An opportunistic bag thief or over-eager tuk-tuk driver who ends up crashing is enough to ruin even the most perfect holiday. Which is why travel insurance has become vital. However, not all policies are made equal: cheaper deals can often be a false economy and there are huge variances in price and detail.
So what should holidaymakers look out for?
Cruising along
Just a third of single-trip policies cover cruises as standard. This is because usually several countries are visited – and worse things happen at sea.
A vomiting bug might see you confined to your cabin or needing treatment from a doctor or, in the worst case scenario, you have to be airlifted to a hospital. According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), repatriating a heart attack victim on a Caribbean cruise back to the UK would cost an eye-watering £92,000.
Alex Edwards from price comparison site Gocompare.com says “cruises are like lots of different holidays all rolled into one, so you’ll need to make sure all the destinations are covered, even if you’re only leaving the ship for a few hours”.
A couple, both 65, on a 10-day cruise to the US would pay £52.47 with Alpha Travel Insurance, £77.93 with Insuremytrip.com, or £118.88 with CoverCloud. For these, they would get medical cover of at least £1m.
Age matters
Once you reach 65 or 70 travel insurance gets noticeably more expensive. By the time you hit 80 options will be pretty limited.
“It’s all about perceived levels of risk. Insurers think that the older you get, the more prone you are to illness and to the sort of injuries which might be sustained in trips and falls,” says Kevin Pratt, consumer affairs expert at Moneysupermarket.
He adds that prices reflect the “greater statistical likelihood that you will either have to cancel your trip or need expensive medical attention, or even repatriation back to the UK”.
Most travel insurance which comes as part of a packaged bank account becomes invalid at a certain age. HSBC, NatWest and Halifax put the limit at 70, Nationwide 75, and the Co-op 80. If buying a standalone policy, Age UK and Saga don’t have an upper age limit.
A couple, both 83, buying single trip cover for a week in Spain would pay £51.85 with EHIC Plus, £56.62 with Alpha Travel Insurance, and £67.67 with WorldFirst.
Pre-existing conditions
When you take out a policy you will be asked to declare any pre-existing conditions – that is, any medical condition for which medical advice, diagnosis, care or treatment has been recommended or received, and covers anything from common conditions to life-threatening cancers.
“The golden rule is to be as honest and complete as possible to every question. Withholding or providing incorrect information could invalidate your policy, leaving you high and dry or unable to claim in the event of a cancellation,” says Pratt.
A 43-year-old woman awaiting surgery for breast cancer buying a single trip policy for a fortnight in Spain would pay £43.67 with YourTravelCover.com, £46.14 with No Limits, and £48.57 with Medisafe Insurance.
Longer trips
It’s important not to confuse annual multi-trip insurance with a long-stay policy. Most annual policies stipulate a maximum length of 31 days per trip – stay away longer and you won’t be covered. This is also the case with most insurance policies which come with a packaged bank account.
If you’re going on a longer trip you’ll need to explore backpacking policies (if you are going backpacking) or long-stay cover. Both will cost more as the risk of falling ill or being a victim of theft increases the longer you are away.
A 30-year-old on a 90-day trip to the US would pay £64.93 with Go Walkabout, £78.23 with Explorer Travel Insurance, and £99.24 with Alpha Travel Insurance.
Living dangerously
Lying on the beach is not everyone’s idea of the perfect holiday – some won’t be happy unless they are on the edge. Most standard policies cover mainstream sports and beach activities but adrenaline junkies will need to shop around. InsureandGo, for example, covers more than 50 adventure activities as standard, including jetskiing and wakeboarding. There’s a £20 premium for activities the insurer considers “hazardous” such as battle re-enactments, American football, canoeing and rugby.
“If you don’t have any activities planned prior to travel, customers should still ensure they know where this information is in their documents so they can check their cover whilst they are away just in case they get the opportunity to take part in an activity,” says Simon Williams, head of travel insurance at Comparecover.com. “Some providers allow certain activities to be added whilst away if contacted prior to taking part.”
A 26-year-old buying an annual policy to cover Europe and hazardous activities would pay £50.99 with InsureandGo.
Mind your valuables
Since March 2017, government rules ban travellers from taking laptops and tablets above a certain size into airline cabins on flights originating from some countries in the Middle East. The US has similar rules and is considering adding the UK to its banned list. Passengers can place laptops in checked-in baggage, but this throws up an insurance conundrum.
As Tom Bishop, head of travel at Direct Line, explains: “Ordinarily, customers are not covered for carrying these items in the hold, as they fall within the definition of ‘valuables’. However, we will consider claims while this advice remains in place for inbound flights from affected countries.”
Ensuring everyone is covered
If you buy a couple or family policy you might think each person is covered for any trip – but think again.
An American Express “Essential” policy assumes couples are joined at the hip – it won’t cover one partner travelling without the main policyholder.
James Daley of Fairer Finance says this exclusion isn’t common, but is one travellers should watch out for. “I’d question whether insurers could really stand behind it. If you’re buying a family or couples policy, it’s reasonable to expect that everyone named will be covered for all their travel,” he says.
Terrorism cover
Policies tend to only provide limited cover for terrorist incidents. “Where cover is provided, this is often specifically under the medical expenses/repatriation and personal accident sections of the policy,” says Williams. “Baggage, personal possessions, cancellation and curtailment claims are less likely to be covered.”
To put your mind at rest, you can buy add-on terrorism cover from Safe Journey. Single-trip policies start from £4.96 a person and annual policies from £14.99. Cover is designed to complement travel insurance, not replace it.
RYANAIR FACES ‘RANDOM’ REBELLION
Ryanair faces a growing passenger rebellion over “random” seat allocation that leaves families split at opposite ends of an aircraft even when there are unoccupied seats nearby, writes Patrick Collinson.
The airline is accused of changing its seat policy in recent months in an effort to compel more couples and families to reserve seats together, which entails paying more. On Twitter, outraged travellers have shared their anger. “We were given row 8, 15, 23 and 30 for four seats on an empty plane” said Craig Gora.
Becca Daley said: “Ryanair is 100% separating people who don’t pay to reserve seats. We were separated and both had empty seats next to us.”.
Stung by the criticism, Ryanair’s new customer service director, Bill Hutchinson, took to Twitter this week to invite questions. “We haven’t changed the ‘random seat allocation’ policy. The reason for more middle seats being allocated is that more and more passengers are taking our reserved seats (from just £2) and they overwhelmingly prefer aisle and window seats, which is why people who choose ‘random’ (free) seats are more likely to be allocated middle seats,” he says. “Some random seat passengers are confused by the appearance of empty seats beside them when they check-in up to four days prior to departure. The reason they can’t have these window or aisle seats is that these are more likely to be selected by reserved seat passengers, many of whom only check-in 24 hours prior to departure. Since our current load factor is 95%, we have to keep these window and aisle seats free to facilitate those customers who are willing to pay (from £2) for them.”
University of Oxford statisticians have also questioned whether the random allocation policy is truly “random”. They were asked by BBC’s Watchdog programme to investigate the randomness. Four groups of four non-seat reserving passengers were sent on four separate Ryanair flights. On each one, every traveller was allocated a middle seat.
The researchers calculated that the likelihood of all four travellers randomly ending up in middle seats on each of the flights was around 1:540,000,000.
