Budget Direct Travel Insurance

My Samsonite $600 suitcase damaged not useable Budget Direct depreciated it 60% deducted their $200 and gave $40 It took me about 5 hours to hound them and chase them A very expensive mistake I won’t be making again Show details

Support provided was outstanding, prompt responses and great advice. Staff took care of all my travel arrangements whilst communicating regularly and returning home was relaxed and comfortable without any worries. Thank you Show details ·  1

We lodged a travel insurance claim in July and provided all the documents requested. Over time, we were asked to supply additional information, including repeated requests for the same documents, which we provided again. This back-and-forth continued for months and required a significant amount of time and effort, far exceeding the value of the… Read more

claim itself.

After six months, we were advised that the claim was declined because the loss of income did not exceed 15 days. This is extremely disappointing. If this was a basic eligibility requirement, it should have been communicated upfront rather than allowing the process to drag on for six months.

We also lodged an internal complaint, but to date we have not received any response.

The issue is not the claim being declined, but the unnecessary waste of time and effort caused by the poor handling of the claim.

We flew with HiSky Airline on July 2025. Our booking clearly included 3 check-in bags and 1 cabin bag, confirmed by both booking website and HiSky customer support. However, at the airport, staff claimed no baggage was included and forced us to pay… Read more ·  1

again for all our luggage. Despite showing proof of payment, they refused to honor the booking. We spent extra money unnecessarily, and weeks later, no refund or real assistance has been provided. This was stressful and extremely disappointing for a family trip. Travelers be aware: Budget Direct Travel Insurance will NOT cover these kind of issue.

I honestly can’t speak highly enough of Budget Direct and their incredible team. During one of the toughest times in my life—when my wife had a medical emergency while we were in Bali—they showed a level of care, compassion, and professionalism that I never expected from an insurance company. The customer care team was unbelievably… Read more ·  1

supportive—they spoke to me with such warmth and empathy, just like a family member would. It’s rare to find that kind of human connection in customer service.

The medical team and other departments were also efficient, kind, and genuinely caring throughout the entire process. Because of this experience, I’ve now moved all my car and home insurance over to Budget Direct, and I plan to stay with them for life.

If I could give a million stars, I would. Thank you, Budget Direct, for going above and beyond. You’ve earned a customer for life.

After decades of travel and needing to make only one claim in the past with another insurance company which left us feeling frustrated and disillusioned it was a delight to deal with Budget when my husband fell, broke his hip and was hospitalised for 3 weeks interstate. Budget contacted us before we were in touch as the cruise ship on which he… Read more ·  1

fell had instigated a claim on our behalf. In the weeks in hospital they were in touch several times as was World Wide travel, an associated company that helps with booking airfares. Once we had lodged a claim we heard from them within 2 weeks which was in contrast with the previous company which took 4 weeks each time we had contact with them. Once the claim was processed the money was immediately paid into our bank and we were most satisfied with the overall outcome and would highly recommend the company. We would use them again.

So happy with Budget direct travel insurance so changing my car insurance to there – So happy with Budget direct travel insurance We were stranded in Bali due to volcano . So easily contact them and got good information .no more Jetstar but yes to Budget direct So smoothly processing to claim the travel insurance !! Show details ·  1

Terrible experience. Got sick overseas and caught in major floods, yet Budget Direct refused to cover key parts of my claim despite all documentation and it being covered under the policy. Poor communication and zero accountability. Wouldn’t recommend. Show details

Beware of Budget Direct travel insurance and READ all the fine print of their policies. They may sell cheap travel insurance, but when I had to cancel a very expensive trip of a lifetime due to a very legitimate medical issue that came up, they refused the claim. Luckily my husband went with 1Cover travel insurance for his costs for the same trip.… Read more

1Cover travel insurance paid out immediately, Budget Direct refused even after I appealed their decision. So, we are over $12000 out of pocket due to this excuse for a travel insurance company.

Budget Direct: Terrible service, shady fine print — avoid. Lost baggage claim, thousands in missing items. Budget Direct’s communication was appalling, paperwork full of errors, and when I finally spoke to someone, they clearly didn’t care. They denied items for weak reasons, depreciated others by 60%, and their decisions were wildly… Read more

inconsistent. I’ve had to escalate the whole thing to AFCA just to get a response.

Honestly, I don’t trust a single positive review here — feels like bots or paid PR. Save yourself the stress and go elsewhere.

