Policy explained

Will I be covered if I travel during a lockdown or against Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office (FCDO) advice?

No, you will not be covered if you travel during a lockdown. You also won’t be covered if you travel when the FCDO advise against ‘all’ or ‘all but essential’ travel.

Keep up to date with the latest FCDO travel advice when planning to travel.

For subscriptions and trips which started before 1 March 2023, the underwriter is Great Lakes Insurance SE:

Great Lakes Insurance SE is a German insurance company with its headquarters at Königinstrasse 107, 80802 Munich. UK Branch office: 10 Fenchurch Avenue, London, EC3M 5BN, company number SE000083. Great Lakes Insurance SE, UK Branch, is authorised and regulated by Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht. Deemed authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority register number 769884. Subject to regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and limited regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority. 

For subscriptions and trips which started from 1 March 2023, the underwriter is Great Lakes Insurance UK Limited:

Great Lakes Insurance UK Limited is a company incorporated in England and Wales with company number 13436330 and whose registered office address is 10 Fenchurch Avenue, London, United Kingdom, EC3M 5BN.Great Lakes Insurance UK Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Firm Reference Number 955859. You can check this on the Financial Services Register by visiting: register.fca.org.uk

Your policy document explains the ins and outs of what you’re covered for. It also explains important exclusions where you won’t be able to claim. We know it’s not at the top of your holiday reading list, but it’s important to read.

If we make any changes to the policy document, then we will tell you about the changes in a notification and confirm by email. The policy that will cover your trip will be the one that is active at the point that you began your trip.

Your policy wording can be found in the app under ‘Policy Documents’. If the policy wording is updated before you travel, we’ll send you an email to let you know of any important amends. You’ll be able to find your new policy wording in the same place.

If you’ve already begun your trip when we change a policy wording, then you’ll be covered by the previous version for any claims you need to make, for the remainder of the trip.

To be covered for cancellation claims, you’ll need to add our Optional Monthly Subscription to your policy. You’re then covered if you need to cancel your trip due to an unforeseen medical emergency or other event that’s covered by your policy.

Your Optional Monthly Subscription, unlike On-Trip Cover, is billed monthly.

Although you’ll be shown an On-Trip Cover price when you set up your subscription to Cancellation Cover, you can choose to use our Cancellation Cover on its own if you want.

If you do choose to use On-Trip Cover, your Cancellation Cover will end when you start your trip, and your cover for cutting your trip short will take over until you’re back in the UK.

If you cancel your Optional Monthly Subscription to Cancellation Cover after your trip, then your cover will last until the end of the calendar month. You can restart at any time or continue your cover if you already have another holiday booked.

Terms, conditions and exclusions may apply.

An excess, or “deductible”, as it is sometimes known, is the first part of any claim that you have to pay for yourself. You can reduce this amount on a sliding scale from £250 down to £0, which would mean you wouldn’t pay anything towards your claim.

Alternatively, you can set an excess amount of your choice. For instance, if you set your excess to £100, you’d pay the first £100 of a claim, under each section of the policy that you are claiming, and we’d pay the rest – assuming your claim is successful.

If we’re paying you for loss or damages for example, we’ll just deduct the excess amount from your claim per person.

Great Lakes Insurance UK Limited is a company incorporated in England and Wales with company number 13436330 and whose registered office address is 10 Fenchurch Avenue, London, United Kingdom, EC3M 5BN.Great Lakes Insurance UK Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Firm Reference Number 955859. You can check this on the Financial Services Register by visiting: register.fca.org.uk

If you have a medical emergency that is covered by your Wapp policy and you need to stay in the country for longer than your cover limits, then don’t worry – we will automatically extend your cover. As soon as you could, you’d need to call our 24-hour emergency medical team to make sure you’d be covered until we can get you back to the UK.

If medical practitioners and our team think you’re medically fit enough to come home and you decline, then your cover will end.

