World Nomads Travel Insurance Reviews
Image of World Nomads website
World Nomads is a reliable travel insurance provider that offers protection and peace of mind for international travelers. Their policies provide coverage for medical emergencies, trip cancellations or interruptions, and personal belongings. World Nomads also offers 24/7 customer service and assistance while on the road.
Benefits of World Nomads travel insurance include:
- Coverage for emergency medical expenses including hospitalization, doctor visits, and emergency transportation
- Trip cancellation and interruption coverage for unforeseen events such as illness, natural disasters, or civil unrest
- Coverage for lost, stolen, or damaged baggage and personal belongings
- 24/7 emergency assistance from trained professionals
- Coverage for a range of adventure sports and activities such as skiing, bungee jumping, and scuba diving
- Coverage for travel delays and missed connections
- No hidden fees
- Ability to extend coverage while traveling.
Website: http://www.worldnomads.com
Phone Number: +61 2 8263 0400 (World Nomads head office, Australia)
Claims: 1300 625 229 while in Australia or +61 2 8263 0487 while overseas (Australian customers only)
Underwriter: Certain Underwriters at Lloyds (in Australia). Various in other countries and maybe include: Certain Underwriters at Lloyds, Millstream and Chartis.
Emergency Service Provider: Specialty Assistance (in Australia). Others vary based on country of residence.
Contact Method: Reverse charge call to Australian number or local number in a limited number of countries
Emergency contact numbers vary, depending on country of residence and policy you have purchased. Please refer to your policy documents or sign in to your Worldnomads.com membership for details. For Australian customers:
24 hour emergency assistance call
+44 (0) 20 7902 7405 (while overseas)
1800 611 210 (while in Australia)
Maximum Age: 65
Children: Yes
Extension Available: Yes
Additional Length: No limit
Schedule of Benefits
| Section | Benefit Type | Single | Family |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section 1 | Overseas Medical ExpensesEmergency Dental up to $500 for Single and Family. Burial, cremation, and repartriation of remains up to $12,000 for Single and Family. | $5,000,000 | $10,000,000 |
| Section 2 | Cancellation Costs | $10,000 | $20,000 |
| Section 3 | Medical Evacuation and Additional Expenses | $500,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Section 5 | Luggage and Personal EffectsEach item limit is $250 and the total limit is $2,500 for all Luggage and Personal effects. | $2,500 | $5,000 |
| Section 6 | Specified Luggage and Personal Effects (Optional Benefit) | $3,000 | $3,000 |
| Section 7 | Personal Liability | $2,500,000 | $5,000,000 |
Be sure to read your policy before you buy. It does not cover the costs due to airline screw ups or delays. Royal Air Maroc cancelled our flight without notifying us, which seems to be fairly common with them. They have an F rating from the Better Buisness Bureau. When I bought travel insurance, I just figured they covered flight cancellations or delays caused by incompetence from the airlines. It does not !!! I am out $1800 because RAM cancelled my flight and didn’t notify us. We sat at the terminal gate until the scheduled leaving time and they came in and told us our flight had been cancelled earlier in the week. The ticket agent sent us to the gate that morning and didn’t even tell us. If you read the things travel insurance covers, you may not buy it, because it basically covers freak instances ( basically nothing) so be sure to read before you buy. You’re better off paying extra for tickets that can be cancelled without you losing your money.
Worl Nomads email “For your information the insurance covers Travel delay up to the maximum amount of EUR 70 per day.
However, please be reminded that there is an excess of EUR 70 per person per event.”
My question: When am I insured for delay? Never, it is impossible to be covered, it is a scam, make your calculations. The worst thing is they treat you as if you were stupid.
How is it posible that from a claim of 196 euros and an excess of 140 euros the result is 0 euros??
I got ALL my stuff stolen in the Philippines, camera, laptop, phone, cash… I had it stolen from a forced locker in my hostel. WN paid me back enough to get back on my feet. Although I wished the single item limit was higher, they paid me back for items for which I didn’t have a receipt and they wed super nice and friendly all over. Jean is a superhero and I might understand why it must be super frustrating to discover that your case doesn’t fall into their policies, but if it does they really are amazing, quick and efficient.
My son purchased Travel Insurance via the World Nomads website prior to skiing in Canada. The website stated that skiing in Terrain Parks was covered under the policy. My son missed the approach to one of the jumps in a Terrain Park and crashed badly. He sustained brain damage and was hospitalised for 4 weeks in Intensive Care before repatriation to the UK.
The insurance underwriters, Millstream Underwriting Ltd (MUL), declined cover on the basis that my son had been “Ski Jumping”, refering to an exclusion clause in the Winter Sports section that stated “We do not cover any competition, free-style skiing, ski jumping, ice hockey, use of bobsleighs or skeletons, repetitive travel in ski run helicopters”. We contested their decision.
Shortly after receiving our complaint the words “Terrain Park” were removed from the World Nomads website. I checked the web archive and the wording had been unchanged for at least the past 14 months. MUL claimed the timing was coincidental.
Over several exchanges of letters in the following months, MUL claimed that my son was performing a “freestyle aerial jump” and that he was participating in “extreme skiing”.
