FAQs

Our Single Trip policies have no upper age limits, so we can provide cover for anyone 80+ subject to a medical screening and their destination of choice.

Yes, simply add our cruise extension on the options page of the quote process.

Yes, any pre-booked UK holidays of two nights/three days or more are covered.

To be covered for winter sports on your Multi Trip policy you must have purchased our specialist Winter Sports Multi Trip policy.

We would always advise that you purchase the specialist cover to ensure you and your equipment is covered whilst participating in your activities.

Yes, if a couples, family or independent traveller policy has been purchased then each adult (over 18) is insured to travel independently of the other.

Unfortunately, our normal family policies do not cover children to travel independently of you, unless they are either travelling directly to be with you or to return directly to their home after being with you.

On our Multi Trip policies we offer customers cover for unlimited trips in a 12-month period, as long as each trip does not exceed a certain number of days. For your reference, please check our terms and conditions page.

You can be covered for trips of up to 31 days in duration on our multi trip policies, we do not offer any more than 31 days.

Our Multi Trip policies provide cover for an unlimited number of trips during a 12-month period, so there is no need to inform us before each trip. Simply let us know if you need anything, and you can relax in the knowledge that all of your trips are covered.

Please do ensure that you are travelling within the geographical area of your policy, and you are not travelling against the advice of the FCDO.

To be covered for cruising on a Multi Trip policy you must have purchased our Cruise extension. This will extend your policy and provide cover for 31 days cruising during the 12-month life of your policy. For more information please visit our Cruise Extension Page.

Backpacker or Longstay insurance covers longer than average single trips from one to 18 months in duration, these trips will usually be continuous and involve visiting multiple countries.

Multi trip insurance (or annual multi trip insurance) is a 12-month policy which covers unlimited trips throughout the year of up to 31 days in duration each. Each individual trip must start and end in the UK. This insurance is not suitable for someone who intends to travel continuously for 12 months.

Our Multi Trip policies can provide cover for anyone aged 74 or under – subject to a medical screening and your destination of choice.

We cannot provide Annual Multi Trip policies any longer one month in advance, alternatively if it is just the one trip that you have lined up, you can purchase a single trip policy to cover your holiday.

Cover for working abroad, for example, bar and restaurant work, non-professional musicians/signers and fruit pickers (who do not use machinery) is included automatically.

However, we do not provide cover for manual work, which is defined as work that is physical, including construction, installation, assembly and building work. Including working with domestic or wild animals, humanitarian, carer, or work in any medical capacity.

This will depend on the type of policy you have, if you have a longstay and backpacker policy you are able to extend your policy up to 18 months in total.

For more information, please contact our Customer Service team, by clicking here.

It is only necessary to provide proof of intent to return home is certain circumstances, but having a return journey back to the UK that has been booked/paid for is usually adequate proof.

If you do not have a return journey booked yet, we will need one of the following:

o Confirmation of a college or university placement

o Contract of the employment commencement date

o Rental agreement

o Consultant appointments in the UK

o Copy of logbook confirming ownership of the vehicle, with proof of current tax.

o Court summons or appearances

o Mortgage agreement

o Current home or contents insurance (in your name).

o Future travel plans (flight bookings) leaving and returning to the UK.

Please note that this policy is not intended to offer cover if you are emigrating.

At Alpha we understand that backpacker and longstay travellers very rarely have their flight home booked at the start of their trip. However, our policies cannot cover emigration, and so in the event of a claim our team would need to see some type of written evidence that you intend to return to the UK.

The types of evidence our claims team will accept are listed in the above question.

Medicare is really important as it will provide you with free or discounted healthcare and medicines if you were faced with a medical emergency. To enrol in Medicare, you can download a form from the Australian Human Services website, or you can visit a Medicare office as soon as you arrive.

For more information please visit our Australia page.

We can cover those up to the age of 55 on our Backpacker and Longstay policies, depending on your age, destination of choice and the outcome of your medical declaration

Under our Winter Sports policies, we cover on and off piste Skiing and Snowboarding in resort as standard for no additional premium as part of the Winter Sports policy.

We define ‘in resort’ as an area which has prepared ski runs and groomed slopes and is serviced by lifts and tows which operate seasonally. If you are skiing or snowboarding outside of this defined area, you may need to purchase an additional activity extension pack.

Please see our winter activities list for more information, or contact us.

Yes, any mountain rescue costs which were deemed medically necessary would be covered by all of our policies under the Medical Emergency section of the wording.

Winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding and Ice Skating are included as standard. For a more detailed list please visit our Winter Sports activities list.

Yes of course!

If you are going through the quote process the journey will automatically prompt you to do this.

If you have already purchased, please contact our Customer Service team, who can help you further with this.

Please use the address of the lead person on the policy.

The policy premium is more expensive as you get older, because the chances of you making a claim is a higher risk.

If you purchase your travel insurance on our website you will automatically get a 15% discount applied to the quote.

Depending on what policy you purchase, kids can go free and families and couples also have a discounted quote.

When you apply for a quotation on our website, there is a section on the quote journey for you to entre in your discount code.

Once you have done this, the price will then be amended to reflect the discount.

If you are looking for a single trip, the age limits are as follows:

Up to 65 – 94 Days

66-79 up to 45 Days, 31 Days Worldwide

80+ 31 Days

If you are looking for an annual multi trip policy, the maximum trip duration for anyone up to the age of 79 is 31 days.

If you are getting a quote on our website, there will be a section of the quote process where you can enter the medical conditions for yourself and anyone named on the policy. If you would rather speak to someone, please contact our customer service by clicking here.

We ask that you declare anything you are taking medication for, seeing a GP/consultant for, or anything that come under our ‘Have you ever’ questions, such as Cancer, Heart conditions, Diabetes etc. For more information, please feel free to contact us.

