These answers describe our International Single Trip cover unless an answer says otherwise. Annual Multi-Trip and Domestic are separate products with their own Product Disclosure Statements and different terms, so please check the PDS and the Certificate of Insurance for the policy you hold.
The things travellers ask us most, explained without the jargon. For the full terms, always read the Product Disclosure Statement.
To be eligible you need to hold a valid Australian Medicare card, or be an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or New Zealand passport holder with unrestricted entry rights and access to long-term medical care in Australia at the time you buy your policy, start your trip in Australia, and purchase before your travel begins.
All cover types require the purchaser to be aged 18 or over. Annual Multi-Trip also requires all travellers to be aged 0 to 69. Your citizenship and visa type may not be the deciding factor, so international students and visa holders living in Australia are often eligible. If you hold a Medicare card and you are flying out of Australia, you can get a quote.
No. Cover has to be purchased before your trip begins. If you are already overseas and uninsured, get in touch and we will tell you what your options are, but we cannot backdate a policy.
Up to 365 days for a single trip on our International Single Trip cover. On Annual Multi-Trip, each individual trip is capped at the maximum length you choose when you buy, either 15 or 30 days, within 12 months of cover.
Not at all. One-way trips are supported as long as the journey starts in Australia.
If you will spend less than 48 hours in a country in transit, you do not need to add it to your policy. Anything longer than that should be listed.
Worth knowing: your cover applies to the dates and destinations shown on your Certificate of Insurance, so if you decide to spend a few days somewhere mid-trip, add it to your policy using the Butter customer portal first.
This applies to International Single Trip cover. Annual Multi-Trip is worldwide, so there is nothing to list, and Domestic cover is for travel within Australia.
Some, automatically. Butter publishes a list of Automatically Covered Pre-Existing Medical Conditions, and conditions on that list are covered without you needing to do anything, provided you meet the criteria set out for them.
Conditions that are not on the list are not covered. We do not currently offer medical screening, an additional premium option, or individual underwriting for conditions outside the list, so there is no way for us to add them. Medical screening is coming soon to Butter.
We cannot assess anyone's personal medical history, so the best thing to do is read the list against your own conditions before you buy.
Asking your doctor for a fit-to-travel certificate before you go is a must, and useful to have on file. Do bear in mind that a fit-to-travel certificate does not by itself make a pre-existing condition covered.
No. Butter travel insurance does not cover a declined visa application, and we do not currently offer a cancel for any reason option.
Yes. Butter Annual Multi-Trip cover insures multiple trips across the 12 months from the start date shown on your Certificate of Insurance, rather than one trip at a time.
Each individual trip has a maximum length, which you choose when you buy and which is shown on your Certificate of Insurance. The benefit limits reset at the completion of each trip, so every trip starts with the full cover available.
A trip means a journey either more than 250 kilometres from your home, or one that includes at least one night of paid accommodation booked through an accommodation provider such as a hotel, B and B, serviced apartment, or a peer-to-peer service like Airbnb. Only one of the two needs to apply, and any international trip meets the distance test automatically.
To buy it you need to be 18 or over and under 70, and either hold a valid Australian Medicare card, or be an Australian citizen, permanent resident or New Zealand passport holder with unrestricted entry rights and access to long-term medical care in Australia. As with our single-trip cover, it cannot be bought once you are already travelling.
The full terms are in the Annual Multi-Trip PDS, which is a separate document to the international single-trip one.
It is a stripped-back option for travellers who want the medical side of travel insurance and nothing else. It covers the medical benefits of our international policy, at the same limits, without the optional covers.
What it includes:
What it does not include is just as important. There is no cancellation or trip interruption cover, no luggage and personal effects cover, no rental vehicle excess, and none of the optional packs. If losing your deposits or your bags matters to you, this is not the right policy.
All the usual policy terms still apply, including the pre-existing medical conditions rules and the general exclusions. The benefit limits and sub-limits (such as emergency dental cover capped at $2,000) are set out in the Butter International Travel Insurance PDS, and your Certificate of Insurance is the authoritative statement of what you have bought, so check it against the list above.
