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Sophie Butler : Travel Advice

Wed December 26, 2007

Travel expert Sophie Butler explains why reading the small print is vital when taking out holiday insurance and answers your queries.

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If your holiday plans are scuppered through no fault of your own, the obvious step is to turn to your travel insurance. But however clear-cut your case appears, don't assume it'll be plain sailing. Insurers are nothing if not adept at wiggling out of paying up and can put obstacles in the small print that can trip you up on claims that appear to be perfectly straightforward.

Recently I heard from a couple of readers from Wales, both in their sixties, who'd been victims of a "snatch and run" theft en route to Cuba. While they were changing planes at Madrid, a man grabbed their carry-on bag and vanished into the crowd. As a result, they lost all their money, credit cards, tickets, boarding passes, passports, vouchers and visas, as well as diaries, address books and other irreplaceable personal possessions.

They were unable to continue with their holiday to Cuba without these documents and had to return home with help from the British Consul and Manchester Immigration.

When they got home, they put together a claim to submit to their travel insurer, Europ Assistance. This amounted to about £7,000 in unrecoverable, pre-paid holiday costs. However, to their dismay, their claim was rejected because "theft" was not on the list of reasons for curtailing a trip in the "what is covered" section of the policy.

"We are not regular claimants," said the couple. "Surely, after paying the premiums year after year in good faith we could expect something other than a brush off and having to lump it. This is a very large amount of money for us." When they complained to the Financial Ombudsman, it sympathised but was unable to recommend that their complaint be upheld as Europ Assistance appeared to be within its rights to reject the claim under the policy's precise terms and conditions.

Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/