Why I Wouldn’t Buy Reliance Travel Insurance Blindly

Travel insurance from big Indian brands like Reliance often appears as a cheap, one-click add-on when you book flights through MakeMyTrip, Ixigo, or similar platforms. It is tempting to tick the box and move on. Yet after reading policy wordings, regulator disclosures, and real claim disputes involving Reliance General Insurance (now part of IndusInd General Insurance), I would not buy Reliance travel insurance blindly. The product can suit certain trips, but only if you understand where it shines, where it falls short, and how often claims get rejected or closed without payment.

Why Reliance Travel Insurance Is So Easy to Buy

Most Indian travelers encounter Reliance travel insurance as a pre-selected add-on on booking sites and airline portals. You see an international ticket on Ixigo or MakeMyTrip, and a small box says something like “Secure your trip with Reliance travel insurance for ₹399.” The price looks negligible compared to a ₹60,000 return ticket to Europe, and the promise of protection against flight delays, medical emergencies, and baggage loss feels like a no-brainer. It rarely feels like a separate financial product that deserves close reading.

Reliance has traditionally sold overseas plans like Travel Care or Travel Suraksha through these partners, offering cover for emergency medical expenses abroad, trip cancellation, baggage delay, personal accident, and personal liability. On paper, the headline benefits look similar to competitors such as ICICI Lombard, Tata AIG, or HDFC ERGO. You can even choose Schengen-compliant policies to meet visa requirements, so many travelers assume all Schengen travel insurance is more or less interchangeable.

The problem is that almost no one reads the 20–40 pages of policy wording that sit behind that ₹399 add-on. Nor do they look at claim statistics in insurer disclosures or the pattern of complaints on consumer forums. When a product is sold almost as a rounding error on a booking screen, the buyer’s mindset is completely different from someone actively researching a standalone policy on an insurance marketplace. That convenience can hide a lot of nuance in coverage.

This is why I am wary of treating Reliance travel insurance as an automatic choice. It is not that the company never pays claims; it is that the small print, the way claims are handled, and the type of trips many of us now take mean you need to lean in and understand the trade-offs before you click “Buy.”

What the Fine Print Really Says

Look at the policy wording for Reliance’s overseas travel plans, now rebranded under IndusInd General Insurance. Buried in the general exclusions are clauses that are fairly standard in travel insurance but can still catch travelers off guard: no cover for pre-existing diseases, no cover if the sole reason for travel is medical treatment abroad, and no cover for events that start before the policy period. Some policies also exclude trips to countries under government travel advisories or sanctions lists at the time of travel.

Imagine a 62-year-old traveler with stable diabetes flying from Delhi to Toronto. He buys a Reliance policy through a travel site, declaring his age but assuming his long-controlled condition will not matter because he is feeling fine. On day four, he develops chest pain, is admitted to a hospital, and later files a claim for emergency treatment. If doctors mention any link to pre-existing coronary disease or diabetes in the records, there is a real risk that the claim will be scrutinized or denied on the basis of a pre-existing condition exclusion, particularly if the policy was not specifically designed for seniors with declared conditions.

Another typical trap relates to timing. Policies usually specify that trip cancellation is covered only for events that occur after the policy start date and for reasons listed in the contract. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, Indian travelers who canceled Europe trips after government advisories were often told their Reliance policies did not cover that scenario because the advisory existed or the airline had already changed terms before their claim. Court and ombudsman cases in the years since show how contested these clauses can become when travelers assume “any COVID disruption” is covered but the insurer interprets the wording more narrowly.

Even everyday scenarios are shaped by the wording. A delayed flight benefit of ₹5,000 may require a minimum delay of six hours, specific airline proof, and receipts for extra hotel or meal expenses. So a traveler stuck overnight in Dubai, who only receives a generic delay message and spends ₹4,000 on food and transport, may struggle to get paid if the airline letter does not match the insurer’s required language or if the delay just misses the hourly threshold.

Real Complaints: When Things Go Wrong

Public reviews and complaint boards paint a more textured picture than marketing brochures. On Indian review site MouthShut, Reliance travel insurance has a low user score, with several recent reviewers complaining that their claims were delayed for months or denied after repeated requests for the same documents. One traveler who took a Canada-bound policy reported filing a claim for a six-hour flight delay to recover hotel extension costs of about ₹5,000 and described how the claim was pushed from the booking platform to Reliance, then repeatedly questioned before being rejected outright.

