Signature travel insurance

Taking out your travel insurance as soon as you book your next trip means you’re covered if you need to cancel your plans.

Cancellation cover kicks in straight away for single trip policies. Depending on your age, you can take out a single trip policy from up to 18 months before you travel. For our annual multi-trip policies cancellation cover kicks in from the policies start date, you can take out a annual multi-trip policy up to 90 day in advance.

If your flights are cancelled, there are a couple of things to try before your travel insurance can help.

First of all, contact your airline or travel company to ask if they can rearrange your flight or give you a refund. If they can’t, see if you can get a chargeback from your credit card company, if you paid with one.

If neither of these work, this is when your travel insurance can help.

Don’t forget, if you rearrange your flights, you may need to update your travel insurance policy with the new dates. If you’re a Staysure customer, you can do this with your My Staysure account.

As long as the strikes weren’t common knowledge when you booked your trip or took out your policy whichever is later, your travel insurance should be able to help.

You can make a claim if you need to pay for emergency accommodation or travel expenses, or if your trip is delayed by more than 12 hours.

Find out more in our guide to Strikes: am I covered by my travel insurance?

GHICs replaced EHICs when the UK left the EU, and they give you free access to emergency healthcare when travelling in the EU (except Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland).

It’s important to have a GHIC/EHIC and travel insurance because travel insurance protects against other costs, such as cancellation and repatriation.

You also need to have a valid GHIC or EHIC when you take out a Staysure policy.

Find out more in GHIC is the new EHIC: what you need to know.

As long as the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) say it’s safe to travel there, you should be able to get cover for most countries. Visit the FCDO's website to see if your destination is safe. Advice can change quickly, so make sure you check it’s safe before you set off.

If the FCDO or WHO (World Health Organisation) say it’s not safe to travel to your destination, then you shouldn’t go. If you decide to anyway, your travel insurance policy will be invalid and you won’t be covered.