be able to afford if you needed to make a claim.

It's important to remember that you usually have to pay both of these amounts towards a claim. So make sure you set your voluntary excess to a price that you can afford. It's also worth checking excess amounts before making a claim, as in some cases your excess might be more than your total claim amount.

You can buy no-excess travel insurance, which can mean you don't have to pay an excess. It's usually more expensive than a standard travel insurance policy at around £11.71⁵ compared to £2.80* for single-trip. And, for some claims, you might still have to pay an excess.

⁵The cheapest price for no-excess single-trip travel insurance. Based on 1 adult aged 30 with no pre-existing medical conditions, travelling in Spain for 1 week. Confused.com data, December 2024.

Some travel insurance providers allow you to extend your policy, while others don’t. The best approach is to contact your insurer directly to find out what’s possible.

If your policy has already expired or you’re already abroad, you may need to buy a new policy. This can be more expensive and harder to arrange, so it’s best to plan extensions before your original policy ends.

In most cases, yes, you can.

If you want to add extra coverage onto your policy, or extend it some other way, most providers will allow you to do this online - or through their dedicated app.

If they don’t allow you to do this online, give them a call.