On Trustpilot, customers have described situations where Reliance’s overseas travel policies, administered with an assistance partner, were not honored as expected. In one case, the traveler claimed that the insurer kept finding technical reasons to reject reimbursement for medical expenses abroad, despite having hospital bills and discharge summaries. The perception was that the process was geared more toward denying than resolving claims, which left the traveler with a sense that the initial premium had effectively bought peace of mind only on paper.

Consumer complaint sites and legal case databases in India also show individual disputes escalating to insurance ombudsmen and courts. In one example involving a New Zealand trip, a policyholder who had bought a Reliance travel insurance plan filed a complaint after their claim denial, arguing that the insurer had not substantiated its reasons and had delayed responses. In another COVID-era case, travelers challenging a rejection over trip cancellation due to government advisories found themselves navigating not just policy language but also broader questions of how pandemics fit into force majeure and insurance exclusion frameworks.

It is worth noting that no insurer has a spotless record; any company selling millions of policies will inevitably attract complaints, and online reviews are inherently skewed toward unhappy customers. Yet when you see similar themes recurring across different forums for the same brand, it raises a reasonable question: if things go wrong, how much effort will it take to get a fair claim outcome compared with buying from a competitor with a stronger service reputation?

What Reliance’s Own Numbers Suggest

When you move beyond anecdotes, the insurer’s own regulatory disclosures offer another lens. As part of public disclosures filed with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, Reliance General Insurance (now under the IndusInd General Insurance umbrella) publishes quarterly data showing how many claims are closed without payment in different lines of business, including travel. In recent quarters, the number of travel claims shown as “closed without payment” has run into the hundreds or more over each three-month period, while tens of thousands of health and motor claims see the same outcome.

These figures do not, by themselves, prove misconduct. Many travel claims are legitimately closed without payment because they fall below deductibles, are duplicates, involve excluded events, or lack required documentation despite reminders. A traveler trying to claim for a missed connection due to a visa issue, for example, would likely see their claim rejected on standard exclusions regardless of insurer. Still, the volume of unpaid closures underscores how often policy terms, documentation demands, and traveler expectations do not align.

Compare that with a typical traveler’s understanding when they tick a box on a booking site. They often believe, in broad strokes, that if their trip is disrupted or they fall sick abroad, “insurance will take care of it.” The disclosure data serves as a reality check. In practice, a significant fraction of claims across the industry never result in payouts, and Reliance is no exception. If you are going to buy this product, you should do so with eyes open to the probability that some seemingly valid situations will not qualify.

This is one of the main reasons I hesitate to buy Reliance travel insurance without first considering my trip profile, alternative insurers, and my own ability to handle out-of-pocket costs. A cheap premium with a higher chance of disputes can be rational for low-risk, short-haul trips but less so for complex or expensive itineraries.

Booking-Site Add-ons vs Standalone Policies

The way Reliance travel insurance is typically sold has a big impact on how well it fits your needs. When you buy it as a pre-checked add-on through a flight-booking platform, you rarely see the full range of sum insured options, region-specific plans, or detailed benefit caps. The booking engine often bundles a generic multi-benefit policy: medical cover, baggage, delay, accident, and maybe personal liability. The sum insured might be, say, 100,000 US dollars for medical emergencies, which sounds large but may or may not be sufficient for older travelers in high-cost destinations like the United States.

Compare this with buying a standalone policy from an aggregator that shows multiple insurers. There, you can line up Reliance’s plans against those from ICICI Lombard, Tata AIG, HDFC ERGO, Care, or others. You can see how each handles pre-existing conditions, adventure sports, pregnancy-related emergencies, cruise travel, and trip cancellation triggers. Some rivals explicitly highlight cashless hospital networks in Europe or the US, or offer teleconsultation services abroad, while others emphasise hassle-free claim portals and faster reimbursement timelines.

Real-world complaints also highlight the friction that arises when a booking-site add-on is sold by one company but serviced by another. For example, a traveler who bought Reliance insurance through Ixigo for an India to US flight later discovered that when his flight was disrupted, the travel app pointed him to Reliance, while Reliance’s contact center initially treated the claim as the platform’s matter. This led to delays and repeated document submissions. Buying directly from an insurer or a focused aggregator tends to give you clearer visibility into where responsibility lies if you need to claim.

