FWD travel insurance is one of those affordable, go-to options that many Singaporeans pick without thinking twice. Known for its value-for-money plans, it’s often seen as a no-frills travel insurance choice for budget-conscious travellers.
However, while FWD is often seen as a basic, no-frills choice, it actually offers more than just budget-friendly plans. For one thing, did you know that, FWD is one of the few insurers in Singapore whose flight delay coverage pays out $50 for every 3 hours of delay instead of offering a per 6 hour rate?
In addition to its standout flight delay coverage and regular things like medical coverage and coverage for travel inconveniences, FWD travel insurance also offers protection for pre-existing medical conditions, pets, sports equipment, and car rental excess. Maybe it’s time we gave it a closer look—after all, it's always prudent to know what exactly you're paying for.
Let’s explore what FWD travel insurance has to offer.

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1. FWD travel insurance summary
What is it and where is FWD from? FWD is actually an insurance company founded by Hong Kong businessman, Richard Li—you might know him better as the Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing's son. FWD's headquarters are based in Hong Kong, but it operates insurance in numerous ASEAN countries in the likes of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and so on.
FWD insurance launched in Singapore in 2016, which means it's been in operation here in Singapore for almost 10 years now. Some of the most popular FWD insurance plans in Singapore include the FWD car insurance, FWD travel insurance, and FWD life insurance.
FWD's travel insurance is offered across 3 plan tiers for both single and annual travel insurance. In order of least to most coverage and premium, we have:
Single trip | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Annual | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
The most affordable FWD travel insurance plan is FWD Premium. It's a great choice if you're on a budget.
As with all travel insurance plans, your premiums (the price you pay) largely depends on the country you're travelling to:
- ASEAN: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam
- Asia including ASEAN: Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, East Timor, Fiji, India, Japan, Maldives, Nepal, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Taiwan but excluding Hong Kong, China and Macau
- Worldwide excluding USA: All countries except USA
- Worldwide: All countries except the excluded countries below
- Countries not covered: Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Libya, Liberia, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, The territories of Crimea including Sevastopol, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson
Source: FWD FAQ, FAQ policy wording
2. FWD Travel Insurance Coverage
What does each tier of FWD travel insurance cover? And how much does each cost? Let's compare them:
FWD Travel Insurance | Premium | Business | First |
Price (ASEAN) | $34/week | $47/week | $61/week |
Price (Asia) | $37/week | $59/week | $74/week |
Price (Worldwide excluding USA) | $61/week | $91/week | $115/week |
Price (Worldwide) | $68/week | $104/week | $140/week |
Medical expenses (overseas) | $200,000 | $500,000 | $1,000,000 |
Emergency medical evacuation | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Personal accident (death, TPD) | $200,000 | $300,000 | $400,000 |
Travel delay | $300 ($100 per 6 hours) | $800 ($50 per 3 hours) | $1,500 ($50 per 3 hours) |
Trip cancellation | $7,500 | $10,000 | $15,000 |
Baggage delay ($150 per 6 hours) | $150 | $600 | $900 |
Loss/damage of personal baggage | $3,000 | $5,000 | $7,500 |
Car rental excess | NA | $500 | $1,000 |
Sports & Adventure | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Covid-19 Coverage | Add-On | Add-On | Add-On |
Comparison of FWD travel insurance prices vs other travel insurance providers
As far as pricing goes, FWD's travel insurance indeed is one of the best travel insurance plans in Singapore compared to other travel insurance companies. All 3 of its plan tiers fall below the median price other insurers charge:

To give you a better idea, budget travel insurance provider Direct Asia's travel insurance plans range from $36 to $55 per week for an ASEAN trip—fairly comparable to FWD. On the other hand, AIG's travel insurance plans cost $48 to $125 per week.
The same trip would cost $34 to $61 a week for FWD.
Comparison of FWD travel insurance coverage vs other travel insurance providers

Coverage wise, FWD's travel insurance offers very good coverage for areas such as overseas medical expenses and travel inconveniences. The latter includes coverage for trip cancellation, travel delay, and baggage loss. It recently enhanced its travel delay coverage too—now, its Business and Premium plans offer $50 per 3 hours of delay instead of $100 for every 6 hours.
However, FWD doesn't fare so well for baggage delay. You're looking at coverage limits of $150 to $900, with a compensation rate of $150 for every 6 hours of delay.
3. FWD Travel Insurance: Covid-19 Coverage
FWD travel insurance does not automatically include Covid-19 coverage. Instead, you'll need to purchase an add-on Covid rider on top of your travel insurance policy.
