Now that the world is opening back up for travel, Brits are once again booking their beloved holidays abroad.
With many popular holiday destinations including Greece, Portugal, and even Australia relaxing their entry requirements, holiday firms have noticed a boom in bookings. So much so, that some companies are working overtime due to experiencing pre-pandemic levels of sales.
While this is fantastic news for the travel industry, Brits hoping to get away this year are urged to take extra precautions and leave ample time when travelling to the airport or their holiday destination via other methods of transport.
The combination of life returning to normal and holiday bookings surging means one thing. Traffic. It comes as no surprise that busier roads can often increase the chances of getting stuck in bad traffic. Vehicle breakdowns, collisions, adverse weather, roadworks, are just a few examples of the reasons that can turn a five-minute journey into a five-hour one.
Getting caught in traffic can be quite a stressful experience. Especially if you’ve got a car full of luggage and others depending on you to make the flight in time. For this reason, it is worth being aware that most travel insurance providers will not cover a missed departure (or flight) as a result of traffic delays, strikes, or industrial action.
Having said that, there is limited cover available in the market for travel costs if plans are disrupted due to heavy and unforeseen traffic – provided that travellers left enough time to reach the airport or intended destination and could not have expected to experience the delays before they set off on their journey.
While this type of cover isn’t standard in the industry, providers that do offer it would require substantial evidence to prove that travellers had planned appropriately and couldn’t have avoided being caught in this situation. For example, this could be evidence of a police report to prove that a crash on the M25 had caused a 2-hour long traffic jam. Of course, travellers must also have the relevant cover in their policy to claim for unforeseen events or reasons beyond their control, such as traffic delays.
Now, sometimes things happen no matter how much you prepare. For this reason, we urge anyone who would like this extra level of protection to check the policy wordings of their chosen policy to see if this is included. If not, we’d recommend shopping around and getting in touch with several insurers to find the most suitable cover.
As always, we’re here to help with all things travel-insurance-related. So, if there’s anything we can help you with, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at hello@travelinsuranceexplained.co.uk, and our team will do their very best to assist!