For short regional trips, say a four-day Thailand vacation from Mumbai, a low-cost Reliance plan purchased via a travel site may still be a pragmatic choice if you are young, healthy, and primarily worried about losing baggage. For a month-long US road trip with your parents in their sixties, however, I would be much more inclined to compare detailed policy features and service reputations instead of clicking the first add-on that appears on my screen.

When Reliance Might Still Be a Reasonable Choice

All this does not mean Reliance travel insurance is universally bad or unusable. For many Indian travelers, especially those taking straightforward trips, the product can do its job. A 27-year-old software engineer flying from Bengaluru to Berlin for a two-week workation might buy a Reliance Schengen-compliant policy with 50,000 euros of medical cover and never need to claim. For him, the value is largely psychological, and the low premium compared to European insurers offered by airlines at checkout makes sense.

There are also scenarios where Reliance’s tie-ups and volumes can be a modest advantage. For corporate travelers whose companies buy group travel insurance from Reliance, support may be channeled through an in-house travel desk familiar with the claim process, helping smooth some of the rough edges individual buyers face. Similarly, repeat travelers who have successfully claimed once or twice, such as for minor baggage delays or outpatient treatment abroad, may reasonably feel comfortable sticking with a brand that has worked for them before, even if others have had poor experiences.

What I would avoid is assuming that because Reliance is a large, well-known Indian insurer, all its travel products are equally strong in every respect. Just as some card-linked travel covers from banks are very basic compared with standalone policies, certain Reliance travel plans sold as add-ons may offer only minimal trip-cancellation benefits or tight sub-limits for dental care, emergency evacuation, or home burglary while you are away. Reading the schedule of benefits carefully, line by line, is critical.

If, after comparing, Reliance still comes out as the most cost-effective option for your route and risk profile, you can buy it, but do so only after saving the policy wording, assistance numbers, and claims email addresses. Also, keep scanned copies of passports, visas, tickets, hotel bookings, and medical records ready so that you are not scrambling for paperwork from a foreign hospital that is unwilling to fill out insurer-specific forms once you are back home.

How to Protect Yourself if You Do Buy Reliance

If you decide Reliance travel insurance is the right balance of price and coverage for a particular trip, there are practical steps you can take to reduce the risk of a denied claim. First, buy as early as possible, ideally the same day you book flights, so that trip cancellation benefits start before anything goes wrong. Waiting until just before departure can leave you exposed if a family emergency or government advisory forces you to cancel in the meantime.

Second, disclose everything that is asked in the proposal. If you are over a certain age or have had hospitalizations in the past, take the time to answer these questions accurately, even if it means a slightly higher premium or a medical check. Non-disclosure, even of conditions you consider minor, can later be used to justify rejecting a medical claim abroad. Indian courts repeatedly see disputes where the central question is whether a condition was pre-existing or whether the insured concealed key facts at the time of purchase.

Third, understand how to document common claim situations. If your flight is delayed beyond the threshold, insist on a written delay or disruption certificate from the airline at the airport. Save boarding passes, baggage tags, and receipts for food, hotel, or transport. For medical emergencies, always get a proper discharge summary, itemized hospital bill, and proof of payment. Some Reliance customers have reported that overseas hospitals refused to fill out Indian insurer claim forms; in such cases, supplying clear hospital documentation plus a cover note mapping each document to the insurer’s checklist can improve your odds.

Finally, be prepared to escalate if you believe a claim has been unfairly denied. Reliance, like all insurers in India, must have an in-house grievance redressal mechanism and is subject to oversight by the IRDAI. If initial complaints go nowhere, you can approach the Insurance Ombudsman in your region. Several travelers have eventually obtained relief or partial settlements by pursuing these avenues, though the process can be time-consuming and stressful. The key is to keep all emails, call logs, and documents organized from day one.

The Takeaway

Reliance travel insurance occupies a familiar place in the Indian travel ecosystem: highly visible, aggressively distributed through booking platforms, and priced low enough that many people barely register it as a purchase. Its coverage is not inherently worthless, and for many young, healthy travelers on simple itineraries, it may work out just fine. But the mix of strict exclusions, sometimes demanding documentation, and a non-trivial volume of claims closed without payment means it is not a product to buy blindly.