If you’ve not taken reasonable care to avoid a claim, then you could risk us not being able to fully cover the incident. We’re here to cover unexpected events… but drunken accidents can often be avoided.

You can still have a drink, but we won’t cover any claims if there are reports that your judgement was significantly affected due to alcohol or substance misuse.

If you need emergency medical treatment while abroad, then please contact our 24-hour medical emergency team as soon as it is possible. They will be on hand to help.

+44 (0) 1403 286 533 (from anywhere except the USA, Canada or Mexico)
+1 877 866 6864 (from the USA or Canada)
+1 819 569 7887 (from Mexico)

Please remember that this is travel insurance and not private medical insurance. In some cases, you will be entitled to treatment under the public healthcare system in the country in which you are travelling. Our policies will not cover the cost of treatment if it could have been paid for by a reciprocal health agreement with the UK. Please see the FAQ on reciprocal health agreements.

If you’re pregnant, you don’t need to declare this in your health check. But if you have any pregnancy related conditions, you will need to declare those when you set up or update your cover.

If you give birth abroad or have pregnancy related problems where the expected date of delivery is within 12 weeks (or 16 for multiple births) or less at the scheduled end of the trip, then you wouldn’t be covered to claim for the costs.

If you choose not to receive recommended vaccinations, inoculations or take preventative medication and need to make a related claim, then you will not be covered, as you could have taken preventative measures.

If you have an Optional Monthly Subscription, the Cancellation Cover it includes can protect you from cancellation claims as a result the following:

• Your death, bodily injury or illness or that of a relative, colleague or travelling companion or friend with whom you had arranged to stay.
• You have to attend court for Jury Service or as a witness.
• You or a travelling companion is a member of the Armed forces, Police, Ambulance, Fire or Nursing Service and all authorised leave is cancelled due to an unexpected emergency or posting overseas at the time of your trip.
• If you’re told to stay at home by a relevant authority due to severe damage to your home or business in the UK caused by serious fire, explosion, storm, flood, subsidence or burglary.
• You, a relative or travelling companion being notified of compulsory redundancy after activating your cancellation cover, or booking your trip – whichever is later.

If you have a valid cancellation or loss of holiday claim, you can claim for the following unused non-refundable/non-transferrable expenses that you’ve paid:

• Pre-booked travel and accommodation
• Pre-booked airport parking, car hire, airport lounge pass and excursions
• Visas, ESTA or other travel permissions

As cover is per-person, you’ll only be able to claim for your own costs and not those of any not covered by this policy.

Cancellation Cover has a £0 excess, so if you have a valid claim, you’ll be able to claim the monies you can’t get back up to your cover limit.

If you don’t have Cancellation Cover through the Optional Monthly Subscription and you have a medical emergency abroad, we won’t be able to help you recover any unused holiday costs from cutting your trip short, but we can still pay for your eligible medical claims and help to get you home safely following your medical emergency.

The best way of being covered for any unused holiday costs from cutting your trip short is by keeping your Cancellation Cover active for the duration of your trip.

Sorry, it isn’t possible to claim for cancelling your holiday or coming home early if your pet is ill or dies.

If you knew you were already on a waiting list for an appointment before your trip starts, then you aren’t able to claim for the cancellation of your trip because this isn’t an unforeseen event.

If you are waiting for a test result or diagnosis when you set up your Wapp account, then you won’t be able to get cover in the first place. Please come back to us when you’ve got your diagnosis — we might be able to cover you when we know what your medical condition is.

A personal possession is seen as: baggage, clothing, sports equipment and personal item taken on or bought on your trip, including valuables and gifts bought. Personal Possession Cover doesn’t include personal money and gadgets — these are covered separately.

You’re covered up to your policy limit for the cost of replacement, reinstatement or repair of your possession while you’re on holiday. We may take off an amount for wear and tear and loss of value. We may also apply a limit for any one single item. This may be referred to as a “single item limit”.

