Kids are often covered at no extra cost on family travel insurance policies, which can make a big difference to the cost of a family holiday. But “free” doesn’t always mean unlimited: age limits, dependency rules and requirements about who is travelling together can vary between insurers. Family trips also come with their own risks, from cancelled accommodation and medical emergencies to lost baggage and unexpected changes to your plans. The right policy should give you confidence that those costs are covered before you leave, rather than leaving you to sort them out after something goes wrong.
- Top pick for families: Zoom
- Best budget option: Tick
- Best for comprehensive cover: Southern Cross Travel Insurance
- Important: Check cancellation, medical and baggage limits before buying.
- Special circumstances: Check cover for pre-existing conditions, cruises and adventure activities.
Our Top 3 Travel Insurance Picks for Families
Zoom: Best Overall Family Option
Zoom is our pick for families because it combines broad travel insurance cover with a strong focus on value. Its policies can cover the essentials families need, including overseas medical expenses, cancellation, luggage and travel disruption, while eligible children can be covered at no additional premium. Zoom also offers a Price Match Promise, which can make it particularly appealing for families comparing policies on price. It’s a good all-round choice if you want comprehensive cover without automatically moving to the most expensive option.
Tick: Best Budget Option
Tick is our pick for families looking to keep the cost of travel insurance down without going without the essentials. Its policies offer cover for key family travel risks such as overseas medical expenses, cancellation, luggage and travel disruptions, making it a practical option for price-conscious travellers. Tick is particularly worth considering when you want straightforward cover without paying for features you may not need. Families should still compare the policy limits, excess and exclusions carefully, as the cheapest premium isn’t always the best value.
Southern Cross Travel Insurance: Best for Comprehensive Cover
Southern Cross Travel Insurance is our pick for families looking for comprehensive cover and strong protection across the major risks of an overseas trip. Its policies can provide cover for overseas medical expenses, cancellation, luggage, travel delays and other unexpected costs, while eligible dependent children can be covered at no additional premium. That can make SCTI particularly attractive for families wanting broad protection without taking out separate policies for children.
Compare Family Travel Insurance
| Insurer | Free Kids Cover | Notable Feature | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoom | Dependent children and grandchildren under 19 | Simple, fast claims process | Straightforward family cover |
| Southern Cross Travel Insurance | Dependent children and grandchildren included free | Respected claims process and good cover limits | Comprehensive cover |
| Tick Travel Insurance | Dependent children and grandchildren included free | Budget-friendly, Canstar-awarded value | Families on a tighter budget |
Table compiled 2 August 2026 from insurer information published on The Champagne Mile. Free-kids eligibility (age cutoff, dependency status, full trip duration) varies by insurer – always confirm current criteria on the insurer’s own quote page before buying.
Best Travel Insurance for Different Types of Families
We’ve already cover who we consder to be the best 3 insurers for families above, but there may be certain situations where a more focused insurer is needed:
Pre-existing medical conditions
Kids can have pre-existing conditions too, and they need declaring just like an adult’s would. Asthma, allergies, or anything else your child has seen a doctor for in the past year should go on the medical questionnaire the same way it would for you. You might consider AllClear for complex or multiple conditions or Cover-More.
Frequent travellers
If you’re travelling for more than 3 trips a year with kids, you may find that an annual policy works out to be cheaper than individual policies. For an Annual policy, Zoom could be a great option.
Cruises
We can’t say it enough, but you need specific insurance for cruises. Don’t assume you’re covered with a land based policy. Consider Tick Travel Insurance – it won the 2025 Canstar Outstanding Value Award for Cruise Travel Insurance in its first year offering the product.
Adventure
Adventure sports & special activities result in some many injuries nd claims overseas, but if you don’t have specific cover, you’ll likely end up out of pocket with HUGE hospital bills. Scuba, skydiving, snowsports and especially motorbikes all fall outside normal policies – have a look at CoverMore and Freely for cover.
What Should Family Travel Insurance Cover?