Before you tick that box on your next MakeMyTrip or Ixigo booking, pause for five minutes. Check the sum insured, read the list of key exclusions, and compare at least one or two rival insurers on an aggregator site. Think about your health profile, destination, trip cost, and tolerance for out-of-pocket expenses if a dispute arises. If Reliance still makes sense after that quick reality check, proceed, but make sure you keep every document and understand how to claim.

In travel, as in investing, brand familiarity is not the same as suitability. Reliance travel insurance is one option in a crowded market, not an automatic default. Treat it as such, and you will be far less likely to find yourself stranded abroad with a rejected claim and a policy whose fine print you first read only after things went wrong.

FAQ

Q1. Is Reliance travel insurance reliable for international trips?
Reliability depends on your expectations and how carefully you match the policy to your needs. Reliance does settle many claims, but public complaints show disputes around exclusions, documentation, and delayed decisions. If you want maximum certainty for an expensive or complex trip, it is worth comparing Reliance with insurers known for smoother overseas claims before deciding.

Q2. Why do some Reliance travel insurance claims get rejected?
Most rejections stem from common issues: pre-existing medical conditions, events occurring before the policy started, missing documents, or reasons for cancellation that are not covered in the wording. For example, canceling a trip due to general fear of unrest or because you simply changed dates is unlikely to be covered, even if you assumed “any cancellation” was insured.

Q3. Is the cheap add-on insurance on sites like MakeMyTrip or Ixigo enough?
For short, low-cost trips and young, healthy travelers, a cheap Reliance add-on can be adequate if you mainly want basic medical and baggage cover. For older travelers, long stays, or high-cost destinations like the United States or Canada, those generic add-ons may have sums insured or exclusions that are too restrictive. In those cases, a standalone policy with clearer benefits is often safer.

Q4. Does Reliance cover COVID-19 related disruptions now?
Many Indian travel insurers, including Reliance, have gradually adjusted to cover certain COVID-19 medical expenses abroad, but coverage for cancellations or border closures is still tightly defined. You should not assume that every COVID-related event is covered. Always check the latest wording for how pandemics, government advisories, and quarantine requirements are treated for your specific plan.

Q5. How do I make a strong claim with Reliance travel insurance?
Start by notifying the assistance or claims number as soon as an incident occurs. Collect all relevant documents: airline delay certificates, hospital bills, discharge summaries, police reports for theft, and proof of extra expenses. Submit a complete claim file once, keep a record of every email and call, and follow up politely but firmly if deadlines pass without updates.

Q6. What should older travelers watch out for with Reliance policies?
Travelers over 60 should pay particular attention to medical sub-limits, pre-existing disease exclusions, and any requirement for medical screening. Check whether there are age-based caps on sum insured, whether cardiac or chronic conditions are excluded, and how emergency evacuation is handled. If the answers leave you uncertain, a senior-focused policy from a rival insurer might provide clearer protection.

Q7. Are medical emergencies abroad cashless with Reliance?
Cashless treatment is sometimes available through Reliance’s assistance partners, but it depends on the hospital and the nature of the emergency. In practice, many travelers end up paying upfront and claiming reimbursement later. You should be financially prepared for that possibility, especially in countries where even a short emergency room visit can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Q8. Is Reliance better or worse than other Indian travel insurers?
It is not straightforwardly better or worse across the board. In some price ranges and destinations, Reliance is competitive on premiums and benefits. In others, rival insurers may offer clearer wording, stronger customer support reputations, or more flexible coverage for pre-existing conditions. The best approach is to compare a Reliance quote with at least two alternatives tailored to your route and age.

Q9. What can I do if Reliance denies my travel insurance claim?
First, ask for a detailed written explanation that cites the specific policy clauses relied on. If you still disagree, file a formal complaint through the insurer’s grievance process. If that fails, you can escalate to the Insurance Ombudsman in your region or use the IRDAI complaint portal. Many policyholders have obtained reversals or partial settlements only after taking these escalation steps.

Q10. Should I ever buy Reliance travel insurance?
Yes, it can be a reasonable choice for some trips, provided you are informed. If you find that a Reliance policy offers the right mix of price and coverage after comparing alternatives, and you are comfortable with the exclusions and claim process, you can buy it. The key is not to treat the brand name or low premium as a guarantee; read the fine print and be ready to document any claim thoroughly.