Checking a box to buy travel insurance when you’re booking flights with an airline, or a holiday with a travel agent, is certainly an easy way to make sure your trip is protected, but is it the best option?

We examine the travel insurance offered by all the Australian airlines and some online travel agents to see whether buying it in the same transaction as your holiday is a smart move or whether you’re better off buying it separately. 

On this page:

• What do you get when you tick the travel insurance box?
• Online bookings give customers little time to read fine print
• Should you buy travel insurance from an airline or travel agent?
• Booking add-on or buying direct: Which option is cheaper?
• Will travel insurance from an airline or travel agent cover you if they go broke?
• Remember a travel agent's word isn't binding

What do you get when you tick the travel insurance box?

All the airlines and agents we looked at sell travel insurance both as an add-on as you're buying flights (or accommodation), and separately on another part of their website so you can buy it to insure any holiday, even those bought elsewhere. 

Sometimes the policies offered by a travel company as an add-on will differ to the ones it sells separately. 

If you visit the Virgin Australia and Webjet websites looking for insurance, you can choose between two tiers of cover, Travel Safe International and Travel Safe International Plus, both underwritten by Covermore. 

But if you book a holiday through the Virgin Australia or Webjet sites and tick the box to select travel insurance as an add-on, the policy you buy is different. Here Virgin sells its Integrated policy and Webjet has one called International Plan, which are different policies with different pricing. 

In contrast, Jetstar, Qantas and Flight Centre offer the same policies, regardless of how you buy them.

Flight Centre offers three levels of cover called Gold, Silver and Bronze, while Qantas and Jetstar have just one. And these policies cost the same whether you buy them as an add-on, or separately.

Online bookings give customers little time to read fine print

Knowing the ins and outs of any insurance you buy is essential. When you're buying insurance as an add-on, you still need to work out what cover you need and read the details of the policy that's being offered, which can be difficult if there's a booking countdown timer flashing on the screen. 

Qantas's terms and conditions, for example, run to more than 26,000 words, which take an average adult over an hour and forty minutes to read.  But the Qantas flight purchase screen times out after 10 minutes, so you'll lose your flight if you try to read the fine print.

Should you buy travel insurance from an airline or travel agent?

The travel insurance policies sold by airlines and travel agents are no better or worse than policies sold by standard insurance companies.

As usual, which one is right for you depends on the cover you need. You can compare cover details of policies from airlines and other brands in our travel insurance comparison.   

You may think that travel insurance sold by airlines or travel agents might offer better cover for the travel problems they're responsible for, but that's not the case. 

For example, the Integrated policy sold by Virgin Australia with its flights won't cover "transport provider caused cancellations, delays or rescheduling other than when caused by strikes".

And Qantas and Jetstar's travel insurance specifies it won't cover cancellation or additional expenses "for delays, rescheduling or cancellation caused by or within your public transport provider's operational control which are recoverable from or for which compensation is available from your public transport provider".

So you'll need to try to claim compensation from the airline before you claim on your travel insurance – even if you bought your travel insurance from the airline.

Similarly, policies from the travel agents we looked at don't offer any extra cover for issues that arise from your travel agent. Comprehensive travel insurance will generally cover you for a travel agent's fees up to a specified limit if you have to cancel a trip.

In line with this, Flight Centre will cover up to 10% of monies paid to the travel agent and Webjet up to $1500 on their policy bought as an add-on, and $4000 on their standalone Travel Safe policies only.

On the other hand, international travel insurance sold by Australian airlines and travel agents will generally cover you for additional expenses or cancellation costs caused by interruptions to your flight due to severe weather and collisions, or if you contract COVID-19 (but not another pandemic).

Booking add-on or buying direct: Which option is cheaper?

While it may be easier to tick a box and buy travel insurance when you buy your flights, it's not necessarily cheaper.

Virgin Australia and Webjet sell different policies as an add-on to the ones they sell separately. For two adults and two children travelling to Fiji for 16 days, the cheapest options were those purchased separately, not with flights.

Virgin Australia or Webjet Travel Safe International: $190 (purchased separately)

• $250 excess
• $6000 limit for cancellation expenses.

Virgin Australia or Webjet Travel Safe Plus: $354 (purchased separately)

• $250 excess
• $10,000 limit for cancellation expenses.

Virgin Australia Integrated: $499 (add-on with flights)

• $100 excess
• Unlimited cancellation expenses
• Option to call for a cheaper price when travelling with children

Webjet International: $278 (add-on with flights)

• $100 excess
• unlimited cancellation expenses.

The prices for Qantas and Flight Centre policies were the same whether you buy them as an add-on or separately.

Jetstar Comprehensive International: $242

• $0 excess
• $50,000 limit for cancellation expenses.

Qantas Comprehensive International: $248

• $250 excess
• Unlimited cancellation expenses.

Flight Centre Bronze: $233

• $250 excess
• $1000 limit for cancellation expenses.

Flight Centre Silver: $322 (with or without flights)

• $250 excess
• $5000 limit for cancellation expenses.

Flight Centre Gold: $361 (with or without flights)

• $250 excess
• $5000 limit for cancellation expenses.

_{Note: Quotes collected in August 2025 for departure October 2025. The quotes we obtained were for two adults and two children travelling to Fiji for 16 days. When the excess and cancellation limit were variable, we chose those closest to $250 and $10,000. Note that the policies we're comparing here have different levels of cover and most let you choose your cancellation limit, so it's important to work out the cover you need for your circumstances. These results should not be taken as recommendations. The point of this exercise is simply to show that add-on insurance policies are not necessarily cheaper just because you're bundling them with your flight.}

Will travel insurance from an airline or travel agent cover you if they go broke?

It's pretty common for travel insurance policies to contain a general exclusion for insolvency, meaning they won't cover claims for money lost to companies that go bankrupt. This is common in policies sold by airlines and travel agents too. 

No travel insurer in our travel insurance comparison will cover your losses for insolvency of a travel agent, but a few will cover you if a travel provider goes broke, like Virgin Australia almost did during the COVID-19 lockdowns. 

The top-tier policies – Flight Centre Gold, and Virgin and Webjet's Travel Safe Plus International – bought separately from flights will cover your losses if a travel provider goes broke, but they're the only policies covered in this article that will do so. 

None of the airline or travel agent policies reviewed here will cover you if your travel agent goes bust and takes your money with them. That's why it's best to pay for your travel with a credit card or Visa/Mastercard debit card, and use your bank's chargeback service if all else fails.

_{*Travel providers include airlines, hotels, bus lines and cruise lines.}

Remember a travel agent's word isn't binding

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority's (AFCA) dispute decisions reflect several cases where people say they relied on their travel agent's advice about their travel insurance, but were ultimately left disappointed and out of pocket.

Conversations with a travel agent aren't recorded like they generally are when you call an insurer directly, so any conversation you've had with your travel agent about insurance will boil down to hearsay. 

In one decision, AFCA stated the "travel agent's opinion that the claim would or should be covered is not binding on the insurer". So don't take the travel agent's word for it.

A good travel agent will provide you with the PDS and give you time to read it and decide what cover is best for you. 

If the agent advises anything that isn't included or is contradicted by the travel insurance PDS, check with the travel insurer. Even if it can be proved the travel agent gave bad advice, the travel agent's opinion is unlikely to be binding on the insurer.

Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.

Join the conversation

To share your thoughts or ask a question, visit the CHOICE Community forum.

Visit CHOICE Community