Here's the prices and what you will be covered for in the event that you decide to purchase the FWD Covid-19 rider for your holiday:
FWD Travel Insurance: Covid rider | ||
Price (ASEAN) | $6.75/week | |
Price (Asia) | $6.78/week | |
Price (Worldwide excluding USA) | $12.07/week | |
Price (Worldwide) | $12.38/week | |
Medical expenses (overseas) | $200,000 | |
Emergency medical evacuation | $200,000 | |
Overseas hospital cash | $100/day (max 14 days) | |
Overseas quarantine allowance | $50/day (max 14 days) | |
Trip disruption | $5,000 | |
Trip cancellation | $5,000 | |
Automatic policy extension | 21 days | |
Source: FWD COVID-19 Enhanced Travel Benefits insurance policy wording
At about $7 to $12 per week, FWD's Covid rider is affordable. It's priced lower than DirectAsia's Covid rider, which will set you back by $13.73 to $31.70 per week. However, Tiq travel insurance's Covid rider starts from just $3+ per week.
While prices for FWD's and Direct Asia's Covid-19 riders are similar, the former offers more value and coverage. FWD offers $200,000 in medical coverage for their most basic plan tier, while Direct Asia's most basic tier, DirectAsia Voyager 150. caps COVID-19 medical coverage at $150,000. FWD gives you both hospitalisation and quarantine cash allowance while Direct Asia doesn't offer either.
Etiqa's Covid-19 coverage for its lowest plan is comparable to FWD's; their Covid-19 coverage isn't flat across all plans. They offer $100,000 to $300,000 medical coverage, $500 to $1,500 quarantine allowance, and $200,000 to $500,000 for emergency medical evacuation depending on which plan you opt for. If you want higher coverage for Covid, Tiq Luxury is one way to get it, albeit at a higher premium.
4. FWD travel insurance: Extreme sports coverage
While FWD travel insurance's policy wording does not explicitly state if its coverage extends to outdoor adventure and extreme sports or not, there is a FAQ blog article found on the FWD website that tells us that FWD Travel Insurance covers most recreational and licensed outdoor adventure activities.
FWD Travel Insurance Outdoor Adventure | Covered |
Hot air balloon | Yes |
Scuba diving | Yes |
Skiing and other ice, snow sports | Yes |
Hiking, trekking | Yes (up to 3,000m) |
Mountaineering, outdoor rock climbing | Yes (up to 3,000m) |
Marathons and other competitions | No |
Jet skiing | Yes |
White water rafting | Yes |
Skydiving | Yes |
Paragliding, hang gliding, parachuting | Yes |
Bungee jumping | Yes |
Considering that most outdoor activities are covered, their lowest tier plan (FWD Premium) is very good value for money.
5. FWD vs Starr vs Zurich Travel Insurance
If you were to compare FWD travel insurance against other budget insurance brand names such as Starr and Zurich, you'll realise that FWD is way less expensive at first.
However, we need to add in the Covid-19 rider cost to make a better comparison.
You'll then realise that FWD isn't priced lower than the other budget insurers; it's comparable to Starr, but more expensive than Zurich.
At the end of the day, you're still getting what you paid for. While Zurich travel insurance is more affordable, it also offers less coverage. Starr travel insurance is around the same cost as FWD, and so is its coverage offered.
FWD Travel Insurance | Starr Travel Insurance | Zurich Travel Insurance | |
Price (per week) | $34 – $61 | $58 – $130 | $25 – $43 |
Covid-19 (per week) | $6.75 – $12.38 | Included | Included |
Medical Expenses (Overseas) | $200,000 – $1,000,000 | $200,000 – $1,000,000 | $100,000 – $500,000 |
Emergency Medical Evacuation | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Trip Cancellation | $7,500 – $15,000 | $5,000 – $15,000 | $2,500 – $7,500 |
Baggage Loss | $3,000 – $7,500 | $3,000 – $7,500 | $2,000 – $5,000 |
6. FWD travel insurance promotion
FWD is definitely one of the affordable brands and their prices are often competitive with ongoing travel insurance promotion. Currently, FWD travel insurance premiums are going at up to 30% off. Snag a 30% (Single) or 25% (Annual Travel) discount with the code FWDHOLIDAY.
On top of that, you'll walk away with cash rewards:
- $8 cash via PayNow
- and $30 Revolut cash reward
Valid till 15 Apr 2026.