Single trip policies are only to cover you for the one trip that you have planned, a multi trip policy, also known as an annual policy, is covering you for unlimited trips within a 12-month period.

They are basically the same cover, although there will be different levels of cover on both. They are designed for people who are travelling the world for longer than 3 months, and therefore cannot use a single or multi trip policy due to the trip duration restrictions.

We do not have a list of specific discount codes, however when you quote yourself on our website this automatically includes a 15% discount applied to your quote compared to calling in. We do provide a discount if it is someone’s birthday, or if you are renewing which will come to you via email as a previous customer. New customers should keep an eye on the website and our social channels for any discount codes throughout the year.

You can either log in to your Customer Area and proceed with payment that way or you can contact our customer service team and provide them with your quote number, they will ask you for your card details in order to make the payment for the policy. (Do not worry, we do not store any cards details on our system.

We do not accept PayPal, we accept Visa, Mastercard and AMEX

This will depend on the circumstances for your child to be travelling alone, please contact our customer service team and they will be able to provide you with further information relating to the this.

No, all of our policies have terms and conditions stating that the trip must start and end in the UK, meaning if you are out of the UK and want a policy, we will not be able to provide you with an insurance policy.

This means that we can give you as much information about the cover but we cannot tell you what the best policy is for you, this will need to be decided by yourself.

This can be completed online using this form or via the contact us page. The team will be happy to assist with the cancellation and process the relevant refund.

Yes, providing you are not looking to submit a claim and have not travelled on the policy. The amount we can refund may differ depending on your policy, so please check your policy wording for confirmation. You can do so by clicking here.

No. If you decide the policy is not fit for purpose after purchasing, you have 14 days in which to cancel and obtain a full refund.

If the dates of your policy have elapsed and you have not travelled, we may ask for confirmation that you did not travel as well as confirming no claims have been made before we look to issue a refund. For more information, please check your policy wordings.

If you decide the policy is not fit for purpose after purchasing, you have 14 days in which to cancel and obtain a full refund. After this time, the refund amount will change based on the amount of time left on the policy. For more information you can check your policy wordings or check our terms and conditions page by clicking here.

The choice is up to you. We can look to amend your policy which you can easily do online here or you can cancel the policy here and obtain a refund, relevant for the amount of time cover has been in place. Please be aware, if you do decide to amend your policy dates, you may incur an additional premium.

Please contact the customer service team via the contact us page. They will be happy to assist you.

The refund will go back on to the same card that the policy was originally purchased on. We will however require you to confirm the details as we do not retain this.

If you have travelled on the policy, have claimed or are looking to submit a claim. We will not look to issue a refund under these circumstances as the policy has effectively been used.

Yes, as long as the policy has not been travelled or claimed on, we do not need the reason for your choice to cancel. Please be aware, the refund terms will apply which you can find out more information about here. You can cancel your policy online using this form, to do so please click here.

Yes, as long as the policy has not been travelled or claimed on, we do not need the reason for your choice to cancel. Please be aware, the refund terms will apply which you can find out more information about here. You can cancel your policy online using this form, to do so please click here.

Yes, as long as the policy has not been travelled or claimed on, we do not need the reason for your choice to cancel. Please be aware, the refund terms will apply which you can find out more information about here. You can cancel your policy online using this form.

Yes, as long as the policy has not been travelled or claimed on, we do not need the reason for your choice to cancel. Please be aware, the refund terms will apply which you can find out more information about here. You can cancel your policy online using this form.

Yes, as long as the policy has not been travelled or claimed on, we do not need the reason for your choice to cancel. Please be aware, the refund terms will apply which you can find out more information about here. You can cancel your policy online using this form.

Yes, as long as the policy has not been travelled or claimed on, we do not need the reason for your choice to cancel. Please be aware, the refund terms will apply which you can find out more information about here. You can cancel your policy online using this form.

Yes, as long as the policy has not been travelled or claimed on. Please be aware, the refund terms will apply which you can find out more information about here. You can cancel your policy online using this form.

All claims are assessed based on the individual circumstances; however, we do not cover existing medical conditions of non-travelling family members.

Claims will be paid up to the sum insured listed for each insured person.

Please check our Claims Information page here for up to date information.

You can submit a claim while you are abroad however, we would suggest waiting until you return to the UK for ease.

If you do require assistance while abroad, please contact the emergency assistance team on 0333 005 1084.

Unfortunately, not, your baggage must travel with you.

It is totally up to you how much documentation you bring abroad with you – some people prefer to have a paper copy of everything, and other people are happy to access their documents via their smart phone.

We suggest that you should always take a copy of your Policy Schedule, as this is your confirmation of cover, and shows your policy number, the travellers who are covered under the policy, and the cover you have purchased (plus any additional cover options). If you have declared any medical conditions, you should also take a copy of your Medical Screening document, just in case you need to seek medical treatment.

Please note, in some countries such as Turkey, you will be asked to produce all of your travel insurance documentation (including your policy wording) before you can see a doctor.

This will be dependent on the policy you have chosen. Please check your policy wordings for what you are covered for.

Please check our Claims Information page here for up to date information

Please check our Claims Information page here for up to date information

Please check our Claims Information page here for up to date information.

Please check our Claims Information page here for up to date information

The allocated claim assessor. If they require further information, they will make direct contact with you.

Yes, up to 60 days, unless under exceptional circumstances.

You can contact our claims team here.

This will be dependent on the situation. If this is the case for you, we would suggest speaking with the claims team who will be able to advise you, contact them here.

It is worth noting that the claims customer service agents will not be able to advise if the claim will be paid or not, as this will only be confirmed once all information has been received and the assessor has assessed the claim.

Yes however, please be aware your policy may have exclusions in relation to this.

Please check your policy wording here or contact us.

If in doubt, please feel free to submit your claim and one of our claims team will advise as to whether the claim will be successful or not as part of the assessing process.

