Guide to the best family travel insurance in Singapore: Cost, coverage, age limits and more

Feeding one extra mouth at home is one thing, but travelling with another little human is a whole different ball game. From missed flights to lost belongings, a lot can go wrong when you're travelling with kids.

But the first mistake you could make? Failing to buy life-saving travel insurance that will protect your family against the mishaps that are bound to happen.

Doubling your insurance coverage from just you and your partner to cover a family of four might seem like an expensive endeavour-especially since kids seem to be natural magnets for trouble. But here's the good news: family travel insurance is cheaper than you think. 

I've scoured dozens of travel insurance policies and compared their premiums, coverage, and other benefits. Here's my breakdown of the best family travel insurance plans in Singapore that will give you the most bang for your buck.

1. TL;DR

The most affordable family travel insurance plans are:

These family travel insurance plans allow you to include other family members in their family travel insurance plans; they need not strictly be you, your spouse and your child(ren).

• Amex: Adults need not be related for single trip policies but must be partners for annual multi-trip policies.
• Chubb: Child can be your child or grandchild. Adults need not be related for single trip policies but must be partners for annual multi-trip policies.
• DBS TravellerShield Plus: Child can be you and/or your partner’s child, grandchild, niece, nephew or cousin.
• Great Eastern: Child can be a sibling, grandchild, niece, nephew or cousin.
• OCBC: Child can be a sibling, grandchild, niece, nephew or cousin. Must be related by blood, marriage or legal adoption to at least one adult.
• Tiq by Etiqa: Adults can be parents or grandparents of the dependent child(ren).

• Tokio Marine: The adults need not be related, but the child(ren) must be the legal child or ward in the case of a legal guardian, grandchild, siblings, nephew, niece or cousin of either one of the adults.

2. What is family travel insurance?

Family travel insurance refers to a travel insurance plan that covers you and your family. Unlike the family packages you get at amusement parks and movie tickets, a "family" doesn't necessarily mean two adults and two kids when it comes to family travel insurance. Minimally, it refers to you and one child. Maximally, across all the insurers I surveyed, it can cover you, your spouse, and up to 18 children. The common denominator is there being at least one child.

Not every travel insurer offers a specific family travel insurance plan that is branded as such. Sometimes it's marketed to you as a "family cover" (Income Insurance is an example), while some insurers simply ask you how many children you're travelling with when you're requesting a quotation.

Whether they throw in the word "family" or not, I think 99 per cent of insurance providers that offer adult travel insurance will also be able to provide you with a travel insurance policy that includes your spouse and child(ren)-I've never come across any that are exclusive to adults only. So if you don't see the word "family" in a travel insurance plan, don't write it off.

Note: In this article, I compare both travel insurance policies marketed for families as well as travel insurance policies that I just got a "family" (I assumed two adults + two kids) quotation for.

3. How much does family travel insurance cost per child?

This might be the only time in your life that you see these words: having more children might make it more affordable.

When it comes to family travel insurance, the majority of travel insurers don't care whether you're travelling with one child or 18 — they'll quote you the same insurance premium as long as you have at least one dependent child travelling with you. Some even cover your child(ren) for free! Children aren't that expensive after all, eh?

Since you pay the same amount no matter how many children you're travelling with, the cost per child is lower the more children you have. However, do take note of overall family limits that cap the total coverage benefits a family can have.

4. Comparison of costs vs coverage for different family travel insurance plans

For comparison, I'm assuming a family comprises two adults and two children for the premiums below. Here's a summary of the costs and coverage details across various insurance providers in Singapore for a 7-day trip to an Asean country.

