Travel insurance
Going away? From mini breaks to longer trips, we've got you covered
20% online discount
What does our travel insurance cover?
Our Essential policy includes the following:
- A 20% discount when you buy our travel insurance online
- Up to £10million emergency medical cover
- Travel insurance with coronavirus cover. We'll cover your medical and repatriation costs if you fall ill with coronavirus (COVID-19). Find out what's covered with our coronavirus cover
- Up to £5,000 holiday cancellation cover. If you have to cancel your holiday, cut it short or cancel any activities/excursions for a reason that wasn't your fault e.g. due to illness
- 24-hour helpline if you need us while you’re away, you can also make a claim 24/7 online
- Group and family travel insurance, we'll insure up to ten people on one policy
- All pre-existing medical conditions considered, including diabetes and high blood pressure. Just tell us when you take out your policy
- Cruise cover included as standard with our annual policies. Happy sailing!
Our Defaqto 5 Star rated Premier policy includes all of the above plus all of this:
- Cover for delays and cancellations after 24 hours. Including bad weather, terrorism, drones, ash clouds or strikes – all the things we can’t control
- Up to £1,000 if you miss your pre-booked transport, like missing your flight because of a delayed train (it happens!)
- Up to £10,000 cancellation cover if you have to cancel your holiday, cut it short or cancel activities/excursions for a reason that wasn't your fault e.g. due to illness
Find out more about what's covered with our travel insurance
Why choose LV= travel insurance?
Whether it’s one big trip or a year of mini breaks - around the world, city-hopping and even golf holidays - we’ve got your travel covered.
We consider all pre-existing medical conditions, we cover treatment and repatriation costs if you fall ill with coronavirus (COVID-19) abroad and, of course, we’re here when bags and belongings go missing too.
Our Premier policy is 5 Star rated by Defaqto.
What is travel insurance?
Emergency medical treatment in another country can prove incredibly costly and having travel insurance means you can relax on your holiday with the peace of mind that you’re covered even if the worst should happen.
And, before your holiday’s even started, if you find you can’t travel and have to cancel your trip, at least you’ll be covered for the cost of cancellation.
- Baggage cover for lost or stolen bags including personal items of value
- Cover for uncommon activities such as scuba diving, wakeboarding and other water sports
- Specific cover relating to winter sports or cruises
Why is travel insurance important?
However you like to holiday, we've got travel insurance policies and a range of cover options to suit you
Single trip travel insurance
This cover is ideal if you're only going away once this year. We’ll cover you for a single trip of up to: 366 days if you’re under 65 years of age, 90 days if you’re between 65 and 79 years old and 31 days if you’re aged 80 or over.
Annual multi trip travel insurance
Fancy a few mini breaks? So do we! This cover is ideal if you're going away twice or more this year. We'll cover you for up to 90 days away at a time and it may even save you time and money. So, grab the calendar and get planning!
Family and group travel insurance
Going in a group or as a family? We'll cover up to ten people per travel policy and we'll even treat you to a 20% online discount. So all you need to do is decide who to invite!
Winter sports and ski cover
Hitting the slopes? If you add our winter sports and ski cover as an optional extra to your travel insurance, you can enjoy skiing, snowboarding, sledging and more!
Cruise cover
We actually include cruise cover as standard on our annual multi-trip policy, but we can add cruise cover to your single trip policy too if you only need cover for a one off. Sea legs at the ready? All aboard!
Baggage cover
You can relax knowing your baggage, belongings and cash are covered for damage or theft. Off on a golfing holiday? We'll cover your golf clubs or hired equipment too! So, what time's tee off?
Staycation insurance
Cover in case your holiday is cancelled, your baggage is stolen or you're too unwell to get home. You'll also be covered for accidental damage or injury to people or property.
Travel insurance with medical conditions
To make sure you get the cover you need, you'll need to let us know about any existing medical condition when you set up your policy.
More about LV= travel insurance
What's not covered?
- Destinations we've not agreed to cover
- Claims relating to a pandemic (including COVID-19), except where cover has been expressly stated.
- Cancellation due to you not wishing to travel
- Cancellation due to not obtaining the correct documents required to travel to your destination, including Passports or evidence of vaccinations.