Yes, however, please be aware your policy may have exclusions in relation to this.

Please check your policy wording here or contact us.

If in doubt, please feel free to submit your claim and one of our claims team will advise as to whether the claim will be successful or not as part of the assessing process.

Yes however, please be aware your policy may have exclusions in relation to this.

Please check your policy wording here or contact us.

If in doubt, please feel free to submit your claim and one of our claims team will advise as to whether the claim will be successful or not as part of the assessing process.

Yes however, please be aware your policy may have exclusions in relation to this.

Please check your policy wording here or contact us.

If in doubt, please feel free to submit your claim and one of our claims team will advise as to whether the claim will be successful or not as part of the assessing process.

Yes, but they will be assessed as 2 separate claims and you will be given 2 reference numbers. For ease, we would suggest you keep them separate.

The claims team will be happy to assist you.

You can contact them here.

Yes. Please be aware, we will only pay for the costs of the insured person on the policy, regardless of who paid.

For example, you are travelling with 4 other people who are all covered with other insurers, but you paid for the holiday. We would only assess the claim for your portion of the costs.

Please check our Claims Information page here for information on what claims form you require. If you are still have trouble finding the correct claims form, please contact our claims department here.

No, this is not covered under the policy. Any expenses required for travel will not be covered. For further clarification, please check your policy wording.

This will be dependent on the policy you have purchased, so please check your policy wording. Please note – Any changes by the airline provider will be the responsibility of them.

During the claim process, you will be asked for your BACS details. Please ensure these are correct when providing them to us.

Cancellation is when you have been unable to go on your trip at all – you have not left home for your trip. Curtailment means ending your trip early – you were not due to come home for a few days but have been forced to return early.

The claims team will be able to provide clarification if you are unsure, get in contact here.

This can be found within your policy wordings document that was sent to you upon the purchase of your policy.

Please check our Claims Information page here for up to date information as this may differ dependent on the claim.

No, this is not covered under the policy. Any expenses required for travel will not be covered. Please check your policy wordings for what you are covered for.

This will be dependent on the policy you have chosen. Please check your policy wordings for what you are covered for.

If you do not have a date on which you are looking to return home, we will need you to provide ‘proof of intent to return home’

This can include;

o Confirmation of a college or university placemen

o Contract of the employment commencement date

o Rental agreement

o Consultant appointments in the UK

o Copy of logbook confirming ownership of the vehicle, with proof of current tax.

o Court summons or appearances or Mortgage agreement

o Current home or contents insurance (in your name).

o Future travel plans (flight bookings) leaving and returning to the UK.

Please note that this policy is not intended to offer cover if you are emigrating. If you are in any doubt, please contact our customer service team on our contact us page.

No, we will only pay for your portion of costs, they would need to claim through their own insurance provider.

Yes, we do. The amount covered will be dependent on the policy you have chosen.

Please check your policy wordings for what you are covered for.

This will be dependent on the policy you have chosen. Please check your policy wordings for what you are covered for.

No. Travel Insurance is designed to reimburse you for irrevocable costs and put you back in the same position as you were prior to travel.

Yes, providing you are able to give written confirmation to validate your circumstances.

We will pay for the reasonable additional costs that have been unforeseen. For further information, please check your policy wordings for what you are covered for under your specific policy.

You should speak to your travel provider first – as if they have cancelled, it is their responsibility to offer you reimbursement or alternative travel arrangements.

We would only consider a claim where you are unable to recover costs from elsewhere.

As you have been offered a monetary value/alternative travel arrangement, we will not consider your claim as travel insurance is for the occasions you are unable to recover your costs from elsewhere.

If, however, you do not want a voucher and this is all they are offering, please get this in writing and submit a claim which we can then assess for you.

This will depend upon the specific policy you have purchased.

Please check your policy wording for more information. The claims team will also be able to inform you whether your policy does or does not provide this cover.

Yes. As long as the trip is at least 3 days/2 nights, your claim would be considered.

This will be dependent on the policy you have chosen. Please check your policy wordings for what you are covered for.

No, but if you would prefer to speak to someone, get in contact here.

We will automatically deduct any excess from the settlement. Your claim may be above the limit of that section of the policy, therefore, we will not pay more than the policy limit.

You may also have claimed for expenses that are not covered under the policy. If you are unsure of your settlement, please contact the claims team here.

You can type your name in the box. If you prefer, you can print, sign and scan back.

The online forms should allow you to type in the box. If you are still having trouble, we can send you a form in a different format. Please contact us in order for us to assist you further.

This will be dependent on the policy you have chosen. Please check your policy wordings for what you are covered for.

As long as the claimant has given consent for this person to act on their behalf. Please contact us if you need any further assistance.

Yes, please use the information on the claims information page  and ensure to include your claim reference number.

This is a letter or statement from the airline with a reference number, it may include details of the damaged bag which has been reported by yourself, we require this so that we can get in contact with the airline regarding the claim for baggage.

Yes however, there will be specifications and exclusions of this which will be explained in your policy wording. The claims team will also be able to talk you through it if you would like. Please click here to find our contact us page.

Your policy covers you to come home early because you are ill, only if medical treatment is not available locally. If you are thinking of cutting short your trip because you are not well then you must contact our medical assistance service for advice first. If you need to come home for any other reason, such as the illness of a close relative in the UK then you should make your own arrangements, bearing in mind your duty to act at all times as if uninsured.

If you are not sure whether your particular circumstances are included in the cover then contact the claims team between Monday and Friday 9am – 5pm (Excluding Bank Holidays) If you have any further questions regarding our emergency assistance team please feel free to contact us.

Yes. The excess is deducted per person, per claim.

An excess is something in which you will need to pay in the event of a claim, different policies that we provide offer different excess levels, the excess only comes into play should you need to submit a claim.

There is no limit to the amount of times a person can submit a claim.