Family travel insurance	Total cost	Coverage
		Overseas medical expenses	Trip cancellation	Loss of personal baggage
AIA	Enquire with an AIA representative	Adult: $200,000 – $300,000Child: $200,000 – $2,000,000	$5,000 – $15,000	$3,000 – $8,000
AIG	$117 – $314	Adult: $100,000 – $2,500,000Child: $60,000 – $300,000	$5,000 – $15,000	$3,000 – $10,000
Allianz Travel	$130 – $276 (MoneySmart promo: $55.90 – $118.68)	Adult and child: $200,000 – $1,000,000	$1,500 – $10,000	$1,000 – $5,000
Amex	$100 – $157	Adult: $500,000 – $2,000,000 Child: $62,500 – $250,000	$5,000 – $20,000	$3,500 – $8,000
Bubblegum	$84.24 (MoneySmart promo: $75.82)	Adult/Child: $150,000	$5,000	$3,000
Chubb	$165.50 – $377.50 (promo: $132.40 – $302)	Adult: $250,000 – $2,000,000 Child: $40,000 – $200,000	$3,000 – $20,000	$3,500 – $8,000
DBS TravellerShield Plus	$207 – $334 (promo: $72.45 – $116.90)	Adult: $300,000 – $1,000,000 Child: $200,000 – $300,000	$5,000 – $15,000 (overall limit for Family Plan: $15,000 – $45,000)	$3,000 – $8,000
FWD	$75.19 – $130.01 (MoneySmart promo: $56.39 – $97.51)Add on $23.79 for Covid-19 coverage	Adult: $200,000 – $1,000,000 Child:$60,000 – $200,000Overall limit for family plan: $500,000 – $2,500,000	$7,500 – $15,000 (overall limit for family plan: $18,750 – $37,500)	$3,000 – $7,500
Great Eastern	$167 – $212 (MoneySmart promo: $100.20 – $127.20)	Adult: $300,000 – $500,000 Child: $200,000 – $300,000Overall limit for family plan: $1,000,000 – $2,000,000	$25,000 – $50,000 (overall limit)	$7,500 – $10,000 (overall limit)
Income	$162.18 – $260.36 (Promo: $72.98 – $117.16)	Adult: $250,000 – $1,000,000 Child: $150,000 – $300,000Overall limit for family plan: $1,000,000 – $3,000,000	$5,000 – $15,000 (overall family limit: $15,000 – $45,000)	$3,000 – $8,000 (overall family limit: $7,500 – $20,000)
MSIG	$148 – $258 (MoneySmart promo: $88.80 – $154.80)	Adult: $250,000 – $1,000,000 Child: $150,000 – $300,000Overall limit for family plan: $800,000 – $2,600,000	$5,000 – $15,000 (overall limit for family plan: $12,500 – $37,500)	$3,000 – $7,500 (overall family limit: $6,000 – $15,000)
OCBC	$99 – $225	Adult: $300,000 – $700,000 Child: $120,000 – $280,000Overall limit for family plan: $1,000,000 – $2,500,000	$15,000 – $40,000 (overall limit)	$3,000 – $7,500 for all items
Singlife	$103.36 – $219.29	Adult and child: $250,000 – unlimited	$5,000 – $20,000	$3,000 – $8,000
Sompo	$168 – $213	Adult: $200,000 – $400,000 Child: $50,000 – $100,000Overall limit for family plan: $500,000 – $1,000,000	$5,000 – $10,000 (overall family limit: $15,000 – $30,000)	$1,000 (overall family limit: $2,500)
Starr (TraveLead Comprehensive)	$106.08 – $165.36 (MoneySmart promo: $53.04 –$82.68)	Adult: $200,000 – $1,000,000 Child: $60,000 – $300,000Overall limit for family plan: $200,000 – $1,000,000	$5,000 – $15,000	$3,000 – $7,500
Tiq by Etiqa	$89.70 – $165.60 (MoneySmart promo: $49.34 –$91.08)Add on $72 – $160 for Covid-19 coverage	Adult: $200,000 – $1,000,000 Child: $75,000 – $250,000	$5,000 – $10,000	$2,000 – $3,000
Tokio Marine	$143 – $174	Adult: $300,000 – $500,000 Child: $100,000 – $150,000Overall limit for family plan: $500,000 – $1,000,000	$5,000 – $10,000 (overall family limit: $10,000 – $20,000)	$5,000 – $7,500 (overall family limit: $10,000 – $15,000)
UOB	$131 – $215 (Promo $72.05 – $18.25)	Adult: $200,000 – $750,000 Child: $100,000 – $200,000Overall limit for family plan: $800,000 – $2,000,000	$1,500 – $5,000  (overall family limit: $3,750 – $12,500)	$2,000 – $7,500 (overall family limit: $5,000 – $20,000)

5. Are my parents, siblings and relatives covered by family travel insurance?

Unfortunately, your parents, siblings, cousins, aunties, uncles, and any other relatives are usually excluded from family travel insurance. You’ll know it when you’re keying in information for a family travel insurance quotation on an insurer’s website and see that the number of adults can be either one or two with no option for higher numbers. Case in point:

Aside from you and your spouse, other adults will have to purchase their own individual or group travel insurance instead. This can make getting quotations difficult because you’ll essentially need to get 2 quotations if you’re travelling with both your children and your parents.