- Pre-existing medical conditions unless we’ve agreed to cover
- Delay (Essential), or delay under 12 hours (Premier)
- Holiday cancellation due to delays (Essential)
- Refreshment costs for delays under 12 hours (Essential and Premier)
Read our most common examples of what's not covered in our claims considerations guide
Optional extras
Check out our range of optional extras
Baggage
We cover your all-important personal items. From baggage to belongings, and even your cash. You’ll get…
- £3,000 (including a £500 single item limit and total valuables limit) with the Premier policy
- £2,000 (including a £300 single item limit and total valuables limit) with the Essential policy
- And finally, £500 for money, including £300 cash (on Premier and Essential policies)
Find out more about our optional extras
Winter sports and ski cover
Before you take off down a slope, make sure you’re well protected if you land with a bump! We’ll cover…
- Emergency medical expenses
- Personal accident
- Personal liability
Policy documents
Our policy documents
You can get these and other documents from us in braille, large print or audio by sending us an email.
Travel insurance policy document (PDF 606 KB)
Travel insurance product information document (PDF 88KB)
How we use your personal information
Travel Essential activities document (PDF 55KB)
Travel Premier activities document (PDF 65KB)
Travel insurance FAQs
Am I covered if my airline cancels my flight?
Under UK law, you have important legal rights on many flights from, to or within the UK. If your scheduled flight is cancelled, the airline must offer you a refund or the option to choose an alternative flight.
Read more about your rights and claiming compensation
With our Premier policy, we'll pay up to £1,000 per insured person per trip for extra costs you have to pay for transport and accommodation if your flight’s cancelled and you’re not provided an alternative that’s scheduled to depart within 24 hours.
Am I covered for delays?
With our Premier policy, if you’re delayed at your departure point for more than 12 hours, we’ll pay £25 per 12-hour period from the scheduled departure time up to a total of £250.
If you’re delayed for more than 24 hours, you can choose to cancel your trip or we'll pay up to £1,000 per insured person per trip for extra costs you have to pay to get to your scheduled destination.
Our Essential policy doesn’t include cover for delays.
Are there any age restrictions on your travel insurance policies?
Our annual policy is only available to travellers who are aged 79 and under. You can also choose from two different levels of cover - Essential or Premier.
The maximum trip length under an annual multi-trip Premier policy is 90 days or 31 days under an Essential annual multi-trip policy.
On a single trip if you're between 65 and 79, the maximum trip length is 90 days or 31 days if you're 80 or over.
> Read our over 50's travel guide
> Read our over 65's travel guide
> Read our over 70's travel guide
What’s the difference between an Essential and Premier Travel policy?
We offer two levels of annual travel insurance to suit your needs - Essential and Premier.
Our Essential policy offers up to £10 million emergency medical cover, £5,000 cancellation cover and £25,000 personal accident cover.
Premier offers everything that Essential does but offers £10,000 cancellation cover plus extra cover for missed or cancelled flights, delays due to bad weather, strikes or other mishaps that may interrupt your travel plans.
Why do I need travel insurance?
Emergency medical treatment abroad can prove incredibly costly. So, one of the most important reasons for having travel insurance is to cover you for the potentially very high cost of treatment if you fall ill while you’re away.
Most countries don’t have the same sort of medical provision we enjoy in the UK (free treatment at the point of need) and having to receive treatment in a foreign country can quickly become very expensive, especially in countries like the USA where even a short stay in hospital can land you a bill running into tens of thousands of pounds.
If you’re visiting EU countries or Switzerland, the UK has reciprocal health care agreements which can be accessed using your Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) or European Health Insurance Card (if still valid) but not all treatment’s covered and your GHIC won’t cover the cost of your travel if you need to return to the UK sooner than planned.
Another reason travel insurance is important is it covers you for the cost of cancellation if you find you can’t travel. You can cover the cost of your holiday if you’re unable to travel due to certain circumstances, for example if you or a close relative (or someone you were planning to stay with) fell ill unexpectedly. Some policies also cover reasons like jury service, armed forces and NHS call up, or damage to your home that means you can’t leave, e.g. fire.
The most important thing to remember is to take out insurance before you travel to get the full benefit of cover.
Getting the right cover to suit your needs is essential so it’s worth considering additional benefits, often available as optional extras, such as:
- Baggage cover for lost or stolen bags including personal items of value
- Cover for uncommon activities such as scuba diving and wakeboarding
- Cover for delay or missed departure
- Specific cover relating to winter sports or cruises
I have a Global Health Insurance card (GHIC). Do I need travel insurance?
Since 1 January 2021 the GHIC is accepted in all EU countries as well as Switzerland. It's not currently accepted in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. If you don’t have one, you can now apply for a Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC). The GHIC entitles you to reduced cost or free state healthcare in the countries you visit.
However, not all medical costs are covered by these health agreements, so your travel insurance will cover you for all other medical expenses, including bringing you home if you're too unwell to complete your trip.
