Travel insurance claims and the stories behind them usually appear in the media when a traveller comes into difficulty after setting out without suitable insurance. These stories clarify how vital it is to ensure we have suitable insurance to cover a trip.
Are you and your clients aware of what can invalidate a travel insurance claim?
To assist, we’ve provided insights into our claims process from start to finish. We’ll cover what needs to be included on a claims form and what may affect it before it’s sent off. Also, we have some insider tips to share if a claim needs to be made. These should assist in avoiding unnecessary delays during the claims process.
First, here’s a question we were recently asked at a customer event.
Will my travel insurance claim’s history affect the price of my policy?
No. It’s not like car insurance. When you purchase a travel insurance policy from the same or a different insurance company, we won’t request information about any previous travel insurance claims.
If you take out travel insurance regularly, you may notice that the price of your policy can go up. That is primarily due to the number of claims and their value that an insurer has received when compared to the premium received.
Recently, due to the consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic, the cost of overseas medical claims has increased, leading to a significant rise in premiums.
What types of claims can be made?
If you refer to each of our policy documents, under each section, you can see what the cover limits are and what travel insurance claims you can make if you’re insured on the policy.
When taking out a quality travel insurance policy, you should be able to claim for the following:
- Cancellation or cutting short your trip.
- Delayed flights, missed departures, or connections.
- Medical expenses.
- Loss of Baggage, Personal Money, and documents.
- Claims on gadgets.
Also, before purchasing any travel insurance policy, you need to pay particular attention to what it won’t cover by referring to the benefits, exclusions, and coverage limits, plus any required waiting times under trip or baggage delay.
If a greater range of cover or cover for a specific activity is needed but is not included on a chosen policy, contact our team, who can suggest a suitable policy for the trip.
Is there a time limit on making a travel insurance claim?
Some policies require claims to be made within 48 hours of returning home. Always check the time limit for making a claim by reading the policy post-purchase. Also, keeping all receipts and reports is advisable, which may need to be submitted as evidence with your claim form.
How do you claim on travel insurance?
To give you an example, our claims process for our Free Spirit policy is as follows:
- Visit Free Spirit’s making a claim page.
- Download and print the right claims form.
- Complete the claim form in full.
- Identify and locate the correct documents needed to send to the claims handler.
- Send the correct documents and form to the relevant address.
Our Free Spirit policy also has two Claims Handlers to contact, depending on the type of claim.
- Roger Rich & Company looks after most claims. These include medical, cancellation claims, and more (Cover Sections A-M).
- However, the Bastion Davis Group manages the gadget claims.
What happens when the form reaches the Claims Handler?
- Additional information may be requested in support of the claim.
- A claim will either be paid in accordance with policy terms or declined.
What information is needed to share with a Claims Handler?
This information will depend on the type of claim the traveller wishes to make. Providing as much information as possible will help to speed up the claims process.
Cancellation claims require:
- A cancellation invoice to illustrate that the trip was cancelled or cut short. This could come from the travel agent, hotel, airline, or tour operator.
- Evidence of any refund or credit that the supplier has given as part of the reimbursement.
Quite often, the supplier may refund a portion of the costs. However, the insurer needs to see evidence of what the supplier has (or hasn’t) refunded.
Medical claims require:
- All receipts and/or invoices for medical expenses.
- The medical certification.
If the traveller needs medical treatment, the 24-hour Medical Assistance Company should be contacted as detailed in the policy – immediately – to ensure they’re happy to cover the treatment and the traveller will receive treatment from the appropriate facility.
All claims require:
- Evidence that the trip took place to confirm all costs, including the trip booking.
- All receipts and/or invoices that relate to the claim.
- The travel insurance policy schedule (single or annual) will provide the date the trip started and finished.
What can cause a travel insurance claim to be declined?
1. Non-disclosure.
Which is industry jargon for not telling the insurer all the information asked for. This is especially important when it comes to providing details of any existing medical conditions.