Where possible, a claim decision can be given immediately online or over the telephone when you first submit your claim. If additional supporting documentation is required before we can settle your claim, this will impact how long it takes for your claim to be resolved. Where the claim is not settled immediately, we will aim to respond to any correspondence relating to the claim within 10 working days.

Yes, a confirmation email will be sent.

Where possible, we will accept scanned copies or pictures of documents. Where we have asked for original versions of documents to be submitted, the return of these can be requested by email or telephone.

For up to date contact information, please check our Complaints page.

Your next formal steps following the complaint is to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service. We will provide details on how to escalate further if you do remain dissatisfied. within our final response and this can also be found in your policy wordings.

The formal written response to your complaint, outlining the investigation conducted by the team and their findings.

For information on the countries covered under our destination brackets, please visit this page

If you are not able to find our destination on our list, you can refine it by searching the specific country you are travelling to.

We do have almost all countries on our list, the only countries that are missing are ones that the FCDO do not allow people to travel to.

If you are having trouble selecting your destination, try refreshing the page.

If that still does not work, you can contact our customer service team and they will be able to assist you.

On our website, under ‘Help Centre’ there is a list of all of the countries that we cover, and what area they are covered in, you can also search specific destinations to make it easier for you. You can find the list here.

All countries that are outside of the UK and Europe are covered under Worldwide, you can search the country you are travelling to on our website located under ‘Help Centre’ to do so, please click here.

This will depend on how far you plan to travel, if all of your trips are within the EU (not including Spain or any Spanish islands) then you can select the ‘Europe excluding Spain’. If you also want to visit Spain as well, then you’ll need to select the ‘Europe including Spain’ option.

If you plan to go further afield, you will need to enter in your destination on our countries covered list, and it will tell you exactly what geographical area to select.

We are constantly changing and improving our products and our offerings to you as the customer. You can see which destination grouping the country you are travelling to comes under here.

These will be covered under the Europe excluding Spain destination grouping if travelling. In relation to purchasing a policy with us, yes, we class Channel Islands as the UK and so you can purchase a policy with us.

These will be covered under the Europe excluding Spain destination grouping if travelling. In relation to purchasing a policy with us, yes, we class Channel Islands as the UK and so you can purchase a policy with us.

We define a cruise as a pleasure voyage of more than 72 hours in duration, sailing on sea/s or oceans and including stops at various ports. River cruising does not fit this criterion and so a specialist Cruise extension would not be necessary.

Our Single Trip policies have no upper age limits, so we can cover anyone 80+ as long as they add our Cruise extension to their policy (cover depends on a medical screening and your destination of choice).

Cruise cover is providing you cover against things such as, missed port, cabin confinement, if you cannot go on your shore excursions and if your formal cruise attire is lost, stolen or damaged.

Also, most cruise providers will only let you on board with specialist cruise cover due to the amount it costs to get you off the ship in a medical emergency for example. For more information, please see our Cruise page.

Please make sure you are using the email address you used to register your account. If you continue to have problems, please contact us.

All policies and quotes will be shown in the Customer Area as long as the email address matches. If you cannot see anything, please contact us here.

You can amend almost any personal information on our customer area. If you are wanting to amend your email address or any medical information.

You will need to contact us to amend the email address you have used to register your account.

If you are having problems registering for an account, please contact us here and we can help you further.

There is no maximum character limit when creating your password, but we do have a minimum of 6 characters.

You will need to contact us to amend the email address you have used to register your account.

You can register very easily on our website by clicking here.

You will need to contact us to delete your account. You can contact us here.

Please check your junk and spam folders first as this is a common issue. You can also request a resend of the registration email here

A good way to make sure that it is the correct email address, is by checking your email and seeing if you have received any emails from us relating to your account on the customer area.

Simply log in here and you can then amend your details within your account. If you need to amend your email address or any medical information please contact us here.

Simply head to this page to get a new link.

If you are not able to log in, make sure your email is correct, if you still cannot log in, try and re-set your password. If all else fails, please contact us here.

Yes, simply log in to do this. If you have any problems, please contact a member of our customer service team.

Please ensure that the email addresses match. If they do, try and refresh the page as it may take a couple of minutes to show up. If after an hour you are still unable to see your new policy, please do contact us.

If you have already registered it won’t let you re-register so please select ‘Forgotten password’ If you still have problems please contact a member of our customer service team.

As we cannot see the error, please contact a member of our customer service team, we will be able to assist you with any requests that you have.

The products on this site have been designed primarily for the leisure traveller, but that doesn’t mean you cannot use them to travel for business.

To check our cover levels and ensure that you will have enough cover for your trip prior to purchasing, please click here.

The valuables and gadget cover available varies depending on the policy you have purchased.

Please note that if you have home contents insurance your valuables may be covered aboard under this policy. For more information please visit the compare cover table here, or the policy wordings of your desired policy.

Yes, all of our sums insured are per person and available for each insured person on the policy.

Our rates are calculated on your age at the date of purchase, and not the date of departure.

We take your Date of birth, rather than your age. Once you have entered your date of birth in the personal details section of the quote journey, it will automatically provide you with a price for quote, we require your date of birth to match your passports to avoid any confusion relating to data protection and claims.

Yes, one of our terms and conditions states that you have to be resident in the UK, have been living here for the past 6 months and be registered with a UK GP

Yes, a family policy can be purchased as long as your children are living with you or their other parent, the children must be dependent, under 18 and in full time education.

To be eligible for our insurance your main home must be in the UK or Channel Islands, and you must not have spent more than six months out of the country in the last twelve months. As long as you meet these requirements you will be able to purchase a policy from us. If you are a policy holder who is still away and would like to extend their cover, please contact our customer service team.

Pregnancy is not a medical condition, it is a natural and wonderful event, and therefore there is no need to inform us of your pregnancy.

