What items will travel insurance cover under a Delayed Luggage benefit?

Travel insurance is something everyone should have when travelling as you never know when you may need it. I made my first claim back in July due to my bag going missing, so I claimed under the delayed luggage benefit.

This benefit lets you spend a certain amount for each day you don’t have your bag. In my case, my policy permitted €75 per day for up to five days, so the maximum I could spend was €375 (US$375, £330, AU$583).

What Can You Buy Though?

My policy states – “Up to the amount shown in Your Schedule of Cover for essential replacement items in the event of temporary loss, delay or misplacement, while in transit on Your outward Trip, of Your Personal Luggage for more than 12 hours.” All well and good, but what are “essential replacement items”?

Clearly it would include things such as clothes, toiletries and things like that. The accepted wisdom seems to be to buy inexpensive items, which a friend of mine did when his luggage didn’t arrive in Ireland one time.

My Delayed Luggage Purchases

In my case, I had no need for toiletries, because for once I had packed travel sized items into my carry on bag. I only had the clothes on my back though, so it was off to a department store to buy essentials.

This comprised of a French Connection bomber jacket, a pair of Calvin Klein jeans, a three pack of Calvin Klein underwear, two SuperDry t-shirts and a pair of ASICS running shoes.

My philosophy around this is simple. Why buy items you’ll only wear a couple of times and throw out? I purchased the items I would usually buy when out clothes shopping. If my insurance paid out, great, and if not so be it, I’d still have useful things that I could keep wearing. I’m no fan of fast fashion, that’s for sure!

All of that came to pretty much the entire €375 I was entitled to claim. After four months of waiting for them to process it, my claim finally reached the top of the pile and they paid the full amount for the items with no quibbles whatsoever.

Overall Thoughts

The point of this delayed luggage travel insurance claim story is that you do not need to go to a discount store and buy cheap crap as your replacement essential items. Where possible you should get what you usually buy, and go right up to the limit.

I was wondering how all this would pan out, but I suppose as long as you have all the proof they ask for, you’re pretty much good to go. One to remember when you need to claim next.

Have you ever claimed for delayed luggage before? What has your experience been like? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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