Times when travel insurance has paid off for you

When my DM died the week before our holiday the insurance paid for the full value of the holiday. They just requested the death certificate. It was a few years ago.

Never previously claimed on travel insurance but always buy it. Just under £500 for annual policy because of pre-existing conditions.
I should be on a much looked forward to holiday right now but had to cancel. Not because of illness but because I did as you are supposed to do, and notified them of a minor unrelated new issue. DH had a chest infection and was awaiting an x-ray. He wasn't ill, doctor said fine to travel. I thought the insurance company would just exclude the new condition but no. They promptly withdrew all medical cover for his preexisting and completely unrelated conditions.
So we cancelled as I'm not prepared to travel without insurance. If they pay up we'll still be £200 out of pocket for the excess on a holiday.

My parents had a 4 hour delay going from London to New York and insurance paid them more than the cost of the actual return flights!? It was so surprising, so free return flights at £1200 plus another £200 each basically thanks to 4 hour delay.

Dd injured herself abroad last year and had to go to hospital ended up with mri's, xrays, iv drip, a cast and was discharged after a few hours. Bill of £2.5k which was repaid in days of the claim being made.

Last Christmas I was meant to go away on a package holiday but caught Covid just before and couldn’t go. Not just that it was Covid but I was too ill to go anywhere.

Travel insurance were really good and accepted the Covid test as proof that I was telling the truth and paid out minus the excess .

Had an allergic reaction on a plane to the USA - was rushed from the plane straight to a&e in an ambulance and then looked after in hospital - my travel insurance paid the bill of around $10000!

Had to cancel for medical reasons. Lloyds paid out, minus an excess.

Not me, but my parents. They had an awful run last year when every time they'd book a holiday one of them would end up in hospital. Happened five times in a year! Every single time, they were fully refunded for their trips.

Felt ill on plane, on stopover taken to airport hospital. Diagnosed ruptured ectopic and sent to hospital for laparotomy to remove ruptured tube and clear out 2litres blood from abdomen. Hospital costs reimbursed, also hotel costs for DH and DD 16mths while I was in hospital and for a week when I came out. Not easy for DH as hospital wanted an up front payment in cash in local currency and we weren't expecting to disembark there. I remember signing forms on way into theatre but don't know if they related to risk/ payments etc. Think DH was made to make more payments up front while things were sorted out. I think in region of 10k so not as bad as it would have been in another country but money we did not have.

More recently £300 for Dr visits on holiday.

This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Travel insurance which is not valid on bank holidays? Really?

My mother collapsed on a flight home. Full "Is there a doctor on the plane?" drama. The plane diverted to Athens to offload her and my father. Mother in hospital with suspected heart attack for quite a few days and father taken underpants shopping by British Embassy staff. Mother then brought home with doctor in attendance on the flight and a full row of seats to allow her to lie down. They were told by the attending doctor what the cost of just the flight home with medical escort was. It was eye watering. Insurance paid out for all expenses, so hospital, flight home, dad's hotel and I can't remember if there was a fee for having had to divert the flight. All was fine in the end.

Family member has a heart issue on 2 cruises. Luckily was in port for both so no helicopter evacuation but all hospital costs were covered, as were the partners accommodation while staying. Also a private ambulance transfer from Europe to their home in UK

All covered from bank holiday insurance.

We claimed on ours for the first time this Christmas. We were in Thailand and 3 of my 4 teens needed hospital treatment. Totalled over £2,000 and we only had to pay an excess of £100.

True. I was responding to people expressing doubts about the poster’s story so didn’t consider the detail but you are right.

Not necessarily. It's worth reading all the small print of your insurance policy and being very clear about what process you need to follow if you have an accident. There have been cases where the insurance company did not pay out because this was not followed to the letter. So, if you didn't call them - say, because you were ringing the main office number rather than the 24/7 emergency line and they were closed - before making any decisions about getting treatment, they could refuse to pay out. When we had to use the travel insurance abroad, the insurer was clear that there were only certain hospitals they would allow treatment at (some they weren't happy about because of standard of treatment, others they refused they were known to overcharge insurers).

I accidentally crashed a mobility scooter into a plasterboard wall in a hotel. Insurance covers the bill. I don't think the hotel actually got the repair done when I visited a few years later.

We have it as part if our HSBC Premier account (for which we do not pay a fee).

Two years ago, my partner fell and injured her back shortly before we were due to make a 5 hour drive to a holiday cottage in Scotland. Insurer paid the cost of the cottage without even sering a receipt or doctor's note.

It’s possible they might have had trouble getting through to the insurance company until after the BH if they didn’t have the 24 hr emergency line to hand. However the insurance would have reimbursed what they paid out. I suspect “literally bankrupt” is an exaggeration in how the story was told.

We had two expensive holidays booked and paid for. One being a cruise and the other being New York. Booked for 4 of us, so total cost over both holidays was close to £20,000.

OH was diagnosed with cancer between booking and the holiday dates, so we had to cancel as he was initially going to be on chemo for 6 months and then go straight as an in patient for stem cell transplant, meaning another few months.

Separate travel insurance companies, but both paid out, in full, with no arguments or hassle at all. We just filled in the claim form, attached proof of expenses, got a GP certificate to confirm date of cancer diagnosis, etc., and both firms paid out within a few weeks.

Very impressed.

I have year round cover with my bank, Claimed on it while on holiday in Turkey for a fractured elbow, easiest process ever.

It also applies to UK holidays too, we had one where we couldnt travel due to Ds illness, they paid out for the cost of the holiday then too.

Yes, this makes no sense @HayleyBay . I've been buying travel insurance for 45 years, and cover and contact has always been 24/7.
I really don't understand how this situation could have ever come about.

The only time I tried to claim they wouldn't pay out because the government closed the airports (2010 Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud).

I don't understand this at all. My insurance has a 24/7 emergency line, plus your parents could have claimed the whole cost back as soon as the BH was over.