Travel Insurance FAQs

Before you do anything, always contact your booking agent, tour operator or transport provider first to find out the latest information for your travel arrangements. If the transport has been cancelled, indefinitely postponed or the airport / station / port is closed, you may be told not to go to your departure point.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) may provide information (visit www.fco.gov.uk/en/). If the FCO advise against travel to a destination your LV= travel policy will not cover you if you then choose to go there. However, you are covered to make a claim for the cancellation of your trip.

No cover will apply if you take out a policy or book a trip after the disaster has been reported in the media. In all cases, if you’re unsure if you can make a claim, please call our claims line on 0845 640 5194.

Find out more information about what’s covered for a natural disaster.

Before you do anything, always contact your booking agent, tour operator or transport provider first to find out the latest information for your travel arrangements. If the transport has been cancelled, indefinitely postponed or the airport / station / port is closed, you may be told not to go to your departure point.

If you booked all elements of your trip through a tour operator as a package, you should be able to get a refund for these through them. Some of your costs may not be met if you have booked elements of your holiday separately. As soon as you are aware that you may have to reschedule your trip, you should contact the provider of each element of your trip to see what alternative arrangements can be made.

Find out more information about what's covered for disruptions caused by severe snow.

If you've booked your flights and holiday through a travel agent you should contact your travel agent first to discuss your options. Usually you will need to wait until the dates of the industrial action have been announced.

If you have a flight booked directly with the airline, their website should provide up-to-date information on their position. For customers who booked flights with the airline after the industrial action was announced or who took out insurance after that date, there will be no cover for anything that occurs as a result of the industrial action.

Read more information about what's covered for disruptions caused by industrial action or strikes.

There is no cover under the LV= Travel Insurance policy for costs you lose as a result of the collapse of a company providing your transport or accommodation. 

If you've booked through a tour operator your trip costs should be covered through the Air Travel Organiser’s Licensing (ATOL) protection.  If you booked through a travel agent you may also have ATOL protection and should check with the travel agent you booked with.

Read more information about what's covered for a provider going out of business.

Your policy schedule will show all the information that you've declared about your pre-existing conditions. If we're unable to provide cover for these this will be shown as endorsements that will explain that there is no cover in any way related to the pre-existing conditions or symptoms and will state the section of the policy the restrictions apply to. The endorsements can be found at the bottom of your policy schedule.

Our definition of a pre-existing condition is explained in detail under the ‘Health declaration and health exclusions in the document of insurance. Basically it is: 

• any heart condition, breathing condition (including asthma), circulatory condition (including strokes or high blood pressure), gastrointestinal (digestive tract) conditions, bone or joint conditions or any type of cancer, regardless of how long ago these were suffered or;
• a medical condition or ailment that an insured person is suffering from or has suffered from in the last 12 months

Cover for pre-existing medical conditions isn't automatic but can be selected. If cover is needed, all medical conditions for everyone named on the policy must be disclosed. If we’re unable to provide cover for anyone’s specific conditions these will be shown as removed from cover in the endorsement sections at the bottom of your policy schedule.

We may charge you for providing cover for pre-existing conditions. To remove any confusion at the point of claim, we’ll either be able to provide cover for all of a person’s pre-existing conditions or none of them. This means we won’t cover some conditions and not others. For this reason it is very important that we're told of all conditions (for everyone on the policy), including symptoms and any investigations. If we're unable to cover a person’s pre-existing conditions the premium will reflect that this cover has been removed.

Our annual multi-trip policy is available for purchase by anyone who is over 16 years and under 80 years of age. Our single trip policy is available for purchase by anyone over 16 years of age - there is no upper age limit on our single trip policy.

If you're under 65 years of age, our single trip policy can cover you for up to 366 days. If you're 65 years of age or over, our single trip policy can cover you for up to 90 days.

We hope that you won't have any reason to complain. However, if you do need to complain, please contact us by phone on the following numbers. For Sales and service complaints - 0800 232 1404, lines are open Mon to Fri 8am - 9pm, Sat 8am - 5pm, Sun 9am - 5pm, bank holidays 9am - 5pm. For Claims complaints - 0800 232 1404, lines are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you prefer to write, please address your letter to Customer Complaints, PO Box 2, LV=, County Gates, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH1 2NF.

Please supply us with your name, address, policy number and claim number where applicable.

You can read more about our complaints procedure here.

There are a variety of activities that we can cover. Some activities are automatically covered and are shown on pages 12 to 14 of the document of insurance under ‘Standard activities’. Other activities that we can cover are shown under the lists titled ‘Adventure activities A’ and ‘Adventure activities B’. If you need cover for any of the activities under these lists, you must select to have cover for the appropriate list. If you choose cover for Adventure activities B you will also automatically be covered for any activities under Adventure activities A. This selection will then be shown on your policy schedule. Adventure activities A and B can only be provided if you're less than 65 years of age.

If you want to do an activity not listed, we may be able to provide this cover. Please call us with as much detail about the activity as possible and we will advise if we can provide the cover needed – you can find the telephone number you need here.

There's no cover under the policy for cutting your trip short if the FCO advise against travel to that destination. If this situation arises and you need assistance, please contact the 24 hour assistance helpline.

No, you can’t change the type of policy that has been set up. The only way to change the policy is to cancel the original one and set up a new one. This must be done within 14 days of you receiving your policy documents for a refund to be given.

If winter sports cover is selected on an annual multi-trip policy, 15 days winter sports cover for the 12 month period of insurance are automatically provided. You may select to increase the number of days covered during the 12 month period to 31 days. Cover for winter sports is only available for people under the age of 65 when the cover is taken out.

On a single trip policy, cover can automatically be provided on a trip of up to 31 days. If winter sports cover is needed on a longer trip we may be able to provide this. Please call us - you can find the telephone number you need here.

Our winter sports section provides cover for skiing, snowboarding, big-foot skiing, cross country skiing, glacier skiing, mono-skiing, and snow blading. Snow mobiling and skidooing can also be covered if you select Adventure activities A and this is shown on your policy schedule (personal liability cover isn’t provided for these activities).

Cover is for your ski pack costs if you have to cancel or cut your journey short or can’t ski because of injury or illness during your journey. If your ski equipment is delayed on your outward journey for more than 12 hours we'll pay towards the hire of alternative equipment and we will make a payment for ski equipment if this is permanently lost, stolen or destroyed on your journey.

There's also cover to get you to another resort if you're unable to ski or snowboard because the ski-lifts and ski-schools are closed due to adverse weather. Cover is also provided for extra transport and accommodation costs to get you to your destination or home if there is an avalanche or landslide.

Maximum cover limits apply. Please refer to the document of insurance for full details.