Travel Insurance

‘Comprehensive’ is a term that’s common within the insurance world. But no insurance policies can truly be comprehensive - all come with their exclusions. We offer a range of policies which can be tailored to your needs, meaning you don’t need to pay extra for cover you don’t need.

Travel insurance won’t cover costs you can recover elsewhere – for example, if your airline cancel your flight, they should provide you with a full refund or offer to book you onto an alternative flight.

Cover for pre-existing medical conditions isn’t automatically covered on most travel insurance policies. When purchasing insurance with Columbus, you’ll need to complete [an industry standard] medical questionnaire. The secure form will only take a few minutes to complete, and your cover could be secured at the end.

Most people wouldn’t consider leaving their mobile phone at home – it’s your city guide, translation service and in-flight entertainment all rolled into one. But cover for your gadgets, tablets and laptops aren’t included in your policy as standard, as many people have cover elsewhere. If you haven’t got cover for them through contents insurance or any other means, you can add Gadget cover as an extra add-on with your Columbus policy if you need to.

Columbus Direct provides cover to over 150 sports and activities as standard. However, if your activity is not listed then you might need to add our Adventure Sports cover, or give us a call. If you’ll be skiing or snowboarding, then you’ll definitely need Winter Sports cover. This will cover any emergency medical expenses, as well as useful extras like for your ski kit and piste closure.

If your policy includes Missed Departure, you’ll be covered for missed connections if your flight, coach, train or sea crossing is cancelled or delayed for more than three hours. We’ll cover the cost to either get you to your destination, or to join the next step in your pre-booked journey. If you’re embarking on a Cruise, you’ll need to add Cruise cover to your policy to cover any missed cruise ship connections.

We can cover trips up to 6 months on our Gold, Silver and Bronze policies. And if you’re lucky enough to be travelling the world for up to 12 months, simply select ‘Backpacker’ when getting a quote online, then enter your travel dates.

It’s a common misconception that these will cover you for a 12 month round the world trip. Annual Multi Trip policies are designed for travellers who plan to take two or more trips per year and could save you money, but be aware that there’s a maximum number of days you can spend away from the UK per trip (although no cap on how many times you can travel per year) 45 days per trip is standard with our Silver and Gold policies, although up to 60 days per trip can be added for a small extra fee. Bronze comes with 30 days per trip as Standard and can be upgraded to 45 days.

If you’ve paid anything towards your trip, it’s a good idea to get your travel insurance sorted right away. You’ll be able to claim for cancellation costs to recoup money if you can’t travel for an insured reason – falling ill for example.

It’s easy to rely on having all your documents available online, but some countries will need you to produce printed travel insurance documentation – for instance some hospitals may require this, and for border entry to Cuba it is mandatory. So it’s worth printing yours before you go.

If you’re going on a Mediterranean holiday, you’ll be pleased to know it costs the same to cover a trip to the Pyramids as it does a trip to Majorca with Columbus. However, you’ll need to select Worldwide cover if you’re travelling to Israel, Jordan, Lebanon or Algeria.

If the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advise against travel to a specific country or region, we won’t be able to cover you if you travel there. This is typically warzones or places with civil unrest, but if in doubt, check with the Foreign Travel Advice page on the FCO’s website (link is https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice)