Times when travel insurance has paid off for you

[Waterweight]

Just that. Anybody had Experiance of travel insurance "working" & what was the result ?

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

2 times I have claimed
First paid up no issue
Second time had to fight for it.Never made it to holiday as friend I was going with had a cardiac arrest 3 days before hand ( thankfully recovere) .First they sent me a claim form for lost luggage .I had not actually made the plane then i had taken insuranceout after the incident No it was taken out when holuday booked.
.Only when I went to ombudsman Did i get my money

What does it matter? Because anybody travelling without it is an idiot.

I'm a former travel rep so could fill an entire thread with stories of travel customers having accidents and needing to claim on their insurance. Some examples:

The chap who broke his leg skiing in Canada - the rescue off the mountain, the 5 days in hospital, the ambulance transport (to the hospital and later to the airport) and the operation itself would have cost tens of thousands of pounds.

The man who broke his shoulder falling off a mountain bike in the Alps - the EHIC covered his medical bills, but his travel insurance covered the cost of flying the whole family home at the end of the holiday (his wife couldn't drive) and the transportation of his car back to the UK.

Another broken leg due to skiing one - a young kid broke his leg and one wrist in the fun park and couldn't fly home for 10 days. Insurance paid for him and his mother to stay in a hotel in the resort until he was fit to fly, then paid for their flights (the family had originally driven out).

Finally, the lady who having endured a 16 hour coach journey to the Alps slipped on the steps outside the hotel on arrival and broke her femur, requiring a couple of operations, several weeks in hospital and a repatriation flight.

Husband at the time blue-lighted to hospital in Toronto. All covered by insurance thank goodness, apart from a small excess. The bill ran to many thousands.

I had a serious accident abroad when I was a child. Insurance covered emergency surgery, weeks recovering in hospital and other expenses. Because of that experience I wouldn't dream of travelling without it.

My adult DS got mugged in Majorca, on his first night, a travel rep took him to hospital to be checked over, her fee, hospital charge, medication cost all paid direct, loss of money was paid to him. £25 well spent.

I have a scenario where it really didn't work.

My brother had travel insurance. He had a major aneurism and almost lost his life.

His insurance didn't kick in because it was the bank holiday weekend. My parents had to pay on credit cards to save his life.

It literally bankrupt my parents, but my brother survived.

My son had an emergency appendectomy in the USA when he was a teenager. It would have cost us £000s. If I pay travel insurance until I'm in my 80s and never claim again I'll still be quids in 😁

I don't understand this. What difference does it make it being a bank holiday? The insurance didn't have an emergency line? Your parents didn't claim the money back?

Fellow traveller on an Everest base camp trip went down with altitude sickness just shy of the highest point and had to be medivac'ed back to Kathmandu and treated in hospital. The hospital fees were pretty manageable, but the chopper was £15,000 for an hour flight.

I got every penny of flights and accommodation back when hurricane Irma hit Orlando the day I flew in and we couldn’t reschedule

I also broke my knee skiing in Italy and have to be rescued off the mountain and transported from the local hospital to a much bigger city one didn’t pay a penny was all covered by e111 and insurance

£35k for medevac, surgery, repatriation and then curtailment costs for an expensive holiday. It was an absolute nightmare dealing with the insurance company though, they caused significantly more stress than the accident and surgery in a far-flung location did.

I also got knocked unconscious in Greece and had to be transported by boat to a bigger island to the hospital. And in Cape Verde I had to see the doctor because I thought I had broke my foot but I’d somehow got a huge cactus spike in it that you couldn’t see because of the swelling

Maybe I should stay home

DH and I went to Las Vegas in 2007 and he got suddenly very ill. Turns out he needed gall bladder surgery. He also had pancreatitis with flesh that had become necrotic - which required a 10 day hospital stay because they couldn't do key-hole surgery but had to open him up!

Luckily we had travel insurance but they questioned him about whether he'd travelled to the states on purpose to get the operation. My stress levels were high shall we say!

It cost many of hundreds of thousands of $$$$$

Can anyone posting here share which insurer they went with, if they're happy to recommend? I need to sort travel insurance and I'm wondering who is best to go with.