I took our case to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Three years after my son’s accident the Ombudsman upheld our claim making the following comment in his final decision: “I am concerned that MUL has put forward a number of different reasons for its decision to reject the claim and that it has disagreed with the adjudicators, making the complaint process unnecessarily prolonged.”
World Nomads Insurance is deceptive. I am a frequent traveller and have had many policies with World Nomad over the last few years due to the ease of their online system. I always get the full policy.
I had a policy that included a damage cover. My computer was damaged when the airconditioning unit in my room at the Hotel Aston Rasuna Jakarta leaked all over the computer. The Hotel took responsibility for the damage, which fits the category – damaged by accommodation provider while registered.
I made a claim but this was rejeccted by World Nomads because of the below reason. The excuse is absolute nonsense but shows the deceptive tricky nature of World Nomads Insurance. I advise any travellers to not use World Nomads as they are tricky and do not want to pay. If anyone would believe their insane reasoning the damage would only be covered by wilful damage by the hotel staff when the goods are in storage behind the front desk – an event that is not likely to happen.
See below e-mail exchange
From: World Nomads Claims
Subject: WNJPN13000475-02-19
Submitted: 28 Jun 2013 6:45 PM (AEST)
Dear Simon,
As per 21.1 f, the insurance covers baggage which is “damaged by a common carrier, accommodation or baggage storage provider while registered or checked in as baggage.
The baggage in your room is not in the care of the hotel and not CHECKED-IN, as is a condition for cover.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Kind regards,
Jean Foss
Travel Claims
I agree with John that the 24 hour emergency hotline is close to useless as they say they have to contact the underwriters before agreeing to anything- not much help in an emergency! Keep a record of who, when and what was said and demand to know what is they need you to do.
Shajal – I’d go further than saying the 24 hour emergency hotline is useless, and label them incompetent, probably to the point of criminal negligence. If you’d like to share your story with me I’d be interested in hearing it. You can email me worldnomadsnemesis@gmail.com .
I was a loyal World Nomads client for many years and had many policies over that time. The first claim I tried to make was for a stolen camera in Cambodia. The camera was kept in a case with other camera gear and as the hotel didn’t have a room safe I locked it in my suitcase. The last couple of days in Cambodia I didn’t have a need for the camera so didn’t get it out. When I arrived back in Australia and unpacked my suitcase I found the camera case was missing the camera. I lodged a claim with World Nomads and after a month or so of grilling, sending more information and them demanding the originals of the warranty and instruction manuals the claim was rejected. The basis of their rejection was I didn’t have a police report (how could I get one in Cambodia as I didn’t know it was stolen and even if I did the police are so corrupt it would have taken $$$ and days) and they also said they don’t cover cameras transported as check-on luggage. As you can see they tried a number of angles to reject the claim when both don’t stack up. I even paid the extra dollars for specific item coverage including the camera. World Nomads treated me like a criminal so I now use another insurance company and have told the dozen or people I put onto World Nomads to also never use them. Disgusting!!!
this is the worst insurance ever. I have been using them for 4 years, but when I had a fall before my trip and needed to claim against my cancelled non-refundable hotel, i was shocked at their behaviour.
I sent them all the requested documentation, such as hotel cancellation and the letter from my doctor explaining that as I had damaged my tailbone I could not fly for at least 6 weeks. This didnt help my case at all. They asked for a letter from my doctor proving how the fall had happened. are they kidding me. My doctor wasn’t there when I fell and I don’t have evidence other than the letter from my doctor and xrays, which I had given them.
This company is a sham and will do anything to get out of paying out on insurance claims. I will tell anyone who will listen, do not waste your money on this pointless insurance policy. I wish I had researched this company more. There are countless reviews out there that say the exact same thing about them.
Be wary of them and do your research.
Do not buy from this company!
We bought this insurance for our honeymoon, and on the day we were leaving, half of our flights had been cancelled by the airline due to scheduling problems. We had to buy new flights and accommodation due to this and we put a claim in with the travel insurance. After a few weeks they asked for documents from the airline describing why the flights were cancelled. Luckily, we thought, we were able to obtain this document while we were in the airline’s home country. We sent this document to them, 3 weeks later I asked for an update, and we were informed that they denied the insurance claim (roughly $900) because we weren’t covered for airlines cancelling flights. What exactly are we paying these thieves for?? Trust me don’t buy insurance from this company they will find ways not to pay your claim.
I agree with John that the 24 hour emergency hotline is close to useless as they say they have to contact the underwriters before agreeing to anything- not much help in an emergency! Keep a record of who, when and what was said and demand to know what is they need you to do. In our case no advice was offered and payment was paid 6 months later only after an internal review of the claim. I don’t know if World Nomads is worse than others but don’t warrant a Lonely Planet recommendation on my experience with them.
Don’t buy this insurance if you are going to developing countries or areas such as South East Asia. Their terms and conditions are probably fine for first world countries but not if you’re going somewhere off the beaten track.
Also they advertise that you can extend your insurance cover while away but it’s very expensive to do so.
Lastly if you do make a claim you have to deal with their underwriter(s) who are completely unresponsive.