Travel insurance covers the costs a holiday can land you with when something goes wrong: emergency medical treatment abroad, which the NHS doesn't pay for once you've left the UK, along with cancelled trips, lost or delayed baggage, and missed flights. A single overseas medical emergency can run into tens of thousands of pounds, which is why most people find a policy costing a few pounds a trip is one of the easier insurance decisions to make.
Chris Knott Insurance arranges travel insurance, sometimes called holiday insurance, through a specialist travel partner, covering everything from a single weekend break to year-round multi-trip cover, rather than offering one generic policy for every kind of holiday.
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Emergency medical cover is the core of any policy, paying for treatment, hospital stays and getting you home if you're seriously ill or injured abroad. Cancellation cover reimburses non-refundable costs if you have to cancel before you travel, and curtailment cover does the same if you have to cut a trip short. Baggage cover protects against lost, stolen or damaged luggage and belongings, and most policies also cover missed departures, travel delays, and personal liability if you accidentally injure someone or damage property while away. Winter sports, cruises, and other higher-risk activities are usually available as add-ons rather than included as standard, so it's worth checking a policy that covers what you actually plan to do before you rely on it. Some policies also let you add gadget cover for phones, tablets and cameras, which are easy to lose or damage away from home and are sometimes only partly covered under standard baggage limits.
Delays and disruption are among the most common things to go wrong, so it's worth knowing how a policy responds. Depending on the cover, travel disruption can help if your departure is delayed beyond a set number of hours, if you miss a connection or departure through no fault of your own, or if you have to abandon the trip because a long delay makes it pointless to go. The exact limits and the delay period before cover starts vary between policies, so it's one to check against the wording rather than assume.
Yes, destination is one of the biggest factors in both price and the cover you should look for. Travel insurance is usually priced by region:
Some trips need cover shaped around them specifically. A cruise brings risks a land holiday doesn't, such as missed port departures and onboard medical care. A long-haul or backpacking trip lasting several months needs a policy that allows for the length of time away and the mix of countries.
If you're planning any of these, it helps to say so upfront, so the cover can be matched to the trip rather than left with gaps. Our team can talk through which option fits, whether that's a one-off policy or year-round cover.
Standard travel insurance is built around everyday holiday activities, so anything higher-risk usually needs to be added or declared separately. Skiing and snowboarding are the clearest example: winter sports cover is normally an add-on, and without it a policy may not respond to an accident on the slopes or to lost or damaged equipment.
The same applies to activities like scuba diving to depth and various adventure sports. If your trip involves any of these, it's important to mention them when you get a quote, so the right cover is in place before you travel rather than discovered missing at claim time.
A pre-existing condition is generally any diagnosed medical condition you already have or have had, and insurers ask about a wide range of them, including ongoing conditions like diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure and heart conditions, as well as more serious diagnoses such as cancer. The key point is disclosure: you need to declare each condition the policy asks about, honestly and accurately, when you take out the cover.
If you don't declare a condition, a claim connected to it can be turned down later, and in some cases the whole policy can be affected, which defeats the point of being insured. Declaring conditions doesn't automatically make cover expensive or impossible, but it does need to be done. Where there are conditions to consider, our travel insurance with medical conditions is built around getting them covered properly, rather than treating them as an exclusion on a standard policy.
Standard travel insurance may not cover pre-existing medical conditions unless you've declared them and they've been accepted, so this is worth checking rather than assuming. Cover generally excludes travelling against Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advice, being under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of an incident, and losses that could have been prevented with reasonable care, such as leaving luggage unattended. Cancellation cover typically won't pay out for a simple change of mind either, only for the specific reasons listed in the policy, such as illness or redundancy. Most travel insurance policies sold as part of the British insurance market are broadly similar on these core exclusions, even where the small print differs on the details. As with any travel insurance policies, it's worth reading the exclusions before you travel rather than after something's gone wrong, since the wrong travel insurance could leave you without cover exactly when you need it.
