Before You Fly
Travel Insurance: What the Policy Actually Covers
Medical cover, cancellation, baggage and delay clauses explained in plain language, plus the exclusions travellers overlook.
Travel insurance is one of those purchases people make in ninety seconds at the end of a booking flow and then never read. That is fine right up until the moment it isn't.
This is not legal or financial advice, and policies differ significantly. What follows is a plain description of how these products are usually structured, so you can read your own document with some idea of what to look for.
The parts of a typical policy
Most travel policies bundle several separate covers together.
Medical and emergency cover pays for treatment abroad and, in serious cases, repatriation. For most travellers this is the part that justifies the purchase. Medical costs in some countries can reach figures that no ordinary savings account absorbs comfortably.
Cancellation cover reimburses prepaid, non-refundable costs when you cannot travel for a listed reason. The list of reasons is the important bit. Illness and bereavement usually appear. Changing your mind never does.
Delay and missed departure cover pays limited amounts when a flight is delayed beyond a set number of hours, or when you miss a departure due to specified causes.
Baggage cover pays towards lost, delayed or damaged luggage, generally with a per-item limit that is lower than the total limit advertised on the front page.
Where the limits hide
Read three numbers before anything else: the medical limit, the excess, and the single-item baggage limit.
The excess is the amount you pay before the policy contributes. A low premium with a high excess can be a poor deal on small claims.
The single-item limit matters because a policy advertising 2,000 in baggage cover may cap any one item at 200. That laptop is not covered in the way you assumed.
Common exclusions
These vary, but the recurring ones include:
- Pre-existing medical conditions that were not declared
- Injuries sustained while doing activities the policy classifies as hazardous
- Incidents involving alcohol or drugs
- Travel to regions your government advises against
- Losses without documentation, such as cash claimed with no police report
Declaring a medical condition often costs a little more and occasionally costs a lot. Not declaring it can void the medical section entirely, which is the section you bought the policy for.
Annual versus single trip
If you take more than two or three trips a year, an annual multi-trip policy usually works out cheaper. Check the maximum duration per trip, which is often around 30 days, and check whether it covers the countries you actually visit rather than just a region label.
What to do before you leave
- Save the policy number and the emergency assistance phone number in your phone
- Email the certificate to yourself so it survives a lost device
- Note whether the insurer requires pre-authorisation before hospital treatment
- Check whether your existing bank account or credit card already includes cover, since a surprising number do
When something goes wrong
Documentation drives claims. Keep receipts, get written confirmation of delays from the airline, and file police reports for theft within whatever window the policy specifies, usually 24 hours.
Insurers also expect you to claim from the airline first where the airline is liable, particularly for baggage and for some delay costs. The insurance sits behind that, not instead of it.
Nothing here overrides the wording of your own policy. If a clause is unclear, ask the insurer to explain it in writing before you travel.
If your trip is already in progress and something has gone wrong, our travel help section has step-by-step notes for the most common situations.
