Hot holiday insurance tips

Most people will already have booked their holidays.

But have you got your holiday insurance sorted yet?

Waiting until the last minute is just one common pitfall holidaymakers stumble into.

Here’s why – as well as some tips on how to avoid other common mistakes we make with travel cover:

Buy your policy before your holiday

Many people buy travel cover ‘as an afterthought’, often en route to the airport, according to Jason Whelan, of Multitrip.com, one of Ireland’s biggest travel insurers.

But that means they’ve already missed out on much of the cover they are paying for.

Holidays can be cancelled for a host of reasons that tend to pop up between booking and travel dates – and rarely after you arrive at the airport.

“If they've undergone tests or investigations and get an outcome that forces them to cancel their trip - then that's not covered (if they wait until the last minute),” he says.

“Customers should always buy their policy at the time of purchasing their trip to ensure they have cancellation cover.”

Conditional cover

If you have a medical problem, there’s no point in not declaring it and hoping you’ll be covered anyway. You won’t. (See our case study).

And this extends to anyone you’re travelling with - or even a close family member who isn’t even going on the trip.

That’s because a loved-one falling suddenly ill could be grounds for cancelling your holiday.

“You can declare medical conditions in the sales journey online or over the phone with the medical screening line,” explains Jason.

“They'll ask you questions about medication, where you're traveling to and how long you're traveling for. That produces a score that influences the premium.”

“If it's a very minor medical condition and you're traveling to Europe, you're probably not going to have to pay anything additional to cover that. But if you have something more serious and you're going to the US where medical costs are a lot higher, then your premium is going to reflect that.”

All travel policies will exclude claims for a terminal prognosis or if you're on a waiting list to receive inpatient treatment.

If, for example, you had a heart attack years ago, that may not rule you out. But if you’re waiting to get a stent to unblock an artery, then you won’t be covered until that urgently-needed procedure is done.

The Multitrip.com website has a list of not-so-serious conditions that don’t require calling the helpline, ranging alphabetically from an achilles tendon injury to varicose veins.

You’ll be relieved to hear, you don’t have to tell your insurer about piles, gout, Bell’s palsy, colds or flu and gall bladder removal (within three months).

However, with anything more serious, you’ll have to call the screening line.

Be active with your activities

A quick glance at the activities flagged with a warning on your policy document can make it seem very restrictive.

Those listed include surfing, scuba diving, para gliding, waterskiing, and even rugby and American football. Sea fishing is down as a grade 2 level sport that requires an extra loading  of 50% - or €30 per activity.

However, Jason stresses that these sports only require extra cover where they are non-incidental, i.e. if you’re off on a two week sea-fishing expedition hunting down Jaws – and not if you fancy a bit of off-the-cuff crab fishing with your kids at the end of the local pier.

“A standard policy will cover most incidental activities like basic scuba diving, snorkeling or football on the beach. But if you're touring on a powerful motorbike or on  a quad biking holiday, that’s different,” Jason says.

The most extreme holidays include hang gliding, horse jumping, para sailing and kite surfing. And these attract a 200% loading – or €112.50 per activity.

“If you're planning on a specialised activity, check your policy because you would most likely have to pay an additional premium. But  for 90% of people who just happen to do something while on holiday, the likelihood is that they're going to be covered as standard.” However, do check the terms of your policy to be sure.

The cheapest cover comes at a price

It’s tempting to go for the cheapest cover. At €19.95 for a year, Multitrip’s Essential policy for a whole year seems like a bargain.

But the level of cover at this price level is pretty thin – such as €250 for a missed departure, or €1200 for a year’s worth of holiday cancellations.

It may be worth splashing out a bit more to make it worth your while buying the policy.

The Premium Plus policy costs €57. But that’s just an extra €37 for up to eight times more cover with no annoying ‘excesses’ – i.e. the bit of the claim you have to pay yourself.

“If you think about a family of four (with an excess of €150 each on the Essential policy)….you're going to lose out on €600 if you had to cancel,” says Jason.

“(Essential) might be fine for an individual but for families, Premier Plus has zero excesses.”

Consider adding travel disruption cover

This is added cover for an extra fee that came into its own in recent years during multiple strikes and the Covid and volcanic ash crises when many flights were cancelled.

But  why  get added cover? Doesn’t travel insurance cover these things?

Well, yes, but only up to a point.

If your flight is delayed or cancelled, the airline has to provide you with another one or a nominal fee. They may put you up in a nearby hotel.

But your considerable holiday accommodation cost and other expenses are non-refundable.

Multitrip’s travel distruption cover -  for an extra €17.00 per person - is proving popular in what seems an age of never-ending emergencies, according to Mr Whelan.

Case study

If you have a problem with travel insurance cover, you can make a complaint to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Liam Sloyan.

His actions last year saw nearly 6000 people receive €5.7m in awards from errant companies,  an average of nearly €1000 each.

Insurance complaints account for nearly a third of all issues he deals with – with travel insurance prominent among these.

One of the case studies published by the Ombudsman highlighted our point above about the risks in not buying travel insurance before you book your holiday – and of illnesses to family members.

This man paid over €1,200 for a holiday booked in mid-December – but waited until February 6 to buy travel insurance.

A relative, who had suffered from lung disease, “for years” according to the Ombudsman’s report, was admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties on 29 January – a week before cover was bought.

The Complainant said he learned this condition was serious on 10 February and cancelled his trip the following day as the condition deteriorated and the palliative team took over care.

The patient survived this health crisis, but that his condition sadly continued to decline, and he passed away later in the year.

The insurer declined to refund the cost of the holiday on the grounds that the Complainant had been aware of the illness before buying travel insurance.

The Complainant disputes this, saying that he was not aware of how ill his relative was at that point.

He insisted that no doctor, nurse or health professional gave any indication that his family member’s medical condition was likely to worsen or lead to his

death in the near future.

However, the Ombudsman found in the insurer’s favour and rejected the complaint.

Holiday insurance quotes correct on 1/5/2025