TRAVEL DISRUPTION AND INSURANCE

If your independently booked accommodation becomes uninhabitable due to fire, flood, earthquake or other insured event, Saga will pay up to £5,000 for reasonable substitute accommodation and transport costs. This cover is available whether you need to change accommodation on arrival, or at any other time during your trip.

Saga also covers unused travel and accommodation costs up to £20,000, if you have to cancel or abandon your trip as a result of your accommodation becoming uninhabitable.

If you’ve booked your holiday as a package, using a bonded tour operator, you would need to contact them to make alternative arrangements.

Substitute accommodation cover is not available with Saga Essential.

If you have Saga Travel Insurance and get stuck in a foreign country because the port, airport or Channel Tunnel you were due to travel from or through is closed for more than 24 hours after your scheduled time of departure, we will cover you for cancellation. We will automatically extend your cover by up to 14 days. In these circumstances your personal possessions are still protected and you’re covered for both ongoing medication and emergency medical treatment. Enforced stay cover is not available on Saga Essential.

If your flight’s been cancelled and you have booked through a tour operator or EU airline, you should contact them to make alternative arrangements. Under EU legislation, passengers are entitled to assistance including reasonable meals and overnight accommodation. It’s a good idea to keep receipts for any additional expenses. For further information, please visit the EU website which details air passenger rights.

If you're booked on a non-EU airline, the same regulations apply from EU airports. But if the airport is outside the EU, flights aren’t covered and passenger rights vary from airline to airline.

If you've booked a non-package holiday independently, and are unable to recover costs when stranded, with Saga Travel Insurance will cover you for Enforced Stay up to the following amounts:

• Saga Plus – Up to £100 for each 24-hour period (£2,000 maximum)
• Saga Standard – Up to £100 for each 24-hour period (£1,500 maximum)
• Saga Essential – No cover

Alternatively, we will pay up to £1,000 if, after a period of 24 hours or more, you have to make alternative arrangements to get home.

If your flight is cancelled, your airline should either issue a refund or rearrange your flight. If your holiday is a package booked through a bonded tour operator, make alternative arrangements with them. If your flight is delayed for more than 24 hours at its international departure point, you can cancel your holiday provided that you’ve checked in for the flight.

If the port, airport or Channel Tunnel that you were due to travel from or through is closed for more than 24 hours after your scheduled time of departure, Saga Travel Insurance will cover you for cancellation.

If you've tried to get to your departure airport by scheduled public transport, but that is not working due to severe weather, Saga will cover you for Missed Departure. This means you can claim for any additional accommodation or travel costs you have to pay to reach your destination up to the following amounts:

• Saga Plus – Up to £1,500 Annual cover, up to £1,000 single trip cover
• Saga Standard – Up to £750 Annual cover, up to £500 single trip cover
• Saga Essential – No cover

If you're delayed at the point of international departure and have checked-in, Saga will cover you for Delayed Departure up to the following amounts:

• Saga Plus – Up to £50 for each 12-hour period (£300 max)
• Saga Standard – Up to £35 for each 12-hour period (£215 max)
• Saga Essential – Up to £35 for the first 12-hour period, £15 for each 12-hour period after that (up to £215 max)

You can claim a refund for any unused travel and accommodation costs if you choose to abandon your trip, after waiting more than 24 hours on an outward journey.

If your airline or tour operator changes your travel dates and you are covered by a Saga single trip policy, as long as you don’t claim on your policy we will change it to cover the new trip, if:

• The previous travel dates haven’t passed
• The new return date isn’t more than 12 months from the policy’s start date
• The destination remains the same
• If you fall outside these guidelines, your policy can be amended and the resulting difference in premium paid

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) constantly updates their travel advice on countries affected by terrorist activity. In some cases, this may not result in advice not to travel – and in other cases it may recommend travel there only if it’s essential (holidays are not considered essential under Saga Travel Insurance) or it might urge no travel at all.

In the event that you are injured overseas by an act of terrorism, Saga Travel Insurance provides cover for your medical treatment and repatriation expenses.

If you’ve booked your holiday independently, i.e. not through a bonded tour operator, and you are abroad when the FCDO, World Health Organisation (WHO) or a similar body officially recommends leaving that country immediately for a reason other than coronavirus, Saga provides cover under the Abandonment section of your policy*.

If you’re due to visit a country where the FCDO advises against all but essential travel for a reason unrelated to coronavirus, Saga will provide cover under your policy’s Cancellation section*. This cover is only provided if the FCDO advice is issued after you took out a policy or booked the trip, whichever is later.

This means up to £20,000 cover for any irrecoverable, unused pre-paid accommodation, car hire, excursions, parking or other pre-paid costs as well as any additional travel or accommodation expenses you incur after abandonment. To make a claim you need proof of pre-paid costs when you can’t obtain a refund, as well as receipts for additional accommodation and travel costs.

If you’ve booked a holiday through a bonded tour operator and are due to travel to, or are already in, a country to which the FCDO now advises against travel, contact your tour operator directly to make alternative arrangements. As this cost is recoverable you will need to approach your tour operator for refunds rather than claim from your travel insurance.

For claims relating to coronavirus, Saga Travel Insurance policies only include cover for cancellation or abandonment if you, a close relative or anyone you are planning to travel with or stay with receives in writing a positive test result for COVID-19 within 14 days of your trip commencing. We also offer emergency medical and repatriation cover if you contract COVID-19 while on your trip. Any other claims relating to coronavirus (COVID-19) are not covered. Find out more about the cover we're offering.