We’ve covered pre-existing medical conditions, cruises, adventure and frequent travelling above, that leaves:
Children
“Free” kids cover almost always has strings attached. Age cutoffs range anywhere from 18 to 25 depending on the insurer, and most require the child to be financially dependent, not working full-time, and travelling with you for the whole trip. Check the specific criteria rather than assuming your teenager or young adult automatically qualifies just because you’ve seen “kids go free” in the marketing.
Multi-generations
A multi-generational trip might need more thought than a single family policy. If grandparents are joining the kids on a big trip, check whether everyone actually fits under one family policy’s age limits – sometimes the cleanest solution is a specialist policy like AllClear for the older travellers, run alongside a standard family policy for the rest. Our seniors travel insurance guide covers this in more depth.
Kids and grandkids travel free. No fine-print scavenger hunt.
Zoom covers dependent children and grandchildren under 19 for free on your policy, backed by a claims process built to be quick rather than a chore when you’re already juggling a family holiday. Five pricing tiers let you match cost against cover, with reimbursement for meals and delays if things don’t start smoothly at the airport.
Medical
It’s also worth understanding that a family policy isn’t one big shared pool of cover you can dip into however you like. Each person on the policy generally still has their own individual claim limits sitting underneath the combined family plan – so if two of you need medical treatment on the same trip, you’re each working within your own sub-limit, not sharing one number between you.
If a family trip includes the United States, unlimited overseas medical cover stops being a nice-to-have and becomes close to essential. Australia doesn’t have a reciprocal healthcare agreement with the US, and hospital costs there are among the highest in the world. A single emergency room visit for a kid who’s taken a tumble at a theme park can run into the tens of thousands of dollars without cover – exactly the kind of holiday-ruining surprise good travel insurance exists to prevent.
Cancellation
A child getting sick the night before you fly is one of the most common real-world triggers for a cancellation claim, so it’s worth checking your cancellation cover matches your full family trip cost, not just what an adult-only version of the same holiday would have cost. Flight delays hit differently with kids in tow too – a few extra hours at the airport is an inconvenience for two adults and a full-blown logistics problem with three bored children, which is exactly why a decent travel delay benefit (covering meals and entertainment while you wait) matters more for families than the headline premium number usually suggests.
Baggage
Family baggage cover works differently to what most people assume – it’s rarely one shared pool for the whole family, and combined values add up fast when everyone’s packing devices, cameras, or a decent wardrobe for a two-week trip. Check the per-item and per-person sub-limits on your policy, not just the total baggage figure on the summary page – a single lost laptop or a stolen camera can easily exceed what a “family” limit actually pays out per item, even if the headline number looks generous. If anyone in the family is travelling with higher-value gear – tablets, jewellery, a decent watch – it’s worth declaring it specifically or adding gadget cover, since most standard policies cap single-item payouts well below what replacement actually costs.
Excess
A higher excess lowers your premium, which can be a reasonable trade-off for a family that rarely claims, but it’s worth weighing against the chance of multiple smaller claims (a missed connection here, a lost bag there) rather than one big one – with several people travelling, the odds of at least one claim go up. Always confirm whether the excess is per person, per claim, or per policy before you buy, since that detail matters more for a family than it does for a solo traveller.
- Children are included on the policy
- Medical cover is sufficient
- Cancellation limit covers the prepaid trip
- Family excess is acceptable
- Baggage limits cover your valuables
- Activities are covered
- Pre-existing conditions have been assessed
- Cruise cover is included if relevant
- Rental-car excess is covered if hiring a car
How to choose the right policy
Start with the free-kids fine print rather than the headline claim – check the exact age cutoff, whether grandkids are included alongside kids, and whether “free” requires the child to be travelling with you the entire trip. From there, size your cancellation cover to your actual full family trip cost, since a sick child the night before departure is a genuinely common reason families end up needing to claim, and it’s a lot less stressful to have that sorted in advance than to be arguing over sub-limits while someone’s got a fever.
