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Travel insurance

Nobody reads it until the worst night of the trip.

Travel insurance is the only thing you buy hoping never to use, which is why almost nobody checks what they bought. The difference between a policy that pays and one that argues is usually six sentences long.

Travel insurance

What you're actually buying

Seven covers
in one policy

A travel policy is seven separate insurances sold together. The headline sum insured belongs to only one of them, and the rest carry their own caps.

RefCoverWhat it doesWhere claims fail
MEDEmergency medicalHospitalisation, treatment and evacuation abroad. The reason the policy exists — a single overseas admission can exceed a lifetime of premiums.Check the sub-limits, not the headline sum. Room-rent caps and dental limits sit well below the total.
REPRepatriationBringing you home when you cannot fly commercially, or bringing remains home. Mandatory for a Schengen visa.Air ambulance is expensive enough that a low overall sum insured makes this benefit theoretical.
CANCancellation & curtailmentNon-refundable costs lost when you cancel or come home early.Only for named reasons — illness, bereavement, specified disruptions. Changing your mind is never one of them.
BAGBaggage loss & delayDelayed baggage pays for essentials; lost baggage pays a capped amount against the contents.A Property Irregularity Report from the airline, filed at the airport, is usually the difference between paying and not.
DELDelay & missed connectionA benefit per block of hours delayed, and rebooking costs on a missed onward connection.Self-transfers between separate tickets are commonly excluded. Ask us before you build a trip that way.
LIAPersonal liabilityDamage or injury you cause to someone else abroad. Rarely thought about, occasionally the largest exposure on the policy.Excluded where a vehicle is involved — that is the motor insurer's territory.
PPTPassport & documentsThe cost of an emergency replacement passport and the delay it forces on you.Report to local police first. Without the report, most insurers decline.

Compare the sub-limits, not the sum insured. Two policies advertising the same headline cover can differ by an order of magnitude on the benefit you actually end up claiming.

The wording that decides it

Six phrases
worth learning
before you fly

Claims are rarely refused unfairly. They are refused on definitions the traveller never read. These six do most of the work.

Pre-existing condition

Anything diagnosed, treated or medicated before travel. Usually excluded, or covered only for a life-threatening emergency. Declaring a condition costs a higher premium; not declaring it costs the whole claim. Declare it.

Deductible or excess

The amount you pay on every claim before the insurer contributes. A cheap policy often carries a high excess, which is exactly where the saving came from.

Sub-limit

A cap on one benefit inside the overall sum insured. A policy with a large headline number can still cap room rent per night at a figure no hospital in Western Europe charges.

Reasonable & customary

The insurer pays what is normal for that treatment in that country, not necessarily what you were billed. Disputes here are common, and this is where an assistance company earns its keep.

Named perils

Cancellation cover lists the reasons it accepts. If your reason is not on the list, there is no cover, however genuine it is.

Prior authorisation

For cashless treatment the insurer must approve before you are treated, except in a genuine emergency. Paying first and claiming later is allowed but slower, and it caps you at what they consider reasonable.

Three figures to know

The rules
that aren't
optional

€30,000Minimum medical cover required for a Schengen visa, valid across all member states and including repatriation.
6 to 12 hrsTypical delay before a baggage-delay benefit is triggered. Varies by insurer.
Before you flyTravel policies must generally be bought before you leave India. Very few insurers will cover a trip already underway.
Figures verified 1 August 2026 — confirm against the policy wording

If something happens

Four steps,
in this order

Print this or save it offline. At the moment you need it, you will not be in a position to research it.

01

Call the assistance number first

Before treatment where you safely can. The 24-hour number on your policy triggers cashless authorisation and directs you to a network hospital. This single call is the largest determinant of whether a claim runs smoothly.

02

Get the paperwork at the time

Police report for theft, Property Irregularity Report for baggage, airline confirmation for delays, and the full medical record with diagnosis. Documents obtained afterwards, from another country, are very hard to get.

03

Keep every original

Bills, prescriptions, boarding passes, receipts for anything you bought because of the incident. Photograph them as you go, in case the paper is lost on the way home.

04

File within the window

Every policy sets a deadline after the incident for intimation and for documents. Missing it is a valid reason to decline a claim that would otherwise have paid in full.

Matching the policy to the traveller

Six situations,
six answers

SCH

Schengen & mandatory-cover countries

Cover is a visa condition, not a choice. The certificate must show the minimum sum, validity across all member states and repatriation, and it is checked at submission.

BIZ

Frequent business travellers

An annual multi-trip policy is normally cheaper than four single-trip policies and removes the risk of somebody flying uninsured because there was no time to arrange it.

FAM

Families

A family floater covers everyone under one sum insured. Check whether that sum is shared or per person — it matters enormously if two people are hurt in the same incident.

SEN

Senior travellers

Premiums rise with age and medical declarations become stricter. Buy early, declare fully, and expect a medical questionnaire rather than treating it as a formality.

STU

Students abroad

Longer duration, often with study-interruption and sponsor-protection benefits. Some universities mandate their own plan — check before you buy twice.

ADV

Adventure & sports travel

Trekking above a stated altitude, diving, skiing and motorcycling are excluded as standard and need a specific add-on. This is the most common uninsured gap we see.

What we do

Arranged,
not just sold

Bought with the trip

Cover arranged alongside the ticket and visa, so nobody flies uninsured because it was left to the last evening.

Matched to the itinerary

Duration, destinations, activities and traveller ages checked against the policy wording — not a single default plan sold to everyone.

Schengen certificates

Issued in the format embassies accept, with the right sum and territory stated, ready to submit with the application.

Corporate annual cover

Multi-trip policies for travelling staff, with the certificate on file so no trip is ever delayed for paperwork.

We help you claim

The awkward part. Our desk helps assemble documents and chases the insurer, including on claims we did not earn much for selling.

We tell you when to skip

For a two-day domestic trip we will usually say it is not worth it. An intermediary who recommends cover every single time is not advising you.

Insurance is underwritten by the insurer, not by Tripgation. This page describes travel insurance in general terms and is not advice on any particular policy. Cover, sub-limits and exclusions are governed entirely by the policy wording and schedule issued to you — read them before you travel, and ask us about anything that is unclear. Declare pre-existing medical conditions accurately: an undeclared condition is the most common reason a claim is refused. Tripgation acts as an intermediary. IRDAI registration number to be added before publishing.

Get covered

Send us the itinerary, not just the dates.

Destinations, ages, activities and any declared conditions decide which policy fits. Guessing at those is how people end up uninsured for the one thing that happens.