Budget Direct are a waste of time & money - they do everything they can to delay the process & make you lose any hope. This is the first time I have had to make a claim with Budget Direct & it will also be the last as I wont ever be using them again! Claim lodged 30th December 2024 as I had to cancel my holiday due to a family member being… Read more

diagnosed with cancer & have yet to receive the final decision. Even had my claim closed at one stage due to me not supplying them the required information however I was the one waiting for an update. The latest update I have received is that my claim now needs to be assessed by their medical team despite me submitting the medical evidence signed by a doctor back on the 30th January! And then every time you receive a new update you can add 10 business days to their time frame for a response. 4 months to process a straight forward claim with all the evidence provided is beyond a joke! Definitely would not recommend to anyone

I would never utilise Budget Direct for any insurance product ever again. Absolutely woeful service and the travel insurance policy, in my opinion, is just junk insurance. A family member contracted influenza resulting in a 7-day hospital admission in Vietnam. On our return journey to Australia, the person's condition deteriorated during transit… Read more

in China and had to disembark the plane before being taken to hospital by ambulance. We did everything possible to communicate with Budget Direct but you end up receiving communications from Budget Direct, World Travel Protection and CoverMore. Imagine trying communicate with three different companies with different contacts and difference reference/case numbers when trying to deal with a medical emergency in a foreign country. After first conveying assurances of support and care, it very quickly became obvious that they have no interest in supporting customers in any meaningful way and are entirely pre-occupied with finding reasons to exclude cover. They broke every promise to contact us, and we were left constantly calling to get direction on what steps we should be taking to re-arrange travel etc. They have since tried to claim that because the person had a pre-existing heart condition, the hospitalisation for influenza is automatically excluded. Junk insurance, save your money.

Leaving the rip off company would not cover in case of need – We lost our bag, which contained our mobile phone and other personal items. The company refused to cover the claim, claiming the bag was left unattended, which is not true. The bag was not unattended. This company has extremely poor customer service, especially with their overseas support, and we would not recommend them at all. When we contacted… Read more

customer service, they said there was no supervisor available to discuss the issue—it's a shady and money-grabbing service.

We have had two properties and one car insured with Budget Direct for over five years. I'm both shocked and grateful that we never had to make a claim during that time, as I believe they would have found an excuse not to cover us. We no longer trust that Budget Direct will protect our valuables, so we're moving everything to another provider.

Poor online experience left me unisured – I booked annual multi-trip travel insurance online but during the process it did not prompt me to select Worldwide or make it obvious that that is what I should do. I also didn't know where else I would be traveling. I have just called to ensure that the cover covered me for more than just my first destination and was informed that it didn't. I… Read more

asked how much it would cost to add more destinations and the quote is higher than what is being offered online. The website is deceptive and will leave people un-insured do to lack of visibility.

No cover for rescheduled flights resulting in missing connections – Budget Direct will not cover rescheduled or cancelled flights for mechanical reasons. There is no way to insure against this event. This defeats one of the purposes of travel insurance. Their travel insurance policy is expensive (and not very effective) toilet paper at best. Show details

Some Delay but a full settlement – I’m not sure what is going on with this company. My wife had an accident and during the visit to hospital our phone was stolen. This was documented by the police and hospital. I submitted the paperwork and from that point on it is just delay, delay and more delay. They say they have ten days to settle but if you contact them, which I have several… Read more ·  1

times, the ten day clock seems to start again. So Im now keen to update this. Budget Direct have fully settled this claim and I understand why it has taken so long. I think many Aussie companies have call centres that take so long to get through. In future I will use Budget Direct but will go for their premium service and pay a bit more.

Garbage, woeful, AVOID – Disgraceful experience. Beware. Simply save yourself the headaches and GO ELSEWHERE. We purchased a travel policy through the budget direct website, paid for it and received no confirmation and no policy. 2 weeks of phone calls and they insist they cannot issue a refund until the policy “uploads” into their system. To put it simply, we have no… Read more

refund and no policy. I have been told 3-5 business days from day one and being told the same thing 2 weeks later. Put these guys in the bin. Went through Medibank instead and policy was received IMMEDIATELY.

Not good enough – I purchased travel insurance 36 hours ago and still haven’t received my conformation. Rang them and they say they can’t view the policy. I did get an email but this shows I paid $401 and no pre existing illnesses. The policy I took out was for $621.94 and included pre existing illness. I need this sorted urgently and am not getting anywhere with Budget Direct. Show details

Almost two months since lodging my claim.still waiting – Budget direct still hasn’t completed my travel insurance claim. Submitted 22nd October 2023 but today 11th November. Keep dragging it and given to another bad review company cover more to handle my claim. She is taking forever to complete this. Claim number 1527197. I thought budget direct has excellent service as per their advertisements on the… Read more

TV and awards they won but when you want to make claim they take forever to finalise it. They keep saying 10 buisness days then once 10 business days finish they say 20 buisness days. Keep extending. Do they understand how long is that. Maybe they don’t have enough resources to handle claims.

Update 08.04.2025

Claim was declined. I lodged complaint to internal dispute resolution team in budget direct and underwriter Zurich.

They don’t care. They kept declining. Please do not buy cover more travel insurances and budget direct.