6. So how do different travel insurers define a family?

It’s important to know who’s covered in a family travel insurance policy because this varies from insurer to insurer. It’s even more important to take note of if your child is between the ages of 18 and 25—these are the ages at which insurers often start counting your offspring as an adult instead of a child.

Generally, to be considered a child in a family travel insurance plan, they should also be unemployed and unmarried. If they’re working and/or married, they’ll be considered as adults.

If you’re travelling with your parents or relatives too, things get even more complicated. Very few travel insurers count parents + child(ren) + grandparents and more as a family unit — see the last column in the table below.

Family travel insurance	Maximum number of children	Age limit for a child	Number of adults covered	Other family members that can be included
AIA	Not specified	Under 19 years (24 years for full-time students)	1 – 2	–
AIG	Not specified	Under 19 years (23 years for full-time students)	1 – 2	–
Allianz Travel	18	Under 18 years (23 years for full-time students)	1 – 2	–
Amex	7	Under 18 years (23 years for full-time students)	1 – 2	Adults need not be related for single trip policies but must be partners for annual multi-trip policies.
Bubblegum	Not specified	Under 18 years (24 years for full-time students)	2	–
Chubb	4 – 5 (maximum of 6 insured persons)	Under 18 years (23 years for full-time students)	1 – 2	Child can be your child or grandchild. Adults need not be related for single trip policies but must be partners for annual multi-trip policies.
DBS TravellerShield Plus	5	Under 18 years (23 years for full-time students)	1 – 2	Child can be you and/or your partner’s child, grandchild, niece, nephew or cousin.
FWD	5	21 years or younger (25 years for full-time students)	1 – 2	–
Great Eastern	4	Under 18 years (24 years for full-time students)	1 – 2	Child can be a sibling, grandchild, niece, nephew or cousin.
Income	18 (as seen on their website when you’re getting a quotation. The policy wording states “any number” of children.)	Under 21 years	1 – 2	–
MSIG	5	Under 18 years (23 years for full-time students)	2 (If it’s just you and your child(ren), get their Adult & Child(ren) Cover instead.)	–
OCBC	8	Under 18 years (24 years for full-time students)	1 – 2 (adults can be married or unmarried)	Child can be a sibling, grandchild, niece, nephew or cousin. Must be related by blood, marriage or legal adoption to at least 1 adult.
Singlife	10	Under 21 years (23 years for full-time students)	1 – 2	–
Sompo	5	Under 21 years (25 years for full-time students)	1 – 2	–
Starr (TraveLead Comprehensive)	Free child coverage, unspecified maximum number	Under 18 years	1 – 2	–
Tiq by Etiqa	9 (maximum of 10 persons in total under family plan)	Under 18 years (25 years for full-time students)	1 – 6 (maximum of 10 persons in total under family plan)	Child must be a legal child or grandchild to an insured adult. Adult can be the parents or grandparents.
Tokio Marine	Not specified	Under 21 years (25 years for full-time students)	1 – 2	The two adults need not be related, but the child(ren) must be the legal child or ward in the case of a legal guardian, grandchild, siblings, nephew, niece or cousin of either one of the adults.
UOB	7	Under 18 years (23 years for full-time students)	1 – 2	–

7. What’s the difference between family travel insurance and group travel insurance?

Family travel insurance usually includes you, your spouse, and your children who are below 18 (e.g. MSIG, Starr, Bubblegum) or 21 years old (e.g. FWD, Income, Singlife). Some insurers like FWD travel insurance and Tiq by Etiqa extend the child’s age limit to up to 25 years if they’re still studying in an institute of higher learning on the date the policy coverage begins.

Additionally, you and your spouse usually need to be married, and your children should be your biological children, legal stepchildren, or have been legally adopted.

Group travel insurance covers several people travelling together in a group on the same trip. They need not be related. The maximum number of people varies depending on the insurance provider—for example, FWD’s limit is just 7 people, while Income Insurance and Singlife both have a limit of 20. Group travel insurance may or may not cover kids.

ALSO READ: Best travel insurance policies for places prone to natural disasters (2024)

This article was first published in MoneySmart.