If you do have any medical conditions as a result of the pregnancy, we may need you to declare these. If in doubt, please feel free to contact us.

If you will be no more than 28 weeks pregnant by the time your trip is due to start (or 24 weeks for multiple births) a medical practitioner or midwife will need to confirm that you are fit to travel. If you are confirmed not fit to travel, or if you will be more than 28 weeks pregnant at the start of your trip, (24 weeks for multiple births), you can make a claim under “Cancelling Your Trip” provided you purchased this policy/booked a trip before you were aware you would not be able to travel. From the start of week 29 of the pregnancy, there is no cover for any claims relating to pregnancy.

Please note we will not cover denial of boarding by your carrier so you should check that you will be able to travel with the carrier/airline in advance as regulations vary from one carrier/airline to another.

Family policies can be purchased by two adults and their dependent children, as long as the children are under 18, in full time education and living at home.

As long as you are not travelling outside your selected geographical area for more than 7 days in total, then you would not need to purchase additional geographical cover for a stopover.

For example, if you purchased cover for Australia but were stopping over in the USA for two days to get a connecting flight, you would only need cover for Australia.

We define a child as a dependent person who is under 18, living at home and in full time education.

We define a family as a policyholder and spouse or partner, who have been living together as a couple for at least six months, plus their dependent children who are living at home aged 0-17 years on the date of purchase.

Any dependent aged 18 or over will be considered an adult and will need an individual policy.

We define a single parent family as one adult and their dependent children, where the children are under 18, living at home and in full time education.

A couple is defined as two people in a romantic relationship, who have been living together at the same address as a couple for at least six months.

Yes of course you can – we do cover travellers in the British Forces if they have a BFPO address. A number of our policies also provide cover for cancellation if your leave is revoked due to HM Forces requirements.

Yes, you can purchase a policy via our customer service centre or online and receive immediate cover. You can receive a copy of your documents by email and then print them if you want.

If you have already purchased your policy and would like to change your details, please log into your Customer Area account here to make any changes.

Alternatively, you can contact us and one of our customer service advisors will be able to help you.

The details on your travel insurance policy should match the details on your travel documents (i.e. passport).

An excess is the amount you have to pay towards any claim under the policy. The excess will be applied per person, per incident, per section claimed under.

Each claim is settled on its individual merits according to the terms and conditions of the policy wording, so it is difficult to show some exact examples. However, when our appointed claims team receive a personal possession claim form, they first deduct any wear and tear costs from the amount to find the item’s current value. They then apply the excess, and then apply the section or single article limit – both shown in your policy wording.

The cancellation section of a travel insurance policy is there in case you cannot go on your trip due to an unexpected illness or event, to cover the prepaid costs of transport, accommodation and additional travel expenses that you cannot recover from any other source. Cancellation cover is included in most of our policies.

With any insurance policy, the policyholder should always act as though there is no insurance at all and take all measures to protect their property and themselves as if they were uninsured.

Personal Liability refers to any event which you are legally liable to pay that relates to an incident caused directly or indirectly by you, and that results in:

Injury, illness or disease of any person;

Loss of, or damage to, property that does not belong to you or any member of your family and is neither in your charge or control nor under the charge or control of any member of your family;

Loss of, or damage to, trip accommodation which does not belong to you or any member of your family.

Repatriation is the process of returning a person to their country of origin. Under travel insurance policies this will usually be because an injury or illness means that the person must go home earlier or later than their original holiday departure date. Any necessary repatriation costs are covered under the Medical Emergency Expenses section of our policies.

Personal accident is when you cause injury to yourself and no one else is injured.

Force Majeure is cancellation due to War, invasion, acts of foreign enemy, hostilities or warlike operation (whether war be declared or not), civil war, mutiny, military rising, insurrection, rebellion, revolution, military or usurped power, climatic conditions and acts of nature. This will match the amount they are covered for under general cancellation.

If you purchase a single trip policy (including Cruise, Backpacker and Longstay) your cancellation cover will start from the date you purchased your policy. However, if you have purchased a Multi Trip policy, your cover will start from the start date of your policy.

We define this in our wordings as: Your mother, father, sister, brother, spouse, civil partner, fiancé/e, your children (including adopted and fostered), grandparent, grandchild, parent-in-law, daughter-in-law; sister-in-law, son-in-law, brother-in-law, aunt, uncle, cousin, nephew, niece, step-parent, step-child, step-brother, step-sister or legal guardian.

Alpha travel insurance is available to residents of the United Kingdom and Channel Islands – this means that we can cover people who have had their main home in the United Kingdom or the Channel Islands and who have not spent more than six months abroad in the year before buying this policy.

Please visit our Insurers page for more information, by clicking here

You can change any information that you have submitted on our customer area, by simply logging in and amending any details that require to be amended. If you need to change any medical information, please call our customer service team who can help you get this changed.

You can do this by clicking here. Please be aware that if your duration is longer, this may incur an additional charge.

A Single Article Limit refers to the monetary cap which limits the amount you can claim for an individual item. E.g. you may have personal possessions cover of up to £1,500, with a single article limit of £250. This would mean that the most you could claim for a single possession would be up to £250, but, if you lost multiple items (capped in value at £250) the most you could claim is up to the value of £1,500.

If you change your mind about the cover that you have purchased, you have 14 days to contact us, this means that within the 14 day cooling off period you can get a full refund for the premium that you have paid for the insurance.

Unfortunately we do not offer motorcycle policies on Alpha.

We are always looking at our products and ensuring we are offering you the best cover we can. Although we no longer offer a specific UK policy, all of our policies offer cover for the UK as long as you are travelling for at least 2 nights. If you are wanting to cover your UK trip, Please select United Kingdom when choosing your destination. If you are getting an Annual Multi Trip policy, any destination group you choose will automatically cover UK trips.