They are emailed to you when you buy, and they always live in the Butter customer portal. Log in with the email address you used at purchase and you will find your Certificate of Insurance, your Digital Wallet and your full policy details.
This happens, and it is an easy fix. Once we have verified you, email us from the address you would like to use and we will correct it, then send your Certificate of Insurance straight back to you.
Once it is updated, go to the portal and choose create account rather than sign in, using your corrected address. Your policy will be waiting there.
In the portal, navigate to My Covers, select your policy, then Update My Cover. You can change destinations, travel dates, the travellers on the policy and your add-on packs.
Annual Multi-Trip is worldwide, so there are no destinations to change on it.
Once the update is complete you can download your updated Certificate of Insurance straight away.
Some changes cannot be made in the portal once you have departed, including cancelling a trip that is underway or moving a start date after travel has begun. Email us with what you need and we will take care of it manually.
However, you can extend a trip end date, add destinations, and add one of our add-on packages anytime.
Yes, within 21 days of purchase you can cancel and receive a full refund, as long as your trip has not started, you have not made a claim and you do not intend to make one. You can do this yourself in the portal under your cover details.
After the 21-day cooling-off period, a refund may still be available on a pro-rata basis for the unused portion of your cover, depending on the circumstances. If you have selected Trip Cancellation, cover starts on the day you purchase your policy. All other selected benefits start on your trip start date. You will be shown the refund amount in the portal and can decide if cancelling is right for you.
Need help? Reach out to our support team anytime.
The policy automatically extends if your return is delayed by an event covered under the policy, until you are able to return to Australia by the quickest route. Let us know what has happened and we will confirm your position. If you extend your holiday for a recreational reason, we will be happy to help you extend, but the simplest way is to self manage this in your Butter Customer Portal.
We can tell you how the policy works in general, and we will always do that as clearly as we can. What we cannot do is confirm in advance that a particular event will be covered, because every claim is assessed on its own circumstances against the terms, conditions, limits, sub-limits and exclusions in the Product Disclosure Statement.
If you want certainty about a specific scenario, the PDS is the document that governs it, and our team is happy to point you to the right section.
The policy is designed to respond to unexpected sudden illness and serious injury while you are travelling. If you need treatment overseas, contact Robin Assist straight away. They are available 24/7 and can help arrange and coordinate your care.
If you are being admitted to hospital, contact Robin Assist before treatment wherever that is possible.
This applies to our International Single Trip, Medical Only and Annual Multi-Trip cover. Our Domestic policy does not include medical expenses, because Medicare and your Australian health cover apply at home.
Unexpected, emergency dental problems that arise while travelling are treated like any other unexpected medical event, and are assessed under the PDS. Please note that there is a $2,000 sub-limit to this benefit.
Planned dental work is different. Travel insurance covers unexpected events, so treatment you have arranged in advance, such as veneers, whitening or a scheduled procedure, is not covered, and neither are complications arising from it.
This applies to our International Single Trip, Medical Only and Annual Multi-Trip cover. Our Domestic policy does not include medical or dental expenses.
The full list is in the PDS, and it is worth a read before you travel. The ones that catch people out most often are:
Most unpaid recreational activities are included without you needing to add anything, so ordinary holiday activities are generally fine.
On our International Single Trip cover, three activities need an optional pack added to your policy: snow sports, riding or driving a motorcycle or moped, and multi-night cruises. These three activity packs are not available on Annual Multi-Trip or Domestic cover, and on Annual Multi-Trip snow sports and riding a motorcycle or moped are excluded outright, with no pack that can add them.
These activities are excluded, and there is no optional pack that covers them:
If you are planning something that is not on either list and you are not certain where it sits, ask us before you travel rather than after.
The excluded activities above are from the International PDS. Annual Multi-Trip and Domestic cover have their own exclusion lists, so check the PDS for the policy you hold.
Cover includes the rental vehicle insurance excess or repair costs (whichever is lower) you are liable for if the rental vehicle is damaged or stolen while in your control during the trip. It also includes the cost of returning your rental vehicle to the nearest depot, if you cannot return the vehicle due to an event covered by this policy.