Buy AAMI. Easy and very helpful

Pathetic. Website errors leading to being charged multiple times – Deducted amount twice and now have to go through a long winded process of having my case investigated and amounts refunded. Website is useless and took the funds twice from my card with no confirmation of policy. Show details

SERVICE ABOVE AND BEYOND – Lets face it, you only worry about insurance when, YOU NEED TO CLAIM!!, so Covid 19 cancelations from May 2020 and certian airlines that I wont name kept changing their claiming requirements. BD claims were so helpful in giving me prompts as to what I needed to submit to them, in the end I handed over control to them as the airlines were just… Read more ·  1

dragging their feet for no reason. and yes 3 years later all claims closed and reimbursed. thanks so much for all the help you have provided. Andy - Sydney NSW

No help at all – They did not help at all when our holiday was cancelled due to the pandemic. They also did not refund us our premium like some other insurance companies did. I will never use them again Show details

Very unfair – My Daughter purchased travel insurance before COVID.She was planning to go to Malaysia for 9 Months .Not only did she lose all her airfare but she also lost the whole amount of her travel insurance.Budget did not even refund part of it,which I thought was the honourable thing to do.She missed out on a refund by 3 days.Very unfair.Shame on you Budget. Customers don’t forget! Show details

Covid Related Claim – Like many other people I had a trip planned before the pandemic struck. I worked with various tour companies to limit and recover costs where possible, however some losses were experienced. I worked with the Budget Direct to document and submit the claim - the consultants were helpful, however were not able provide specific direction about one… Read more ·  1

matter. In the end, I submitted the claim and received a reimbursement less deductions - couldn't be happier with the advice and the choice of insurer.

Lied and Refused to Pay – I am an Army member who was serving in Africa. I spoke to them before I left (Jan 2020) for a multi trip cover while deployed on operations in South Sudan. I explained I would be deployed for 12 months and all travel would start and end in South Sudan - “all good Sir, we will cover that” they said. When COVID-19 hit I was unable to travel and had… Read more

already spent 10’s of thousands on a family holiday. When I submitted my claim they refused to pay, not due to a pandemic (that was covered), but they said I did not meet the criteria as I had been out of Australia for more than 30 days. They said they could not find the recording of them agreeing to cover me and they would never agree to that anyway; and if they did, that person was not authorised to agree to that anyway. I appealed multiple times and got the usual stock standard email reply of “initial decision stands”. Just hopeless and misleading. If you do go with them, record date and time of conversation and get the persons name. I am now out of pockets for well over $10000 and the over $400 for the insurance itself. Head this warning and I hope this helps.

Profits before people – I purchased a comprehensive travel policy long before CIOVID was a known event. Unhappily, our dream extended holiday to Iceland & Norway was cancelled. The airlines and most of our hotel bookings were happily refunded but I had used hotels.com and bookings.com for over $3,600 worth of bookings (it was to be a long vacation!). Both of these… Read more

companies refused to refund the money and offered vouchers instead. I did not seek the vouchers, nor did I want them. The original vouchers were due to expire in May 2021 but were then automatically extended - not at my request. I decided that enough is enough as we are not prepared to undertake this trip any longer, as the virus is continually evolving and it is not worth risking our health or being stuck overseas due to unforeseen border closures.

Budget Direct have refused to honour my claim because "You have been offered credits for the bookings you are claiming and accepting these is considered as recovering the costs from the source and a step which you could take to reduce your loss. Therefore, the costs you have claimed are outside the scope of the policy."

It must be noted that the vouchers (credits) are site specific. I can't use them anywhere else but only in 6 hotel in Norway and Iceland.

Last year I called them and told them I did not want the vouchers and I was told that if I declined them I was not making sufficient efforts to recover the costs. So with Budget Direct you are damned whichever way you go!!

They have set it up that you cannot win! It is not possible to get a fair and reasonable judgement from them.

Fancy ads - cheap policies but so not worth it. If anyone from Budget Direct reads these reviews my claim number is LUO036212-01.

I am now off to the ombudsman.

Don't Fall For The Cheap Price! Better Off With No Insurance! Least I Would Have Saved Time And Money – It's was easy to purchase and a good price and gave peace of mind for the trip... Until something went wrong and I had to claim. It's been over 1 year and they still haven't paid me for my claim. My bag was lost for 3 days from the airline I flew with (lost/stolen luggage was meant to be covered for up to $600) and I had to purchase clothes,… Read more

toiletries etc.. Which were meant to be covered but no... The process they make you go through to get the cover is ridiculous. I sent them papers of proof from the airline that the bag was lost, I sent them receipt screenshots on my bank statement but no they kept asking for that stuff in emails prolonging the process til I gave up. Well I haven't given up Budget so you can cop another bad review. I seem to notice a pattern with many other customers here too. Not a good look. Would not recommend. Don't fall for the good price.

Didn’t pay out for Covid affected travel – It’s the first time we used Budget Direct for our travel cover. Our holiday was booked last March. We flew to the UK, then we were due to have 10 days in Dubai. Whilst we were in the UK, the Australian government issued a statement for all residents of Oz to return home. We contacted Flight Centre, whom we our booking with, and they wanted $8,500… Read more

to get us back. We then contacted Budget Direct who asked if we could go to the airline direct and get it cheaper and they would cover it. We managed to get it sorted for about $2,500. We have since been refused a refund. After me complaining they said I had to get a letter off the airline declaring they hadn’t already given us a refund?? The airline won’t respond either, so we are left out of pocket. We will never use them again.

They are a scam – Will not cover my travel losses and will not return my policy premium ,no help if you phone them.I feel this company is in the business taking money and then relinquishing all responsibility and service.please save your money and go elsewhere. Show details