We are constantly changing and improving our products and our offerings to you as the customer. We now offer cover for over 100’s of activities as standard on every policy! You can see what is covered here.

If you have already created an account on our Customer Area, you can log in and request the documents to be emailed to you. If you have not yet registered you can easily do so here.

Yes, you can add people to your policy. There may however be an additional premium to pay for the addition. To make this change, please log into your Customer Area or contact our Customer Service team.

If you have received your documents be sure to check your spam and junk folder as they can go into there sometimes, if they have not turned up, you can log into our customer area and get your documents resent.

We do not currently have a downloadable app. However, you can log onto our website where we have a very user friendly customer area where you can see a range of things from your previous policies to your quotes, amend any personal information.

We do apologies for any inconvenience that this may cause, please contact our Customer Service Team who can help your further.

You can find all of our Policy Wordings here.

Unfortunately, this is not something we currently offer. The premium would need to be paid in full when purchasing your policy to ensure you are covered.

Our call centres are based in Kings Hill, Kent as well as in Mumbai, India.

Please visit our Insurers page for more information.

You can retrieve your quote within our Customer Area, you will need to log in with your email address and password you provided when creating your account.

Unfortunately, this is not something we are able to do, we do ask that you call our customer service team back and we can pick up where we left off.

We do apologise for the length of hold time; we regularly experience high call volumes. If you are not able to get through, please go onto our ‘Contact Us‘ page where you can fill in a form for someone to contact you.

No, we do have a live chat option for you which you can find on our Contact Us page.

We are sorry to hear of your loss. If someone on the policy has passed away, you will need to contact a member of our customer service team can help you further.

An ‘Act of God’ is used to describe a natural disaster such as volcanic eruptions, please see our Large Scale Events Extension page for additional information regarding this.

We don’t have a freephone number, all numbers will be charged at your local rate and can be found here.

Unfortunately not, once you have purchased the policy will not be able to apply any discount codes, you can save the discount code for a future policy, or you can cancel your cover within the 14 day cooling off period and then re-quote yourself with the discount applied to the new quote.

IPT means Insurance Premium Tax

Premiums are calculated based on many factors including the age of the travellers named on the policy, the destination, type of insurance policy, the duration of the trip and any medical conditions or extensions on the policy.

An IPID is an “insurance product information document”. It is designed to clearly display in a standardised format the key features of your insurance product so that you can see what you are covered for, and what you are not covered for. Since the introduction of the EU’s Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) all Insurance providers have been legally required to provide IPID’s to customers prior to them making a purchase.

If you purchased a policy on our website and you are unsure if the payment has gone through, the website will tell you if it was successful or if it was declined, if payment was successful you will be emailed with your policy documentation.

Cookies are text files with small pieces of data, for example a username and password, they are used to identify your computer as you use a computer network. Specific cookies known as HTTP cookies are used to identify specific users and improve your web browsing experience.

ATOL protection is there to cover you if the travel company you have booked your trip with go bust or into financial failure. We’d always recommend booking through ATOL-protected travel agents and tour operators as it allows you an extra level of protection for your trip (although probably worth mentioning, it isn’t a substitute for a travel insurance policy).

We’re an insurance company, so we’re not ATOL-protected (we’re not eligible to hold an ATOL licence) but you are protected in the event that we go bust, through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

A connecting flight is the second flight of your journey taking you to your final destination. For example, long haul travel tends to have 2 flights, the first takes you half way and the second takes you the remainder of the way. Please check your policy wording for confirmation as to whether the policy you have selected covers you for this.

Unfortunately, we do not have the facilities to offer braille documents but we are able to offer larger text documents.

No. If a declared condition has been excluded from cover, this means the insurer will not provide cover for any claims relating directly or indirectly to that condition.

Yes, we can provide cover for psychological conditions such as stress, anxiety, depression and eating disorders, but only if these have been declared to us and we have accepted cover for these conditions in writing.

If you need to seek Outpatient medical treatment, bills less than £500 should be paid by you at the time and claimed on your return. It is very important to obtain an itemised receipt for any monies paid for medical treatment for your claim. If the costs are more than £500, or if you need to seek Inpatient treatment, please contact our emergency assistance company as soon as possible so they can liaise with the hospital directly.

Please pass all correspondence received to the claims team who will handle on your behalf. Please do not respond to the collecting agent, just forward on to us.

Yes, please send anything like this straight to us to review using the contact details on our claims information page.

Your medical excess will only apply to claims which are related to the existing medical conditions that you declared, and for which an additional excess has been applied. For example, if you had to cancel your trip due to your condition then your medical excess would apply, however if you needed to cancel due to a completely unrelated event, then the standard policy excess would apply.

Please contact our 24-hour emergency assistance team. You will need to have your policy details and policy number to hand to verify your cover. Their role is to guide and advise you, and to liaise with the treating doctors where appropriate. If you have to make any payments relating to sickness overseas please remember to hold onto all the receipts as you’ll need these when making a claim.

Your medical excess will only apply to claims which are related to the existing medical conditions that you declared, and for which an additional excess has been applied. For example, if you had to cancel your trip due to your condition then your medical excess would apply, however if you needed to cancel due to a completely unrelated event, then the standard policy excess would apply.

Please contact our 24-hour emergency assistance team. You will need to have your policy details and policy number to hand to verify your cover. Their role is to guide and advise you, and to liaise with the treating doctors where appropriate. If you have to make any payments relating to sickness overseas please remember to hold onto all the receipts as you’ll need these when making a claim.

If you have an existing emergency medical expenses claim with us, please forward the original invoice to us quoting your claim reference number and we will arrange payment of the invoice.

If you have not submitted a claim to us, please obtain an Emergency medical expenses claim form and return the completed form to us along with the outstanding invoice and other supporting documentation requested.

Don’t worry, provided you have contacted our medical assistance service your policy will be automatically extended to cover you until it is agreed that you are fit to travel home. Our medical assistance service will liaise with you and, where necessary, with your treating doctor to decide when you are fit to travel.

