Family Travel Insurance

Most parents will agree that family holidays are wonderful – but can also be stressful! But having a good family travel insurance policy can help alleviate some of that stress.

There are two types of family travel insurance: single-trip or annual multi-trip. As the names suggest, single-trip covers you for a one-off trip whereas annual multi-trip allows you to take as many trips as you like in a year. If you travel more than once or twice a year, annual multi-trip often works out cheaper.

If you purchased your holiday through a travel agency, you may have been offered family travel insurance when you booked. However you are not obliged to buy family travel insurance from the travel agent, even if you booked your trip with them. Shopping around could save you money, and this is much easier nowadays thanks to price comparison sites such as Moneysupermarket which enables you to compare family travel insurance premiums in just a few clicks.

So why should you take out family travel insurance? The main reason is to protect yourself from a potentially hefty medical bill if you or your children need hospital treatment. In some countries, even a cut foot needing stitches can lead to a three figure bill.

Similarly, family travel insurance offers cover for cancellation if a member of the family falls ill before departure – airlines will not carry passengers who have ear infections or infectious diseases such as chicken pox. As children have excellent timing when it comes to such things, family travel insurance offers protection if you need to cancel at the last minute.

Another important area covered by family travel insurance is your personal possessions. If your suitcases don’t turn up at the airport you can claim for buying essential items such as clothes and toiletries (this is a real lifesaver if you are travelling with a baby). Your items are also covered against theft.

A real nightmare for travelling families are delays, so wouldn’t it be nice to be able to claim some money back for that? Most family travel insurance will pay out for delays of over 12 hours, so that should cover all the colouring books and games you had to buy!

Family travel insurance premiums are not expensive either. 24/7 Travel Insurance offer family travel insurance from under £20 for a family of four going on holiday to Europe for a week – and children under 18 go free with 24/7 Travel Insurance. Family travel insurance offers cover for the stressful, but comparatively minor, scenarios discussed here, and also for more serious situations. It is a small price to pay for peace of mind on your holiday. Now all you have to worry about is how often you’ll hear “are we there yet?...”

*Premium £15.27 including Insurance Premium Tax is based on two adults aged under 55 and two children under 18 purchasing a standard single-trip policy for 7 days in Europe and purchased within 14 days of departure date.