2. Not being able to provide evidence of the loss.
For example, if luggage was lost during a trip and the traveller did not log this with the relevant authorities/airline. It’s important to do this before you start the claims process.
3. Travelling to a destination not covered by the policy.
For instance, if a traveller buys a policy to cover Worldwide destinations excluding the USA, Canada, etc, an insurer will not pay a claim if they travel to a destination outside of this geographical area. The exception to this is if they’re transiting through a country to get to a destination. Stopover rules will vary from policy to policy, so it’s important to check the rules.
4. Exceeding the trip limits.
An insurer won’t expect everyone to be completely teetotal on holiday. However, a claim could be refused if an incident has occurred because a traveller has had too much alcohol by exceeding the policy limit.
5. Not following the rules and laws of the country visited.
This should be obvious but it’s important to understand the laws and local customs before leaving home. Refer to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) website to review up-to-date travel advice for each country around the world.
6. Staying overseas for longer than the period of insurance covered by the policy.
7. Private facilities.
Travellers should be aware that the policy might not cover treatment in private facilities if there are medically capable public facilities available. If it’s possible, they should contact the medical assistance team before undergoing any treatment. The medical assistance team should be able to share where the nearest suitable facility. A tour operator, the hotel, or a taxi company might try and direct their guests to a private facility. So travellers should check this!
8. Expensive items.
Expensive items taken on holiday that exceed the maximum amount on the policy may not be covered. To cover this item, travellers may wish to source a policy with increased baggage cover or check whether their home contents insurance covers this.
Our Free Spirit Super Duper Policy covers gadgets up to £1,500. Plus, £3,000 worth of cover if personal possessions are lost, stolen, or damaged. However, cover for a single article, pair, or set limit is only £500.
Why would a travel insurance claim be thrown out?
A claim could be rejected if there is evidence of fraud, dishonesty, or misrepresentation.
What are the most frequently seen travel insurance claims?
Cancellation claims
Cancellation claims are quite common on travel insurance. Usually, the closer a traveller is to their departure date, the less chance there is of them needing to make a cancellation claim. So this might be reflected in the price of the policy.
What cancellation claims would be valid?
- When a trip has to be cancelled due to a family bereavement.
- If a trip is cancelled because someone insured on the policy becomes unwell due to an unexpected illness.
- If an insured is suddenly called for jury service.
- In the event the insured is made redundant.
Medical claims
Medical claims relating to treatment needed on holiday, whether that’s inpatient or outpatient treatment. However, pre-existing conditions must be declared and screened or they may not be covered (and a claim may be refused).
Always remember: Travel insurance covers unexpected and unforeseen risks.
Baggage claims
This covers lost passports, lost bags, and missing items.
See the pie chart below, which illustrates the percentage of claims our Free Spirit policy received between the 1st of January 2023, to July 30th, 2024. As you can see, the most frequent travel insurance claims received are cancellation claims, followed by medical expense claims.
(Data sourced from Roger Rich claims log)
Travel insurance claims are paid out
Despite the media coverage, there is evidence of travel insurance claims being paid out when a valid claim has been made.
Here are some figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) that were released in April 2023, which give some examples of the different claims that insurers have paid:
- One traveller needed extensive medical treatment due to a serious blood infection while in Thailand. Their insurance covered the £250,000 medical bill as well as their air ambulance back to the UK.
- An insurer met the medical costs of £92,000 after a traveller suffered a heart attack during a Caribbean cruise.
- To treat a kidney infection in Spain, the cost was £15,000. Thankfully, this was paid for by travel insurance.
Overall, in 2022, travel insurers paid out £352 million.
Purchase Travel Insurance with Confidence
After discussing the claims process with our Claims Manager and referring to different sources, we have hopefully helped to give you and your clients a clear but detailed understanding of how the claims process works.
If you have a client who’s recently returned from a trip and needs to claim on a policy from P J Hayman, view our claims assistance page.
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