Travel Insurance News Articles

The Cuban government has announced that travel insurance will be mandatory for all foreign tourists from 1 May.

Originally the country's government had said only policies from a list of approved providers would be acceptable. No such list has been published yet, despite requests, and it looks as if officials have now dropped the idea of an approved list.

Instead it appears any policy will be acceptable, as long as it covers the entire duration and includes coverage for an air evacuation from the country.

Visitors who arrive without insurance will be allowed to enter the country if they buy a policy from a local company. This is expected to cost around £2 per person per day and may offer less comprehensive cover than most British policies. In Full Story

One price comparison website is reporting that the aftermath of the volcanic ash clouds from Iceland has not only led to more interest in taking out travel insurance, but has prompted more people to consider so-called "premium policies".

That name doesn't refer to the money paid by the policyholder, but rather the level of cover taken out and the type of optional extras added to the policy. These include cover for delays, both in terms of compensation for lost holiday and in covering expenses that are incurred such as hotel costs.

According to Moneysupermarket.com, traffic to its travel insurance site rose 26.56% during the time that flights were grounded. As it's a price Full Story

The closure of all British airspace over safety fears after volcanic ash drifted over Britain has left passengers consulting their travel insurance policies.

European laws require airlines to offer customers a full refund or a transfer to a new flight after such a cancellation. They are also required to offer some meals or refreshments in the event of a lengthy delay.

However, some associated costs are not the responsibility of airlines and instead fall to travel insurance. These include accommodation and hire car rentals which can't be used if a holiday has to be cancelled because of a delay.

Whether insurers cover this varies from policy to policy. Aviva has already said its Full Story

The Post Office's travel money and insurance services have both claimed top placings at the 2008 British Travel Awards.

The Post Office bureau de change service won Best Foreign Exchange Company beating competition from several competitors. The Post Office was also voted Best Travel Insurance Company for the third year in a row.

More than 90,000 votes were cast by consumers and industry professionals across a range of categories at the awards, which are highly regarded in the indu

Post Office head of travel services, Helen Warburton, commented... "It’s an honour to be chosen as the people’s favourite travel money provider and travel insurer again this year. We have the largest bureau de change network in the UK Full Story

Following the numerous baggage handling problems at Heathrow's terminal 5, some travel insurers have introduced exclusions on their policies which prevent claims for lost baggage from passengers travelling via T5.

Insurers including Churchill and Direct Line have confirmed that they will exclude cover for lost baggage and delays on new policies. However, not all insurers are following suit with Insure & Go, Norwich Union and Saga travel insurance Full Story

In a response to a growing number of claims for lost baggage compounded by recent security restrictions, the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) is urging travellers to check their insurance to ensure any valuables checked into the hold of a plane are properly covered.

This highlights the problem that many travel insurance policies do not cover valuables which are checked into the hold, and will often stipulate that you keep them under your control in your hand luggage or about your person. However, following stricter hand luggage restrictions more passengers are checking in items such as foreign currency and portable computers.

In an effort to clarify the issue, BIBA has issued a list of items which may not be covered by travel insurance when packed into a Full Story

A new survey by Moneysupermarket insurance has revealed that too many UK holidaymakers are prepared to risk travelling without buying travel insurance.

With so many destinations available at the click of a mouse and cheap internet deals easy to come by, it appears that many are neglecting to protect themselves and their belongings against the most common holiday emergencies. A staggering one in five of us travel without insurance, and half of those do so intentionally with the rest forgetting put cover in place. Men are worst with 12% deliberately travelling uninsured compared to nearly 9% of women. Alarmingly, 4% of those surveyed admitted that they never take out Full Story

UK specialist insurer, Insure and Go Travel Insurance has announced that it is to include free missing child cover as standard on all it's policies.

Policies will be extended to cover all children up to the age of 18 who have been missing for more than 24 hours after an initial report to the police and will pay out a maximum of £110,000 to cover the cost of accommodation, translators and any media publicity required to help locate the child.

Managing Director of Insure and Go, Perry Wilson, said... "We pride ourselves on our ability to give customers peace of mind when they go away. Following the disappearance of Madeleine McCann we received Full Story

The Post Office travel insurance has announced summer special discounts on its range of policies.

Premiums for annual travel multi-trip policies will be cut by £10 per person and single trip policies for six days or more will be reduced by £5 per person from 2nd July until 31st August 2007.

The discounts, which are available on European and Worldwide travel, are intended to encourage more travelers to take out adequate cover for their holiday this summer. Figures released by the Post Office show that nearly half (47%) of holidaymakers are still not taking out any travel insurance cover when they go abroad.

When questioned about the reasons for not buying travel cover, 46% said it was a waste of money and didn't think they'd need it. One in Full Story