Travel insurance is a temporary insurance policy that protects the buyer against the financial risks of travelling. These include expenses due to a cancelled flight, lost luggage, medical emergencies and unforeseen events such as natural disasters, attacks or insolvency of the tour operator.

 

The buyer purchases the travel insurance before the start of the trip, usually together with non-refundable expenses, in order to avoid financial losses in the event of an unexpected cancellation of the trip. The price of travel insurance varies depending on the type of insurance and the sum insured.

 

No matter how good your plans are, the future is unpredictable. Unexpected events can lead to a trip having to be cancelled at any time. An illness or death in the family or other reasons can get in the way of travelling. Medical emergencies can also occur during the trip, causing part of the holiday to be wasted. Changes or cancellations by the tour operator or airline are also beyond our control and can result in unpleasant additional costs. Travel insurance can also protect against financial losses due to theft.

An airline guarantees transport on the aircraft, but does not guarantee exact adherence to the schedule. Therefore, cancelled or delayed flights may result in missing a subsequent tour or train connection, leaving the traveller with non-refundable costs. Luggage is only insured by the airline up to a certain limit. If you discover the loss of valuable items from your luggage after you have already left the airport, the airline declines all responsibility. Natural disasters or terrorist attacks can suddenly make the planned trip less desirable than originally planned.

 

The above reasons are particularly useful for long-term trips, non-European journeys and cost-intensive trips. A discount flight within Europe is generally not necessarily worth taking out additional travel insurance. The higher the total cost of the trip, the more sensible it is to protect yourself financially, at a relatively low additional cost; a short trip for little money is usually not worth the relatively high extra expense of travel insurance.