When holidays don’t quite go to plan, travel insurance can help recoup what’s been lost or damaged – whether that’s personal items or medical issues. Bupa Travel Insurance crunched the numbers to find the most frequently claimed items by Aussie travellers.
Unsurprisingly, lost or stolen luggage and personal items topped the list of most frequently claimed items, according to customers’ travel cover data from July 2022 to January 2023.
With more and more carriers adding live bag tracking features to their apps, passengers can now locate their luggage from gate to gate with ease along with using personal e-tags.
Lost or stolen items are followed by medical or hospital expenses (2) with emergency dental expenses (6) and medical expenses for sickness (7) also in the top eight most frequently claimed items on travel insurance.
With post-pandemic issues of travel cancellations and delays, due to staff shortages and capacity over this particular period as travel ramped back up, travellers also used travel insurance to claim cancellation fees and lost deposits (3), travel delays (4) and alternative transport expenses (5).
Rounding out the list are claims for theft of cash on persons while travelling.
Bupa General Insurance General Manager Shannon Orbons said the data showed Aussies are keener than ever to travel with most taking out travel insurance two weeks before flying or even the day before.
“Travel insurance can be just as important as your passport as it can cover you for those unexpected moments,” he said.
“While we often think ‘that won’t happen to me’, holidays don’t always go according to plan with cancelled or delayed flights, lost baggage or even a car or motorbike accident that may put you in an international hospital.”
Mr Orbons said medical cover was one of the main reasons people took out travel insurance as the Federal Government does not cover overseas medical bills.
“When you’re on holiday, you want peace of mind you’re covered when something goes wrong.”