This policy covers you to come home early because you are ill or injured, only if medical treatment is not available locally. If you are thinking of cutting short your trip because you are not well then you must contact our 24-hour emergency assistance service for advice first.

If you need to come home for any other reason, such as the illness of a close relative in the UK then you should make your own arrangements, bearing in mind your duty to act at all times as if uninsured. If you are not sure whether your circumstances are included in the cover then please contact our claims team.

Any medical condition, serious or recurring, which has previously been diagnosed, investigated or treated in any way, at any time prior to travel, even if this condition is currently considered to be stable and under control by the use of drugs. To ensure you are fully covered, you should always declare all of your conditions to us when you purchase a policy, either via our online medical screening system or by contacting us. If there are any changes in your health or medication during the life of your policy, you will need to alert us to these changes.

The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) replaced the previous E111 certificate in January 2006. The card entitles the holder to receive medical treatment provided by the state hospitals within the country being visited in the EU. It provides you with same benefits as the local residents. In some countries (France for example) you may have to make a contribution towards the treatment you receive.

This has since been replaced by the GHIC card, although your EHIC will still work if it is in date.

You can obtain a GHIC card for free via the NHS website, other than your name and address they will require your National Insurance number.

If your EHIC/GHIC card is presented and accepted at a state hospital, your policy excess may be waived if a reduction in costs has been obtained.

EHIC/GHIC is not a substitute for travel insurance and will only cover you for medical treatment you may need whilst abroad. It will not get you home (repatriation). Travel insurance will provide repatriation cover as well as cover for cancellation, personal possessions, money, liability etc., which are not covered by EHIC/GHIC.

The EHIC/GHIC card allows you to have treatment in state run hospitals as well as GP treatment for countries in the EU, this can include treatment for pre-existing medical conditions as well as maternity care.

Please do double check on the government’s website as to where this will cover you.

If you need medical treatment in the EU, present your EHIC/GHIC at the earliest opportunity and the medical facility will then advise you of any charges left to pay if any.

The ‘tourist trap’ refers to certain privately owned medical clinics around the world who seek to ‘trap’ tourists by inflating medical bills in the hope of getting paid by the tourist or their travel insurance. These clinics usually pay taxi drivers, hotels and hostels to send any injured tourists to their clinics, they then charge extortionate rates without providing appropriate care for their patients. To protect yourself against falling into the trap, always make sure you visit a state facility, and under no circumstances should you ever give your credit card details or surrender your passport to anyone – please give our assistance team a call if you ever need any medical treatment and they can help you find the best facility for you.

Please visit our Insurers page for more information.

You do not need to declare learning disabilities as a medical condition, but you may need to declare any medical conditions that may come as a result of that. If you are in any doubt, please feel free to contact us.

No, deafness is not a medical condition and will not need to be mentioned.

If you have had cancer, and have had the all clear, even if over 5 years ago, this will still need to be declared on your travel insurance policy.

Yes, any heart condition that you have had, even if over 5 years ago, this will need to be mentioned, we require all information relating to heart conditions regardless of time.

If your health changes, you will need to contact our customer service team, they will be able to amend your policy to have the correct conditions.

No, unfortunately not. Our policies provide cover for emergency medical expenses during your trip, and as cosmetic surgery is seen as elective (instead of emergency) it is not covered under our policies.

Many medicines have at least 2 different names:

• The brand name – created by the pharmaceutical company that made the medicine
• The generic name – the name of the active ingredient in the medicine

Please try both and if you are still unable to find it, please do contact us, and we will help you further.

If you cannot find your medical condition on our list, try typing just the first few letters of the conditions, alternatively, you can contact our customer service team who can assist you.

If you need to see a doctor whilst on holiday, do not hesitate to do so, there may be a charge for this, however if you are in Europe and have an EHIC/GHIC card this means that you should not have to pay an additional cost.

You can contact our assistance team on 0333 005 1084, the team is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

You will need to declare the medical condition or reason for you being on clinical trial, our medical questionnaire will advise you if we are able to provide you cover.

Medical reports are only required if you are admitted to hospital for treatment and our emergency assistance team require medical reports from the hospital. We will always advise if we were to need one and the reasoning why.

At Alpha, we understand that everyone is different, and shouldn’t be labelled or pigeonholed just because they have a certain condition.

That is why we use the specialist Protectif Medical Risk Rating on our policies. Protectif has been created to capture more detail about a customer’s individual circumstances and condition, allowing it to more accurately assess the risks and offer a fairer price.

The system works by asking you to list your prescribed medication and then the conditions they are linked to, which ensures nothing is accidentally forgotten, and also helps treating doctors if you are taken ill or injured abroad.

You are not able to go back on the medical screening section; however, you are able to edit what you have answered if you do make any mistakes.

The best thing to do is carry on, save your quote and then contact us with your quote number and we can then amend your answer.

Travel Insurance is not Private medical insurance; we cover treatment which cannot wait until you return home from your trip, with the aim of ensuring you are well enough to return to the UK, which may include cutting your trip short, or to continue your trip as planned.

No. However, if you do find yourself in a situation abroad where you require medical assistance, please contact the Emergency Assistance Team as soon as you can and they will be able to advise you on the best place for treatment.

The Emergency Assistance Team can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 0333 005 1084

Often the best doctors, treatment and optimal care are found in the regulated state and public hospitals and medical facilities no matter where you are in the world.

They might not always look as nice as some private facilities, but we have seen numerous good clinical outcomes which don’t come with the risk of immoral and dangerous practices, extortion, over treatment, detainment and withdrawal of treatment which we have seen happen in some private facilities all over the world.

Post purchase is a change in health or medication to anyone insured on the policy, if someone is diagnosed with a new medical condition you will need to advise us of this and we can update your travel insurance policy.

