The UK Global Health Insurance Card is not actually global – it just covers the European Economic Area (EEA) and a handful of other countries including Montenegro, Switzerland and, surprisingly, Australia. It gives you access to the state healthcare that a resident of that country would receive, so not everything may be free. It doesn’t help you get home if you are sick or injured, so does not replace travel insurance, but it is worth having for emergencies. And some travel insurers insist you have one. Luckily, Ghics are free – apply via the NHS website and don’t fall for services that try to charge you. You need to apply for each family member and take the cards with you. They last five years. HO
Passengers whose flight is cancelled last minute or delayed by three hours or more can claim between £220 and £520 compensation depending on the delay and the flight’s length, provided it was the airline’s responsibility and not an “extraordinary circumstance”.
Air traffic control problems or severe thunderstorms count as being beyond the airline’s control. Not having enough staff or not having an aircraft available do not.
You claim for each passenger individually and the sums paid are fixed, unrelated to your ticket cost, your cabin class or whether you used air miles at purchase.
UK passengers can only claim for flights that departed from a UK airport, or arrived at a UK or EU airport on a UK or EU-based airline.