If your hire car is damaged or stolen, you claim on the rental vehicle insurance you have taken out, usually with the rental company. That insurance is what covers the damage itself, and you pay an excess on it. Butter's rental vehicle excess cover then reimburses that excess, up to the limit set out in the PDS.
So you still need rental vehicle insurance. This cover only works alongside it. If you hire a car without insuring it, there is no excess for us to reimburse, and the damage itself is not something this cover pays for.
One other thing worth knowing. The cover sits on the policy and applies to insured travellers who are authorised drivers of the vehicle.
Availability differs by product. On Annual Multi-Trip this cover is included as standard. On International Single Trip and Domestic cover it is one of the covers you choose. The limit is set out in your Certificate of Insurance.
It depends which benefit applies, and the two work quite differently. This is worth understanding before you claim.
If you are cancelling or cutting a trip short, the Cancellation or trip interruption benefit responds. It covers non-refundable travel, accommodation and ancillary expenses you cannot use because you could not begin or complete the trip, provided the reason is one of the events listed in the PDS. It can also cover the additional travel costs of continuing your itinerary or getting home, and those may be on another airline or another mode of transport such as a train or ferry. This cover is optional, so it only applies if it is shown as selected on your Certificate of Insurance.
If you are being sent home for medical reasons, that is a separate benefit called Airfare Reimbursement. It applies where you are injured or become ill during the trip and it is necessary for you to return to Australia with a medical escort. It reimburses your original airfare, less any refunds due to you.
Airfare Reimbursement also has a timing condition. At the time you return to Australia there must be more than five days of the trip, or 25 percent of its length, whichever is greater, still remaining. Alternatively it applies if you have been in hospital overseas for more than 25 percent of the trip.
Both benefits pay up to the amounts in the Schedule of Benefits, and both are assessed against the PDS.
The timing condition above is from the International PDS. Annual Multi-Trip has its own airfare reimbursement benefit with its own conditions, set out in the Annual Multi-Trip PDS. Domestic cover does not include an airfare benefit for medical reasons.
Cover for pregnancy is limited, so please read the pregnancy section of the PDS in full before you buy.
The policy covers unexpected serious complications of pregnancy and childbirth occurring up to the 24th week of pregnancy if you are pregnant with a single child, or up to the 19th week if you are pregnant with twins or multiple children. After those points there is no cover for the pregnancy.
Some things are excluded at every stage. Childbirth is not covered, and if you give birth overseas for any reason, including premature birth, there is no cover for the birth or for the care of the child. Antenatal care is not covered. Cover also does not apply where conception was medically assisted, including hormone therapy and IVF, or where there have been complications with this pregnancy or with any previous one.
On cancellation specifically, pregnancy or childbirth is only a covered reason where a medical practitioner certifies that cancelling or interrupting the trip was necessary because of complications.
Luggage cover comes with real conditions attached, and they are the ones that catch people out most often. The short version: the policy covers loss, but it does not cover leaving your things lying around.
The PDS defines leaving something unattended as leaving your luggage or personal effects in a public place where it can be taken without your knowledge, at a distance in a public place where you cannot prevent it being taken, or with a person who is not in your travelling party and does not work for your carrier or accommodation provider. Items left unattended, or where you have not taken reasonable care to protect them, are not covered.
Valuables has a specific meaning too. It covers articles made of or containing gold, silver or precious metals, precious stones, jewellery, watches, binoculars, mobile and smart phones, and photographic, audio, video, tablet, computer or electrical equipment of any kind, including drones and portable navigation equipment.
Storage is where valuables most often fall outside cover:
There are also three things you need to do. Report the loss, theft or delay to an appropriate authority as soon as possible and keep a copy of the report. Make a reasonable attempt to claim compensation from the carrier if they were holding your bag. And be able to show proof that you owned the item, along with its value and age, so keep receipts where you can.
If you will be riding, you need the Motorcycle and Moped Pack, and you must ensure that the engine capacity is not greater than 250cc, hold a valid Australian motorcycle or motor vehicle driver licence, hold a valid licence in the country where you are riding, ride with a helmet, and not participate in a professional capacity, race or motocross.
If you will only ever be a passenger on the back, you do not need the pack. You do need to comply with local law, including helmet requirements, and the person riding must be appropriately licensed.
