Family travel insurance

Rather than taking out individual insurance for each member of your group when on holiday, you could save money with family travel insurance.

Premiums for family travel insurance could vary depending on the number of children you have, but some family travel insurance providers offer a standard policy regardless of the number of children in your family group.

LV= even offer group travel insurance for up to ten people where, provided we know each additional traveller's relationship to the policyholder, you don’t necessarily have to be in the same family group.

Things to check

As with all group travel insurance, there are a few things to check.

Definition of a ‘family'

Some providers of family travel insurance use a fairly narrow definition of family. LV= recognises the diverse nature of modern families and has a quite flexible attitude to families and groups.

Children – age limits

For family holiday insurance the definition of a child can vary, with different age limits applying.  Some family travel insurers for instance class someone as a child up to 16 years, others may class a 23 year old as a child if they are a full time student.  Depending on the ages of your family members this may not matter but it makes sense to check.

Are children included free?

It’s sometimes possible to include children ‘for free’ on a family travel insurance policy.  That doesn’t necessarily mean the price is going to be cheaper than a policy where the children are priced for within the policy though.  It’s always worth comparing the cover as well as the price, and make sure you get the choice or flexibility of family holiday insurance cover you want.

Can children travel unaccompanied?

With some family travel policies, children can travel on supervised trips with schools and organisations – check when you take out cover.  At LV cover is also available for children aged 16 to 22 years to travel unaccompanied if this is required. 

Medical costs

Even if you’ve got the European Health Insurance Card, we suggest you consider having family travel insurance, just in case.

Medical costs and facilities vary significantly across the world.  A European Health Insurance Card will provide limited cover in European Countries the UK has a reciprocal agreement with.  The extent of the cover depends on the healthcare system of the Country you are in.  If you are travelling to Australia you can enrol in ‘medicare’ which will entitle you to cheaper hospital treatments and medicines.  However, no reciprocal / state run healthcare system will pay additional expenses incurred when someone is hospitalised, or arrange revised travel home if a member of your family isn’t well enough to travel as initially planned. 

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