The recent disruptions in Turkey and floods in popular holiday destination Czech Republic have no doubt scarpered some holidaymakers’ travel plans, possibly leaving a few wondering just what their insurance will cover.

Holidaymakers are first and foremost advised to get in touch with their insurer to find out just what they are covered for as this will vary between policies and different insurers.

As the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has declared some parts of Turkey still safe to visit, if you wanted to cancel your holiday to Turkey, you are highly unlikely to be covered, according to Gocompare.com.

As a general rule, according to Confused.com, if the FCO has advised against all but essential travel to an area, the following advice should be taken:

• If you haven’t taken out travel insurance before the FCO advised against travel to that country then you’re too late to get cover. That’s why it’s important to get your travel insurance as soon as you book your holiday.

• If you booked the holiday and took out the travel insurance before the advice was issued then you should be entitled to claim the cost of your holiday back. This should come under the ‘cancellation cover’ of your policy so check that section to find out what you’re entitled to. The table of benefits in your policy will show the maximum amount that you can claim for and will generally cover you for:

o Travel and accommodation expenses – flights, hotels, car hire etc.

o Any excursions or tours you’ve already paid for

o Cost of visas

• If you decide to travel against the advice of the FCO then your travel insurance may fail to pay out if you have to make a claim as a direct result of the situation.

For example – if your baggage is lost or stolen you should still be covered, but if your flight back is delayed by a few days because of say in the case of Czech Republic – flooding, then you won’t be entitled to anything.

• If you’re already abroad when the situation changes then your policy should pay out for expenses incurred as a result of delays/cancelled flights – i.e. extra nights’ accommodation, alternative transport.

However, when travelling in Europe, you will initially be covered by European Commission regulations. For example, you are entitled to compensation of between €125 and €600 depending on the distance of the flight and the length of the delay. After this, your travel insurance policy kicks in.

People can visit http://ec.europa.eu/transport/passenger-rights/en/ to find out what they’re entitled to. There’s also a free app they can download which will let them check what their rights are while at the airport etc.

And don’t forget to…

• Make sure you check the amount of cancellation cover on your policy is adequate to cover the total cost of your holiday.

• Print out your policy documents and carry them in your hand luggage so you can easily check what you’re covered for

• Make yourself aware of your passenger rights so you’re fully prepared in the event of delays and know what you’re entitled to claim from airlines/airports etc.

• If in doubt just contact your provider who’ll be able to tell you exactly what you can claim for and how to go about it.