Our Top Picks for Families
Zoom is the simplest starting point for most families, largely because the free-kids offer is front and centre rather than buried in the PDS – dependent children and grandchildren under 19 travel free, and the claims process is built to be quick rather than a chore during an already stressful moment.
If budget is the deciding factor, Tick Travel Insurance or Travel Insurance Direct are worth comparing.
For a genuinely well-known global name, Southern Cross Travel Insurance and Cover-More are the obvious mainstream choices. And if your family trip includes grandparents as well as kids, it’s worth reading our seniors travel insurance guide alongside this one – a family policy’s upper age limit can sometimes fall short of covering grandma and grandpa even when everyone else fits comfortably, and AllClear’s no-upper-age-limit approach is built for exactly that gap.
Families heading somewhere adventurous have two solid options worth comparing directly: WAS Insurance, whose Robin Assist team provides genuine 24/7 support, and Fast Cover, which assesses pregnancy and pre-existing conditions individually and backs it with an Aussie-based assistance team. Either is a reasonable fit if your trip mixes hiking, snow sports or water activities with the usual family holiday itinerary.
More Travel Insurance Guides
- Best travel insurance for seniors in Australia
- Best travel insurance for cruises
- Travel insurance for pre-existing medical conditions
- Annual vs single-trip travel insurance
Current Travel Insurance Promo Codes
For a full list of our travel insurance deals and promotions, head to our promotions page here or back to our Travel Insurance guides hub here.
Other Useful Links
Got a complaint about a travel insurer? Lodge it with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) – give the insurer a chance to resolve it internally first, usually within 45 days.
For current government travel advisories, check Smartraveller – Australia’s official travel advisory service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do kids really travel free on family travel insurance?
Often yes, but with conditions attached. Most insurers require the child to be financially dependent, not working full-time, and travelling with you for the entire trip, and age cutoffs vary from around 18 up to 25 depending on the insurer. Zoom covers dependent children and grandchildren under 19 for free, for example. Always check the specific criteria before assuming your child qualifies.
Do I need unlimited medical cover for a family trip to the USA?
Strongly recommended, close to essential. Australia has no reciprocal healthcare agreement with the United States, and hospital costs there are among the highest in the world. A single emergency room visit without adequate cover can be extremely costly, so unlimited overseas medical cover is worth treating as a non-negotiable for any US-inclusive family trip.
Does a family travel insurance policy share one combined limit between everyone?
No, generally not. Each family member typically has their own individual claim limits underneath the combined family policy, rather than one shared pool. If more than one person needs to claim, each of you works within your own sub-limit.
Can I cancel my family trip if my child gets sick before departure?
Usually yes, if your policy includes cancellation cover and the illness meets the policy’s definition of a covered event. This is one of the more common real-world claims families make, so it’s worth confirming your cancellation cover matches your full family trip cost before you travel.
What if grandparents are joining a family trip – can everyone go on one policy?
It depends on the insurer’s age limits. Some family policies have an upper age cutoff that grandparents can exceed even when the rest of the family fits comfortably. In that case, a specialist policy like AllClear, which has no upper age limit, alongside a standard family policy for everyone else, can be a cleaner solution. See our seniors travel insurance guide for more.
Do children need to be declared for pre-existing medical conditions too?
Yes. A child’s asthma, allergies or any other condition they’ve seen a doctor for should be declared the same way an adult’s would be. See our pre-existing conditions guide for what actually needs declaring.
Is travel delay cover worth prioritising for family trips?
Yes, more than the premium comparison usually suggests. A delayed flight is a bigger logistical challenge with kids involved than with adults alone, and a policy with a genuine benefit for meals and entertainment during a delay is worth factoring into your decision, not just the base premium.
Michael is a contributor to The Champagne Mile – Deals. No fancy credentials – just a genuine obsession with finding ways to travel better for less, and sharing those finds with anyone who’ll listen. Michael figures there are plenty of other Australians who’d rather spend five seconds clicking a link than five hours searching for a working code. When he’s not buried in promo codes, Michael is probably planning his next trip overseas or dirtbike adventure.