An LV= travel insurance policy provides up to £10 million emergency medical cover outside the UK as well as things like:
- Lost costs if you need to cancel or cut a trip short due to illness
- Transport costs to get you home if you can't use your original scheduled transport arrangements due to illness
- The costs for someone to arrange for someone to travel to you if it's medically necessary
Do I need travel insurance for a UK trip/staycation?
You should consider cover buying travel insurance to cover the unexpected.
Travel insurance will cover you for:
- Cancellation if you or your travelling companion becomes ill or injured and can’t travel
- Transport costs to get you home or transferred by ambulance to a hospital near your home should you fall ill whilst away
- Baggage claims – if you selected this cover
Do you offer backpack travel insurance?
Although we don't have a specific backpacker policy, LV= travel insurance is suitable for a backpacking holiday.
If you're under 65, our single trip policy covers trips up to 366 days long. You can also add optional baggage, personal belongings and money cover to your policy too, in case your things get lost or stolen while you're away.
* If you're 65 or over, we can cover trips up to 90 days. If you decide to return home before your cover end date, the cover will end.
If your backpacking trip involves different trips to and from the UK, then our annual multi-trip policy could be more suitable as it can cover individual trips up to 90 days long so long as you select our Premier level of cover and you are under 80 years of age.
What if the FCDO advises against travel to my destination while I'm there?
If, after travelling to your destination, the FCDO advice is to leave the area you're staying in, then you're covered to cut your trip short.
If this situation arises, please contact our 24 hour assistance helpline on +44 1243 621 537 (01243 621 537 from the UK).
If the FCDO advice is simply against travelling to the destination you are already in, there is no cover to cut your trip short; however, you can call the 24 hour helpline if you need any help or advice.
Is emergency prescription medication covered under LV= travel insurance?
If you run out of prescription medication because you were unable to return home as planned we can cover the costs of additional medication.
If you've taken out optional baggage cover and you lose your medication, we'll cover the cost of replacing it.
Full details can be found on Your Document of Travel Insurance.
What happens if my baggage is delayed, lost or stolen?
If your baggage is delayed or lost in transit, you should tell the company that is transporting your baggage within 24 hours of discovery and ask them to complete a Property Irregularity Report or provide you with a baggage loss receipt.
If you have chosen to add our baggage cover to your policy and your baggage is delayed for more than 12 hours from when you arrive at your destination, your policy provides cover for the purchase of necessary items: up to £250 on our Essential policy and up to £500 on our Premier policy.
If you have cruise cover, the cover limits include the cost of couriering your baggage to your cruise vessel if it has already left the port.
If your baggage is stolen, you should report this to the local police within 24 hours of discovering the theft and obtain a written report. You can claim up to £2,000 on our Essential policy and up to £3,000 on our Premier policy for stolen or lost items. There is a single item limit and total valuables limit of £300 on Essential and £500 on Premier.
If your baggage is lost, you should report the loss to an appropriate person depending on where the loss occurs; for instance, if you lost a ring while in a restaurant, you'd report that to the manager of the restaurant, if you lost a ring while in your accommodation you'd report that to the manager or owner of the accommodation. You must obtain written evidence that you have reported the loss.
How do I make a claim with LV= travel insurance?
To make a claim on your LV= travel insurance, visit our travel claims hub or call us on 0330 678 6225
Lines open:
Mon-Fri 8am-6pm
Saturday 8am-4pm
Sunday and Bank Holidays Closed
Calls may be recorded. For Text Phone first dial 18001
If you need emergency assistance call our 24/7 helpline on 01243 621 537
From outside the UK: +44 1243 621 537
Depending on what section of your policy you're claiming under, you may need to give us certain types of information or evidence; for example, your original trip booking invoice and travel documents showing the dates and times of travel, evidence that losses or thefts have been reported, or evidence of ownership and value of goods .
Please see the relevant section of your policy for more information on what documents you may need.
Have another question?
Haven't found what you're looking for? No worries, you can read all our travel insurance FAQs in our FAQ hub.
Travel insurance to cover an existing medical condition
If we can't cover your medical condition, or the premium is higher than you expected, help is still available…
- Our policies provide up to £10m cover for emergency illness or injury when travelling outside of the UK
- Up to £250 for emergency dental treatment to relieve sudden pain.
- £25 for each 24-hour period and up to a maximum of £1,000 in total, if you’re in hospital as an in-patient due to an accident or illness that’s covered by your policy.
- Access to our Emergency Assistance helpline, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have worked with firms to create a Medical Cover Firm Directory. The directory lists all the firms that may be able to provide a policy to cover your medical conditions.
You can find this directory on the Money Helper website, or give them a call on 0800 138 7777. Open hours Mon - Fri 8am to 6pm.