Insurance policies are intended to cover financial losses due to sudden and unforeseen events. With this is mind, there could be no cover under a policy for any event which was already known about at the time the policy was purchased, or the trip booked (whichever is later). On the 3rd March COVID-19 was a known event and so it’s unlikely your claim will be successful if your policy was purchased on or after this date

If your answer is no – Travel insurance is designed to cover the ‘unforeseen’. If you purchased your policy at the point the outbreak was known, then you may be asked for some specific evidence to prove that when you bought your policy you had no intention or reasonable likelihood of claiming.

Most travel agents, tour operators and airlines will offer alternative travel dates, or refunds, and so we recommend that you speak to them to see what options might be available to you. Visit our FAQs page and enter your search query in the box for more details.

If your answer is no – A policy works on the basis that every effort has been made to seek a refund from your tour operator, travel agent, airline, booking agent or anyone else that may offer a refund of your costs including credit cards and bank accounts used to make the bookings before you submit a claim on your Travel Insurance Policy. If you submit a claim before checking elsewhere your claim may not be processed straight away and you will be asked to explore all other avenues in the first instance, which will of course slow down your claim significantly. This is not something we want to happen to you, so please do make every effort to seek a refund from those listed above. In most instances, suppliers should be willing to provide alternative dates for trips, or offer credit notes (If this is not acceptable please push for a full refund). Please do remember that this will also save you the policy excess, which is a per person excess.