To claim, you’ll need to provide proof of ownership and report the loss to the authorities, e.g. a police report within 24 hours.

The following are some of items aren’t covered by your Personal Possessions Cover:

• Sunglasses
• Spectacles
• Contact lenses
• Hearing aids or prosthetic limbs
• Valuables worn while swimming, other than wedding rings
• Bicycles
• Fragile items
• Business goods/samples

If you lose your passport, driving licence or travel documents during a trip, then you can be covered for the cost of temporary replacement documents abroad.

To be able to claim, you’ll need to report the loss to the police within 24 hours of discovery. You’ll need to send us a copy of the police report as part of your claim.

Our Gadget Cover can cover each person named on your Wapp policy for up to 4 of these items in total:

• Mobile/smart phones
• Satellite navigation systems (GPS)
• Personal digital assistants (PDAs)
• Computers
• Laptops
• Tablet computers
• Games consoles (including handheld consoles) and all accessories for these items

We’ll pay up to the cover limit for the value of, or repair of, your gadgets that you own based on the current value of a replacement device of a similar age and condition, or the price you paid less an amount for wear and tear and loss of value.

You’ll need to get a police report within 48 hours if lost or stolen, and you’ll need to send this to us as evidence as part of your claim.

You aren’t covered if your gadget is damaged due to wear and tear, or due to damage caused by fluid carried within your baggage.

You aren’t covered for an electrical or mechanical breakdown, or manufacturing fault, of your device.

Baggage delay covers the cost of buying essential clothing, toiletries and similar items if your baggage is delayed by at least 12 hours on your outward journey. You’ll be covered up to £100 per person for this.

That way you can carry on and enjoy your trip, knowing we’ll help you with those costs. Just keep your receipts and any written confirmation of baggage delay, as you’ll need to send them to us as part of your claim once you’re back home.

Missed Departure Cover can help you recover costs to help you reach your destination or catch up with your next departure point. We can cover missed departures caused by the following:

• Scheduled public transport failing due to:
  • an unknown strike or industrial action, or
  • adverse weather conditions (not including catastrophes), or
  • mechanical failure, or
  • being directly involved in an accident
• The vehicle you are travelling in:
  • breaking down, or
  • being directly involved in an accident
• Unexpected and unforeseen heavy traffic or road closures that were sufficiently severe enough to warrant reporting on a recognised website or news source

Travel delay covers you if you’re unavoidably delayed in departure for 6 hours or more.

For direct trips, where you’re travelling to and from your destination with no connecting flights, you’ll be covered for both your outward and inward journeys.

If you’re taking a connecting flight, then you’ll be covered for travel delay for your original scheduled departure time from your first departure point on your outward journey. You’ll also be covered for your last departure point on your return journey.

When we say unavoidable delay, we mean that your delay could have been caused by one of the following:

• Adverse weather (but not a catastrophe)
• Strike or industrial action
• Mechanical breakdown of the transport you were booked to travel on
• Cancellation by the transport provider

If you have Cancellation Cover through an Optional Monthly Subscription, you’ll also be able to claim the cancellation cost of you trip if you abandon it after being delayed by more than 12 hours, up to your cover limits.

New epidemics and pandemics are not covered. Some cover is provided in respect of COVID-19. Please see the policy wording for full details.

You may be covered for emergency medical expenses abroad for Covid-19, but you will not be covered if you travel against the advice of the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office), or if your vaccinations are not up to date, or for any other claim resulting from Covid-19.

Some countries have a reciprocal healthcare agreement with the UK, which means that you might be entitled to free or subsidised medical care when you’re away.

Where you can, it’s important that you use any available reciprocal health agreement. Where you’ve used a reciprocal healthcare agreement facility, we’ll remove the excess from your payment, which means that we’ll pay the full agreed claim.

You will not be covered if you travel during a regional or national lockdown.

Business trips are not covered by a Wapp policy.