Popular question: riding the Ha Giang Loop in Vietnam as a pillion passenger does not require the pack. Riding it yourself does.
The Motorcycle and Moped Pack is only available on our International Single Trip cover. On Annual Multi-Trip, riding a motorcycle or moped is excluded.
Multi-night international cruises require the Cruise Pack. Australian water cruising is offered as well.
The Cruise Pack is an International Single Trip option.
Skiing, snowboarding and other snow sports require the snow sports pack. Add it before you travel.
The snow sports pack is an International Single Trip option. On Annual Multi-Trip, snow sports are excluded.
Not a problem, you can add to your policy at any time in the portal under Update My Cover, then download your updated Certificate of Insurance straight away.
The same goes for adding a destination or extending your travel dates. If you find yourself wanting to add something and the portal will not let you, email us and we will sort it out.
The snow sports, motorcycle and cruise packs are only available on our International Single Trip cover. Rental vehicle excess is different: it is one of the covers you can add on International Single Trip and on Domestic, and it is included as standard on Annual Multi-Trip.
Log into your Butter account, go to the Claims section and lodge your claim there. If you would rather talk it through, or you are not sure whether you have a claim, call Robin Assist and they will walk you through it and can lodge it over the phone with you.
Call Robin Assist. From Australia, (02) 8358 5317. From overseas, +61 2 8358 5317. They provide 24/7 emergency assistance and can coordinate medical treatment, not just paperwork.
Domestic cover does not include medical expenses, so there would be no medical claim to coordinate on a trip within Australia.
Robin Assist manage claims from lodgement to decision, so they will always have the most current position. Email claims@robinassist.com, or reply to us and we will chase it up with them on your behalf and pass on your policy details so nothing has to be repeated.
Keep everything the airline gives you, including written confirmation of the delay or cancellation and any receipts for costs you have had to cover. Then lodge a claim so it can be properly assessed. If you need guidance while it is unfolding, Robin Assist can help.
Report it to the airline straight away and ask for a Property Irregularity Report, usually called a PIR. You will want to keep that, your written confirmation from the airline, your baggage tags, and receipts for anything essential you have to buy in the meantime. Those documents are what a baggage claim is assessed on.
Tell us. If we have made a mistake we would much rather hear about it and fix it than have you work around it. Email support@butterinsurance.com.au and a real person will read it and likely make a fix as soon as possible.
We also love connecting with our customers, so email anytime to let us know the positives on your trip or something you are proud to share!
Cancellation or trip interruption is an optional cover, so it applies only if it is shown as selected on your Certificate of Insurance. Worth checking yours before you read on.
Where it is selected, the PDS lists the unexpected events it responds to. In summary:
For several of these you are expected to make a reasonable attempt to get evidence, such as written confirmation from the hotel, or documents from an official body in the country where an accident happened. Whether any particular claim is paid still depends on the circumstances and the rest of the policy terms.
The two that matter most: anything that was reasonably expected or foreseeable at the time you bought the policy, and anything that is not on the list of covered events. Simply changing your mind is not a covered reason, and we do not offer a cancel for any reason option.
The PDS also excludes:
One more worth knowing: if the aircraft, vessel, coach or train you are booked on is withdrawn from service by order of a regulatory authority, the PDS directs that claim to the transport operator rather than to us.
Go back to your airline, hotel, tour operator or travel agent first, and get their refund decision in writing. This step is essential, and a cancellation claim cannot be finalised without it.
The reason is how the cover works. Cancellation responds to the money you genuinely cannot get back, so until each provider has confirmed what they will and will not refund, there is no settled loss to assess.
Ask each provider for written confirmation of three things: what has been refunded, what is being held as a credit or voucher, and what is non-refundable. Send all of that through with your claim. Credits and vouchers matter as much as cash refunds, so please mention them rather than leaving them out.
If you cancelled because of illness or injury, you will also need a medical certificate from the treating practitioner confirming that it stopped you travelling.
If a provider is slow or will not give you an answer, tell Robin Assist. They deal with this every day and can tell you what is reasonable to keep chasing and when to stop.