If you're an existing customer, you can find out more about what we cover in your Policy Book.

If the relevant airspace was open when you booked a holiday and took out travel insurance, your cover is valid if that airspace is then closed for 24 hours or more.

But if you’re going somewhere that was impacted by an event, such as an ash cloud, at the time of booking – you aren’t covered if the airspace is still closed at the time of travelling as this is classed as a ‘known event’. If it’s closed at the time of booking and opened again before you travel, cover is valid if it’s then closed again, as this kind of closure is considered a ‘separate event’.

If you have travel Insurance with Saga and get stuck in a foreign country, unable to return home straight away, we will automatically extend your cover by up to 14 days. In these circumstances your personal possessions are still protected and you’re covered for both ongoing medication and emergency medical treatment.

If your flight’s been cancelled and you have booked through a tour operator or EU airline, you should contact them to make alternative arrangements. Under EU legislation, passengers are entitled to assistance including reasonable meals and overnight accommodation. It’s a good idea to keep receipts for any additional expenses. If you are booked on a non-EU airline, the same regulations apply from EU airports. But if the airport is outside the EU, flights aren’t covered and passenger rights vary from airline to airline. We recommend you contact your airline for accurate information.

If you have booked a non-package holiday independently, and are unable to recover costs when stranded, with Saga Travel Insurance you can receive £100 for each 24 hours that you’re unable to return home up to a maximum of £2,000 (£1,500 with Saga Standard). Alternatively, we will pay up to £1,000 if, after a period of 24 hours or more, you have to make alternative arrangements to get home.

This cover is not available with Saga Essential.

If your flight is affected by an event that means airspace is closed for 24 hours or more, we recommend you contact your airline to confirm your original flight time. If the flight’s been cancelled, the airline will either issue a refund or arrange another.

For those making their own travel arrangements, Saga Travel Insurance will provide up to £20,000 cover for any unused, pre-paid accommodation, car hire or travel arrangements, if you can’t get a refund. To make a claim you’ll need proof of pre-paid costs, along with correspondence from the airline confirming the cancellation of the flight. Flights aren’t considered ‘irrecoverable costs’ because the airline has ultimate responsibility, so you will need to claim from your airline if it has been cancelled.

If your airline or tour operator changes your travel dates and you are covered by a Saga single trip policy, as long as you don’t claim on your policy we will change it to cover the new trip, if:

• The previous travel dates haven’t passed
• The new return date isn’t more than 12 months from the policy’s start date
• The destination and trip duration are the same.

If you fall outside these guidelines, your policy can be amended and the resulting difference in premium paid.

If you’re delayed after checking in, Saga Travel Insurance will compensate you depending on your delay and level of cover up to the following amounts:

• Saga Plus – £50 for each 12-hour period, up to a maximum of £300
• Saga Standard – £35 for each 12-hour period, up to a maximum of £215
• Saga Essential – £35 for the first 12-hour period, £15 for each 12-hour period after that up to a maximum of £215

If you wish to make a claim for delayed departure you must submit proof of check in.

Saga Plus and Saga Standard policies also include Delayed Flight Assistance. Relax in one of more then 950 airport lounges if your flight is delayed by over one or two hours.

If the ship, aircraft or train on which you are booked to travel from the UK is cancelled due to strike or industrial action, and you are not offered reasonable alternative transport, you have a right to a full refund from the carrier. If you booked a non-package holiday independently, your Saga Travel Insurance policy covers additional unused accommodation and other pre-paid costs that you can’t claim back, should you cancel your trip.

If you book again with another airline, any additional costs will not be covered by your travel insurance policy.

If the ship, aircraft or train on which you’re booked is delayed leaving the UK after you have checked in, you’ll be entitled to compensation after your first 12 hours of forced waiting for each insured person under your policy’s Delayed Departure section. The amount you can claim depends on your level of cover as follows:

• Saga Plus – £50 for each 12-hour period, up to a maximum of £300
• Saga Standard – £35 for each 12-hour period, up to a maximum of £215
• Saga Essential – £35 for the first 12-hour period, £15 for each 12-hour period after that up to a maximum of £215

Similarly, if you are delayed on the final part of your return journey to the UK the same benefit applies.

If you want to make a claim for delayed departure you need to submit proof that you’ve travelled to the airport/port/station and checked in, and must supply correspondence from the carrier confirming the reason for delay along with the original, and eventual, time of departure.

If you’re delayed for more than 24 hours on your outward journey from the UK and you decide to cancel the trip, Saga will reimburse your unused travel and accommodation costs, that you’ve paid or have to pay, but can’t get refunded. You can submit a claim for cancellation costs but you will need to obtain a letter from the carrier to confirm why the transport was cancelled.

Please note you can’t submit a claim for both travel delay and cancellation

If you booked your trip and purchased Saga Travel Insurance before the strike or industrial action on scheduled public transport was planned, cover is available under the Missed Departure section of the policy.

If you arrive at the final point of international departure too late to board the ship, aircraft or train, as a result of strike or industrial action, we will pay for any extra accommodation and travel costs you may incur up to the following amounts:

• Saga Plus – Up to £1,500 Annual cover, up to £1,000 single trip cover
• Saga Standard – Up to £750 Annual cover, up to £500 single trip cover
• Saga Essential – No cover

This is provided that you’ve made every effort to get to the international departure point on time.

Cover will only be provided if the dates of the strike or industrial action have not yet been announced. If the dates are announced cover will not be provided.