| Link(s): | Travel insurance complaints at their highest levels since the pandemic (financial-ombudsman.org.uk) |
Context
FOS has published an article highlighting the increase in the number of travel insurance complaints referred to it in the last year. Aside from the year impacted by Covid, complaints are now at their highest level within the last decade.
Key points to note and next actions
In the financial year 2023/24 FOS received 4,466 complaints about travel insurance. In the last ten years the only time this figure was higher was when complaints surged due to the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic in 2020/21.
- Cases are primarily being driven by people who are dissatisfied with insurers declining their claims, and FOS is seeing rising trends relating to:
- medical conditions not being properly disclosed;
- the levels of emergency assistance after falling ill abroad;
- delayed / missed flights; and
- lost and stolen luggage.
FOS has issued a series of top tips to help customers choose the correct insurance:
- Check the small print of the insurance policy, and make sure any exclusions are understood.
- Travel insurance is not private medical insurance. Customers should tell their travel insurer about any medical conditions even if they have fully recovered. The travel insurer may not agree to fly the customer back to the UK if they become unwell abroad.
- Travel insurance may not cover missed flights caused by security delays, airport evacuations or problems with visas / passports.
- Travel insurance may not necessarily cover situations where the customer’s circumstances change and they are unable to go on holiday. Cover should therefore start from the date of purchase, otherwise there may be no cancellation cover in place.
- Lost luggage – travel insurers generally require the policyholder to obtain a Property Irregularity Report from their airline, whilst still at the airport, and provide proof from the airline that the luggage cannot be located before considering a claim.
In the interests of customers understanding what they are buying, their ability to claim, and the suitability of any given product for any given customer, clear communication of what travel insurance policies will and will not cover is important; the buying customer needs to understand what they are buying and what they can claim for.