Trip cancellation insurance
Refunds money you cannot get back — and pays nothing towards a hospital bill.
What it is
Cancellation cover protects the prepaid, non-refundable cost of a trip if you cannot go. It is sold on its own, and it is the one type in this catalogue that provides no emergency medical cover at all — which makes it the type most often bought by mistake.
It pays out when a listed reason stops you travelling, or cuts a trip short.
The policy names the circumstances it will pay for: illness or injury to you or a close relative, jury service, redundancy, serious damage to your home, and so on. If your reason is on the list and you can document it, you are reimbursed for the deposits, flights and bookings you cannot recover. If it is not on the list, you are not — and "I no longer want to go" is never on the list unless you have bought a cancel-for-any-reason add-on.
What it covers
- Non-refundable deposits, flights and accommodation already paid for
- Curtailment — the unused portion of a trip you have to abandon
- Listed reasons only, documented to the insurer's satisfaction
- Sometimes, at extra cost, cancel-for-any-reason at a partial payout
- An expensive, heavily prepaid trip where medical cover is already in place
- Bookings made far ahead, where more can change before departure
- Travellers whose medical cover comes from somewhere else entirely
- It is not travel medical insurance and cannot be used to satisfy an entry rule. A consulate asking for insurance is asking about emergency medical cover and repatriation, neither of which this provides.
- It has to be bought at or near booking. Buy it a month later and the month you were exposed is simply uninsured.
- Anything you knew about when you bought is excluded. A relative already seriously ill, or a strike already announced, will not be covered.
Priced almost entirely off the total trip cost you are insuring, typically as a percentage of it. Cancel-for-any-reason, where offered, adds substantially and still refunds only part of what you lose.
See what drives the priceCommon questions
No. Entry rules ask for emergency medical cover and repatriation, and a cancellation-only policy provides neither. This is one of the more common and more expensive mix-ups: the applicant holds a genuine insurance certificate, the consulate reads it, and it covers the wrong thing entirely. If you need cover for a visa, you need a medical policy.
Whatever the policy lists, and nothing else. Typically: your illness or injury, or that of a close relative; bereavement; being called for jury service or as a witness; redundancy; serious damage to your home; and sometimes being denied leave from the armed forces. Read the list before you buy — it is short, specific, and the whole basis of the product.
It depends how much uncertainty you are carrying. It costs meaningfully more, usually requires you to buy soon after booking, and typically refunds only 50–75% of what you lose rather than all of it. For a flexible, refundable trip it is money wasted; for a large non-refundable booking a long way out, it can be the only thing that covers a change of mind.
packset.travel is an independent trip-planning tool, not an insurer or broker. This is general information, not insurance advice — always confirm cover levels and entry requirements with the insurer and the relevant consulate before you travel.
Whether insurance is legally required depends on your passport and your destination, not on which policy you buy. Check the corridor first — it decides whether you need a certificate or just sensible cover.