It’s great that this man got home safely but this is a typical story regarding travel insurance, you can read the fine print until you are blue in the face and still find yourself abandoned by your insurer when you are in a crisis.

Do we know what the ‘technicality’ is?

Travel insurance is a rip off!!

Three months ago, my younger sister passed away suddenly in Indonesia. I’m an Irish citizen living in Australia and the Irish Government did absolutely nothing to help out. My partner and I had to fly to Indonesia and make all the repartriation arrangements and my family (my mother is a widow) harboured all of the expenses. My sister was 21, had been in Indonesia for a year working and had multi trip insurance. She was on holiday in Bali at the time but there was a tiny clause on the 45th page of her insurance policy (not mentioned in the policy summary) that said each trip taken must be under 45 days and must be in and out of Ireland. She was teaching English in a school and the school had said they were insured to national standards. Unfortunately this did not include repatriations and the school is now amending its policy and making teachers aware of the insurance they should have as a result. I would urge anyone travelling long term to really read the clauses and if unsure, to call their insurance company and ask for a package specific to their trip.