7. FWD travel insurance emergency hotline and claim process
FWD emergency hotline: +65 6322 2072
FWD Online claims: Fill in this FWD claim form online and upload the supporting documents online.
Things to note: Claims must be made within 30 days of the event or incident. Refer to FWD’s claims guide for what documents to submit for each type of claim. FWD will follow up to acknowledge your claim within 2 working days.
8. Conclusion: Should I get FWD Travel Insurance?
In general, the FWD travel insurance plans are good value for money, especially for Asia and Worldwide.
One of the best things about FWD travel insurance is that they automatically cover activities like scuba diving, rock climbing and skydiving.
It’s particularly useful for those planning to go for outdoor activities like skydiving and hot-air balloon rides—unlike some other insurance companies that claim to protect you on your travels, but sneakily classify all your planned activities as “dangerous” and therefore excluded.
Another boon is the good trip cancellation coverage. (Because the world is full of threats to your imminent holiday.) FWD Premium has an above-average benefit for trip cancellations, even if it’s due to a Zika outbreak or haze.
Maybe I have the attention span of a millennial, but when I buy insurance from FWD I don’t find it horribly tedious. I appreciate that the whole user experience is mobile-optimised, fast and relatively painless.
If we just look at the numbers, there isn't a lot to dislike about FWD travel insurance. Who wouldn't be happy with good coverage at an affordable price—even after you add the COVID-19 rider? The one negative thing I've heard about FWD travel insurance is that claims can be slow or inadequate for some of my friends. But then again, I also have a good number of friends who reported a speedy, seamless claim process.
About our scale and rating system
- We compiled the prices and coverage limits for 60 travel insurance plans from 22 different providers in Singapore in a massive spreadsheet.
- For each price/coverage category (e.g. trip cancellation, travel delay, etc.), we determined the minimum, median, and maximum values across all travel insurance plans. These values then form scales showing the lowest, highest, and average price/coverage amounts for different travel insurance plans in Singapore.
- Finally, we plotted where each travel insurance plan stands on those scales and assigned a star rating for the provider based on the results.
- To arrive at an overall score reflecting price versus coverage, we take the average of the 5 coverage components, then average that figure with the price. The final score is rounded to the nearest whole number.
Star rating and description | Example |
★☆☆☆☆ 1 star: All plans under that provider perform lower than average, and one plan is the worst performing. If there is only 1 plan, it is the worst performing. | 1 star: |
★★☆☆☆ 2 stars: All plans under that provider perform lower than average, but no plan is the worst performing. If there is only 1 plan, it performs below average. | 2 stars: |
★★★☆☆ 3 stars: At least 1 plan performs average or above average, and the rest are below average. If there is only 1 plan, it performs average. | 3 stars: |
★★★★☆ 4 stars: At least half (e.g. 2 out of 3) of the plans perform average or above average, but not all are above average. If there are only 2 plans, both perform average, or 1 performs average and the other above average. If there is only 1 plan, it performs above average. | 4 stars: |
★★★★★ 5 stars: All plans under that provider perform average or above average. If there is only 1 plan, it is the best performing in Singapore. | 5 stars: |
Overall: (Rating for price + Average rating across coverage components) / 2 | Rating for price: 2 Average rating for coverage: 4 Overall rating: (2+4)/2 = 3 |
Notes:
- The star ratings are flipped for the Price component—for this, the lower the better.
- For all components, we will also award bonus or penalty stars to recognise special features of plans that may be non-quantifiable, as well as the best and poorest performing plans in Singapore:
- Add a bonus star if one of the plans is the best in Singapore.
- Deduct a penalty star if one of the plans is the worst in Singapore.
- For travel delay, most insurers offer $100 for every 6 hours.
- ADD a star if the compensation rate for all plans under an insurer is higher. For example: a shorter time interval ($50 for every 3 hours) or larger compensation amount ($200 for every 6 hours)
- DEDUCT a star if the compensation rate for all plans under an insurer is lower. For example: a longer time interval ($100 for every 8 hours) or smaller compensation amount ($50 for every 6 hours)
- For baggage delay, most insurers offer $200 for every 6 hours.
- ADD a star if the compensation rate for all plans under an insurer is higher. For example: a shorter time interval ($100 for every 3 hours) or larger compensation amount ($250 for every 6 hours)
- DEDUCT a star if the compensation rate for all plans under an insurer is lower. For example: a longer time interval ($200 for every 8 hours) or smaller compensation amount ($150 for every 6 hours)
Still looking to buy travel insurance? Compare all the best travel insurance in Singapore.




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