The snow caused a flurry of travel chaos across the UK at the weekend. Icy driving conditions caused dozens of traffic accidents and there were problems at Heathrow Airport too, despite reports that their snow contingency plans had worked better than in recent years.

>> Snow-fly zone: What to do if extreme weather disrupts your flight plans

Heathrow have invested £30 million in new snow-clearing machinery since last year’s freeze. But the airport was still only running around 58% of scheduled flights as normal, resulting in disruptions and diversions for thousands of travellers.

Last year we wrote a blog post about what your rights are regarding compensation if the snow disrupts your travel plans. It was one of our highest read posts ever. The information and advice we give in that post still applies now. So take a look and make sure you know where stand when snow strikes.

>> Snow-fly zone: What to do if extreme weather disrupts your flight plans

4th February is World Cancer Day. Here’s a quick breakdown of the campaign’s aims, some encouraging statistics on the reduction of cancer cases and a short introduction to getting travel insurance that covers the disease.

(more…)

February is National Heart Month, a month long campaign organised by the British Heart Foundation. It aims to raise awareness of heart disease while raising money to help tackle it. There are some fantastic ways to get involved, from photography competitions to dazzling your partner by proposing via the electric billboards of Piccadilly Circus. Here’s a quick introduction to the campaign and a short guide to getting affordable travel insurance that covers heart conditions.

(more…)

It doesn’t matter what kind of business it is – the people best placed to comment on the service are the people who use it: the customers. That’s why each month we ask every new policyholder for feedback. Then we share it. Here’s a selection of December’s customer comments and suggestions together with a response from our Managing Partner. It’s your chance to find out more about who we are, the way we work and our plans for the future.

(more…)

Innocence is bliss, isn’t it? Well, maybe. But certainly not when it comes to travel insurance – unless your idea of bliss is paying thousands of pounds of bills out of your own pocket because you made a mistake with your travel insurance.

Let us explain so you can stay safe on your travels.

(more…)

Give yourself more freedom to travel in 2012 with an annual travel insurance policy. You’ll be able to take off whenever and wherever you please – without taking out a new policy each time. It’s an easy way to save both time and money. Here’s a short guide to annual travel cover with World First.

(more…)

Some travel insurance companies are in the news for all the wrong reasons. A number of British policyholders are furious with their insurance providers and have complained about being cheated by medical ‘get out’ clauses.

Knowing exactly where you stand with a travel insurance policy can be tricky enough, without media reports of customer complaints and suspected wrongdoing. So here’s a quick explanation of the disagreement as well as clear guidance on where you stand when you get cover with World First Travel Insurance.

(more…)

Christmas is a time for sharing magical moments with your nearest and dearest. For most people, that means the family – even if they don’t like to admit it! Maybe you’re having an extended family Christmas and travelling to relatives in other parts of the country. Or perhaps you’re doing your own thing and celebrating Christmas by visiting a new part of the UK. Wherever you’re going, there’s an easy way you can make sure you’re not left out of pocket by the unexpected this Christmas – and we don’t mean all the sprouts getting eaten.

(more…)

Christmas in the UK isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Top of some people’s Christmas list is heading to one of Europe’s most fantastically festive cities and soaking up the yuletide spirit of starry-skied, mulled wine scented outdoor Christmas markets. Others crave a chance to escape from the cold, commercialised Christmas of the UK while taking it easy somewhere nice and hot for a week or so.

If you’re one of the thousands of Britons jetting off this Christmas, you’ll have probably started a mental checklist of things to remember. After all, forgetting the presents would be a nightmare! But forgetting the travel insurance could be even worse. Here’s why.

(more…)

This Wednesday (30th November), thousands of UK Border Agency (UKBA) staff will be absent from the UK’s ports and airports as part of a nationwide public sector strike. With 60,000 travellers passing through immigration each day at Heathrow alone, it’s hard to overstate the scale of disruption that looks set to be caused. What happens if you are affected? Can you seek compensation? What’s covered by your travel insurance?

Here’s some help and advice.

(more…)