Times when travel insurance has paid off for you

My son has been to hospital in more than one county while on holiday 🙈 last was America, insurance paid for his treatment and the prescription. £5k total about 20 years ago.

we have also been on a flight that was diverted to a different continent due to an emergency. Insurance paid for the hotel in the new country, new flights, food, drink, taxis, a change of clothes & we had compensation from the airline.

It came in pretty handy when a relative died abroad. Flying a body halfway around the world is expensive!

Paid a medical bill in Greece that would have cost me 10x the premium.

Gastroenteritis the day before a long haul flight. There was no way I could travel. Paid out for everything except the excess

a few bits here and there but feels like it’s definitely well worth having and I wouldn’t be without it

I got my Japan rail pass paid back as the company just ignored us and wouldn’t refund us even though we couldn’t travel due to Covid - few hundred

my daughter was hospitalised twice in Thailand - about 1000£ all paid back

I got an infected mosquito bite same trip to Thailand and got that money back for the treatment I paid upfront but got it back ( 150£)

our boat was cancelled at Christmas due to Holyhead port being damaged. Ferry company not answering us so we have claim in for that

Ohh and I got mastitis in Thailand as well and had to go to a medical centre and get antibiotics !

all little things that I could afford to pay for up front and claim back

imagine having to get air lifted or something and not having insurance eeeep

Cancer diagnosis last year meant 2 holidays had to be cancelled, and were both covered completely by insurance including excursions that had all been booked separately.

About 20 years ago, my dad had a heart attack abroad, he had surgery and was driven back to the UK by ambulance. Some of fee was paid with the old EHICs and then the insurance company paid out the rest which was about £8k. Definitely worth it in this case.

We both tested positive for covid 48 hours before a cruise! We got £3000 refunded. Without insurance we wouldn't have got anything.

I would never ever travel without it. My brother has an accident in the states as a child and required a few nights in hospital. Even back then in the 80s the cost was over $20K so would hate to think what it would cost today. I’ve only ever used it once and was to cover a pair of AirPods taken from a hotel room while on business.

I claimed £500 for the contents of a bag stolen from a train.

DH has had an accident requiring emergency dental treatment, another X-rays (we did watersports) and a medical issue, plus another medical problem which required cancellation.

He dealt with the paperwork in all cases, iirc all dealt with reasonably well.

And it's paid off in for all the other holidays when we've not had to worry about what would happen if one of us got sick or injured!

Around £2500 worth of medical fees and travel rescheduling after I had to have emergency surgery whilst on holiday in France.
they were amazing- Nationwide, it’s free with our current account.
also when our car broke down and was written off (also in France!) - replacement car all the way home.

A family member died on holiday. It would have made a horribly stressful time much, much worse if we'd had to try to sort repatriation of the body and all the bureaucracy ourselves, and pay (it's expensive).

In 1992, I worked for an insurer and had an approval limit of £6.5million.

It only took one car accident to exceed that for a family.

Get the insurance.

Broke my arm a week before a skiing holiday. Insurance paid in full.

2006 husband had brain tumour. Diagnosed 2000... stable since radiotherapy in 2002. Booked to go on holiday end October 2006 . All covered by insurance. September...4 weeks before holiday the damn thing reared its ugly head again and we had to cancel. Everything was paid back.

When our holiday accommodation was broken into and Dh’s bag with phone etc was nicked they covered the cost of replacements

When DH was diagnosed with cancer and we had to cancel our trip.

When DS lost a rucksack & coat on a scout trip.

When I was younger, the villa we were staying in got broken into and insurance paid for us to move to another villa and replaced the money that was stolen. On a separate holiday we were also involved in a car accident abroad and insurance covered all medical bills and car repairs. Another separate holiday and my mum sprained her ankle and again all medical bills were covered.

As an adult, thankfully I’ve never needed to use insurance (although it was close with Covid). But the “pay off” has been knowing if we got sick I wouldn’t be stuck finding the money for medical bills which could potentially amount to hundreds of thousands depending on the circumstances.

14yr old DD who is a ski racer and was out with academy had a crash paid for recovery from
piste, clinic treatment, husband to fly out to accompany her home all transport for him to get to her, both of them back to Geneva overnight hotels and flights - cost was 1000s

Missed connections, delayed flights meaning missed time in paid-for hotels, hire cars, even a couple of experiences/things we had tickets for. My partner has needed medical care which has been fully covered on insurance. And just the peace of mind knowing that we're covered for all these things makes a huge difference to the travel experience.

Yes it covered about £600 (I think the excess was £250) of a trip to A&E in the USA. We were there for four hours.
My mother paid for a trip with a different credit card than usual and forgot she would not be covered by the travel insurance provided with the other card. My DF had a stroke and it cost her £12,500 to medivac him back to the uk.
I'd never travel without it.

Had an accident on a ski holiday.
Had all costs which I wasn't able to get a refund on repaid (excluding the accommodation) which I made use of for the remainder of the trip.
Organised at no cost to me a private transfer to the airport and 2 additional seats to allow me to have my leg extended for the flight home.

I was extremely grateful to have the insurance. Not just for the financial aspect, but they arranged everything!

My son broke his foot while we were on holiday in Europe.

Insurance did all the negotiating with the medical and surgical team. (I only have a rusty O level in the language so was grateful for this.)

Settled all medical bills.
Reimbursed cost of ambulance.
Paid for me to stay in nearby hotel while he was in hospital.
Paid for him to have 1 night in hotel between discharge and flight home.
Paid €100 taxi fare to airport.
Paid for last minute flight tickets home on BA. This was one ticket for me and 3 for him so that he could extend his leg in plaster
Paid for taxi from airport to our house - usually £70 at least.

I didn't have to pay the hospital a penny at any point.

Hotel invoice went straight to insurer.
Taxis and flights were organised and paid for.

When you're facing surgery for your child in a foreign country, having someone to sort out the money is invaluable.

Missed a port on a cruise in 2023 and travel insurance paid £100 per passenger (3) with no fuss.