The right policy depends on how you travel more than anything else, and choosing well could save a meaningful amount over a generic one-size policy. If you take more than two or three trips a year, annual travel insurance usually works out cheaper than buying single trip cover every time, and it covers you as soon as you leave home rather than needing to remember to buy cover for each holiday. For a single holiday or business trip, our single trip travel insurance page covers that more directly, and for a group travelling together, our group travel insurance usually works out simpler than several individual ones. If you're travelling with a pre-existing medical condition, a dedicated medical conditions policy is likely to give more reliable cover than a standard one that treats the condition as an exclusion, and if you're over 65, our travel insurance for the elderly is shaped around that age group rather than one with blanket upper age limits. Getting this choice right at the outset is a bigger factor in the price and the quality of cover than almost anything else you can control.
ATOL and ABTA aren't insurance, and they don't replace it, but it helps to know where they fit. ATOL protection covers most package holidays that include flights, so if the airline or tour operator fails financially, you're protected against losing the cost of the trip or being stranded abroad.
ABTA offers similar financial protection for package holidays that don't involve flights, such as coach or rail trips. What neither covers is what happens to you on the trip: a medical emergency, a cancellation for personal reasons, lost baggage or a delay. That's the job of travel insurance, which is why the two work alongside each other rather than one making the other unnecessary.
No, and this is one of the more common misunderstandings about travelling in Europe. A Global Health Insurance Card or European Health Insurance Card gives you access to state-provided healthcare in participating countries at the same cost as a local resident, which in some countries is free and in others still involves a charge. It doesn't cover repatriation if you need to be flown home, private treatment, cancellation, lost baggage, or any of the other things a travel insurance policy covers, so it's a useful backup alongside insurance rather than a replacement for it.
Because Chris Knott works with a specialist travel insurance provider rather than a generic one-size policy, cover can be matched to how you actually travel, whether that's one holiday a year or several. We're a UK-based broker that's been arranging cover since 1983, with a 4.9-star Trustpilot rating from over 2,200 reviews you can check yourself, and we're not on the comparison sites. We're authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 304452), and you can verify that on the Financial Services Register at register.fca.org.uk.
It varies with the level of cover, your age, your destination, the length of the trip, and whether you need to declare any medical conditions. A short trip to Europe with no medical conditions to declare will generally cost far less than a long-haul trip with higher medical cover, so it's worth comparing what's actually included rather than choosing on price alone.
As soon as you book, not just before you travel. Cancellation cover only protects you from the date you buy the policy, so if you buy travel insurance the week before you fly, you're not covered for a cancellation that happens between booking and that purchase date, even though the trip itself is already at risk from that point.
Yes, every condition the policy asks about, even ones that feel minor or well-controlled. Leaving one out can mean a claim connected to it, or sometimes any claim at all, being declined later, which defeats the purpose of having cover in the first place. A specialist medical conditions policy is often more straightforward here than trying to fit a single pre-existing medical condition, or several, into a standard one built around travellers with none.
Cancellation cover pays out for specific listed reasons, not a simple change of mind. Typical covered reasons include your own illness or injury, or that of a close relative, a bereavement, being called for jury service or as a witness, redundancy, and sometimes your home being made uninhabitable before you travel. The exact list is set out in the policy wording, so if there's a particular situation you're worried about, it's worth checking it's included before you book rather than afterwards.
You can make a claim by contacting our team directly, and we'll talk you through what's needed. For medical emergencies abroad, contacting the emergency assistance number on your policy documents before you incur major costs is usually faster and simpler than paying upfront and claiming afterwards.
Most claims ask for evidence, so it helps to keep hold of the right paperwork: receipts or proof of ownership for lost or stolen belongings, a police report filed within 24 hours for theft, medical documentation and bills for anything health-related, and booking confirmations or cancellation invoices for a cancelled or cut-short trip. Keeping these as you go makes a claim much quicker to settle than trying to gather them afterwards.
Planning a trip? Our Travel Knowledge Hub is full of helpful articles that explain the ins and outs of travel insurance - like what to do if your flight’s cancelled, how to cover a cruise, or why annual policies might save you money. It’s travel peace of mind, before you even pack.
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Read More →Single-trip, annual, medical conditions, group travel and more - we arrange comprehensive travel cover for UK residents at competitive prices.
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ExploreEvery page is written and fact-checked by our UK-based insurance specialists. Chris Knott Insurance has been arranging cover since 1983.
Call our UK-based team on 0800 917 2274 or email enquiries@chrisknott.co.uk to get travel insurance matched to how you actually travel. We're open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
*Chris Knott Insurance is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 304452). You can check this on the Financial Services Register at register.fca.org.uk.*
