Extend your home insurance to protect valuables

THE security ban preventing certain gadgets being carried in cabin baggage on UKbound flights from six countries – Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – will put travel insurance policies to the test.

The crackdown, announced last week in the wake of escalating fears of terrorist attacks, means travellers on UK airlines BA, EasyJet, Jet2. com, Monarch, Thomas Cook and Thomson as well as several overseas carriers will be parted from their devices.

They will need to check in laptops and e-readers, but many travel policies exclude loss, theft and damage of valuables in checked-in baggage.

Brian Brown, head of Insight at consultancy Defaqto, says: ‘For travellers with possessions covered under home or travel insurance, some policies will exclude theft or disappearance of valuables from baggage unless it is carried by hand and under your personal supervision.’

In these circumstances travellers would have to make a claim against the airline. However, many insurers are saying they will make exceptions in light of the ban.

Fiona Macrae of website Travel Insurance Explained, says: ‘Check your luggage as soon as you reclaim it in the terminal.

‘If devices are missing or destroyed you must request a Property Irregularity Report form from the airline at the airport.’

Generally, travellers taking high value belongings on holiday, such as gadgets and jewellery, get better value by extending a home insurance policy than relying on travel insurance.

In the event of a claim for theft or loss, travel policies normally deduct sums for wear and tear while home insurance will usually replace old with new.

If an expensive handbag is stolen containing money and a mobile phone, for example, many travel insurers deduct separate excesses for each element. A home policy would normally charge only one excess.