It is important that you disclose all medication that you are prescribed as your travel insurance needs to match your medical history. This is to avoid any claims being denied relating to a medical emergency, or medication related.

We need this to calculate your BMI so that we can accurately screen your medical conditions and provide you the best possible medical cover.

Yes, our Medical Assistance team will work with the hospital/clinic and, where cover is agreed, issue any guarantee of payment necessary.

Following the renewal email received, you can either contact our friendly customer service team here or simply complete the renewal online via the retrieve a quote page – all you’ll need is the quote number and your email address

Yes, you can renew your policy up to 31 days in advance of the expiry date of your current policy.

Yes, any changes required for the policy can be made within Customer Area. This includes people named on the policy, contact details, destination, cover levels and any extensions you may want to add or remove. The only section of the policy you would need to call us about is your medical information, you can do this on 0333 005 1079.

If you cannot access your renewal quote, you can log into our Customer Area and retrieve your quote there, alternatively you can contact us and we will be happy to help.

If you are looking to proceed with your quote, there will be a ‘proceed with payment’ section in the Customer Area, if you cannot proceed with the payment on our website you can contact us and we will be happy to help.

Yes, your renewal quote lasts for 30 days. If you are outside of this, you will still be able to get a new policy, but please be aware the price may change and if you have completed a medical declaration you may have to repeat this.

Any changes to your quote can be made either via your Customer Area as part of the renewal process or by contacting us and we will be happy to help.

Please contact our customer service team on 0333 005 1079. They will talk you through the process and make any necessary amendments.

No, your renewal quote lasts for 30 days. If you are outside of this, you will still be able to get a new policy, but please be aware the price may change and if you have completed a medical declaration you may have to repeat this.

Yes, any changes required for the policy can be made within Customer Area. This includes people named on the policy, contact details, destination, cover levels and any extensions you may want to add or remove. The only section of the policy you would need to call us about is your medical information, you can do this on 0333 005 1079.

Yes. Please ensure to read through the quote first to ensure there are no changes required. If you are unsure you can contact us and we will be happy to help.

When increasing the premiums of our products, research is carried out to ensure that we are still competitive within the market of travel insurance, comparing the product with others on the market that have very similar/same level of cover. This is a companywide increase and all Alpha policies have been affected.

Also, please remember that we take into account varying risk factors to provide your price. This includes age, destination, duration, medical and any extensions on the policy. If you have any further queries about this, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yes, All you need is the quote number and your email address to access our customer area, you can then renew your policy online.

Yes however, we may exclude the investigations from cover. Once the results have been received, please get back in touch with the team to update the policy accordingly. Please be aware, this may result in a change of the policy terms – if this is the case, this will be explained to you.

No. No monies will ever be taken without your consent. We do not retain any payment details for our customers.

The policy does not automatically renew. If you receive the renewal email and decide you do not wish to proceed, you can simply disregard this email. Your policy will not automatically renewal and no monies will be taken without your consent.

A renewal reminder will be emailed to you 30 days before your policy is due to expire. If you do not receive one after this time, please contact us and we can look into this further for you.

Yes, please take a look at our Coronavirus page for more information as to what we cover as standard on our policies and what we cover under our additional COVID-19 extension.

This may be due to changes having been made to the policy. We offer a returning customer discount on our renewal policies too which may not appear on the website.

The customer service team will be happy to discuss this with you, they can be contacted here.

Your documents can be accessed via the customer area. You will need your policy number and email address that is linked with the policy.

The customer service team can also send your documents to you, they can be contacted here.

Our friendly customer service team will be happy to assist and answer your queries. They can be contacted here.

Yes, any changes required for the policy can be made within Customer Area. This includes people named on the policy, contact details, destination, cover levels and any extensions you may want to add or remove. The only section of the policy you would need to call us about is your medical information, you can do this on 0333 005 1079.

Yes, any changes required for the policy can be made within Customer Area. This includes people named on the policy, contact details, destination, cover levels and any extensions you may want to add or remove. The only section of the policy you would need to call us about is your medical information, you can do this on 0333 005 1079.

You can pay by credit or debit card, either online or via the customer service team.

Please be aware, the team cannot take payments if you request this via email.

We do not commonly call customers when their renewal is due, instead we send you an email with full information on how to proceed.

You can access this information via your Customer Area or you can certainly contact us and we will be happy to help.

Yes, your quote can also be accessed via the customer area here, but if you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

An automatic 15% returning customer discount is applied to renewal policies and the price quoted on your renewal has this discount applied.

Unfortunately, we cannot add more than one discount code.

Your quote can be amended online in your customer area or via the customer service team, Please have your policy/quote reference to hand.

This is an automated email. If you have already renewed, this can be disregarded. No monies will be taken.

Yes, once you have purchased the policy you have a 14-day cooling off period which allows you to get a full refund if you cancel within 14 days of purchase, if does not apply to quotes as no money has been taken at that point.

We cover 100’s of activities as standard on all of our policies.

Please check here for more information.

Please check your policy wordings for what you are covered for.

No, this is not something that we will provide cover for.

This will be dependent on the policy you have chosen. Please check your policy wordings for what you are covered for.

This is dependent on your policy. If you have a single trip, you are covered for travel between the dates specified. If you have an annual multi-trip policy, you are covered to travel up to 31 days per trip – there may be an extension where you can upgrade this to longer. Longstay/back packer policies allow you to travel for up to 18 months and work in the same way that the single trip policy does.

Something that is known to you prior to travel. You either were aware of the situation or it is advertised in the media, making you aware prior to travel.

If you have missed your flight, please follow the instructions on our claims page, once you are home, you can always contact our claims department for additional information.

Please check your policy wordings for what you are covered for.

Please take a look at our Coronavirus page for more information as to what we cover as standard on our policies and what we cover under our additional COVID-19 extension.