As a typical cheapo sinkie, I must confess to buying FWD travel insurance purely because it’s one of the cheapest travel insurance providers in Singapore.
Obviously it’s cheap because FWD is relatively newer and unknown, but before you decide to knock it, let’s take a closer look at the FWD travel insurance plans.
Contents
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- FWD Travel Insurance: Summary
- FWD Travel Insurance Coverage
- FWD Travel Insurance: Covid-19
- FWD Travel Insurance: Extreme Sports
- FWD vs NTUC vs MSIG Travel Insurance
- FWD vs AIA vs AXA vs Singlife Travel Insurance
- FWD Travel Insurance Promo Code
- FWD Travel Insurance Claims
- Should I get FWD Travel Insurance?
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1. FWD Travel Insurance Summary
You may have many questions about this young looking insurance company. 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 headquarter is 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 6 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 travel insurance plan is quite simply called FWD Travel Insurance, and there’s only one travel insurance plan that they offer. There are 3 plan tiers, namely:
- Premium
- Business
- First (most expensive)
Total Premium
S$21.60
- Med. Coverage (Overseas)
- S$200,000
- Trip Cancellation
- S$7,500
- Loss/Damage of Baggage
- S$3,000
- Total PremiumTotal Premium
S$2720% Off - S$21.60
T&Cs apply.
As with all travel insurance plans, your premiums (the price you pay) largely depends on the country you’re travelling to:
- ASEAN: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam
- Asia: Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), East Timor, Fiji, India, Japan, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and ASEAN
- Worldwide exclude USA: All countries except USA
- Worldwide: All countries
- Countries not covered: Afghanistan, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Libya, Liberia, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Yemen (any country where Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore advises against travelling to)
2. FWD Travel Insurance Coverage
What does FWD travel insurance cover? And how much does it cost? Let’s find out:
| FWD Travel Insurance | Premium | Business | First |
| Price (ASEAN) | $25/week | $34/week | $44/week |
| Price (Asia) | $27/week | $42/week | $53/week |
| Price (Worldwide) | $42/week | $54/week | $73/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 ($100/6 hours) | $300 | $500 | $1,000 |
| Trip cancellation | $7,500 | $10,000 | $15,000 |
| Baggage delay ($150/6 hours) | $150 | $600 | $900 |
| Personal belongings loss | $300 | $600 | $1,000 |
| Sports & Adventure | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Covid-19 Coverage | Add-On | Add-On | Add-On |
Prices – compared to other travel insurance companies, FWD’s travel insurance indeed is one of the cheapest travel insurance plans in Singapore. Pulse check? Budget travel insurance provider, Direct Asia’s travel insurance plans range from $35 to $94 per week. A reputable travel insurance provider such as AIG’s travel insurance plans cost $48 to $132 per week. And then there’s the more expensive options like Sompo travel insurance which will set you back by $52 to $132 per week.
Comparison of FWD travel insurance prices vs other travel insurance providers:
- FWD travel insurance: $25 to $73 per week
- Direct Asia travel insurance: $35 to $94 per week
- AIG travel insurance: $48 to $132 per week
- Sompo travel insurance: $52 to $132 per week
Coverage wise, FWD’s travel insurance offers very good coverage for all things serious such as medical expenses, emergency medical evacuation, and personal accident death. However, you’ll have to forfeit the minor and miscellaneous coverage such as travel delay (FWD $300 vs Great Eastern $1,000), baggage or personal belongings loss (FWD $300 vs AIA $3,000), and baggage delay (FWD $150 vs MSIG $600).
Total Premium
S$40.20
- Med. Coverage (Overseas)
- S$250,000
- Trip Cancellation
- S$5,000
- Loss/Damage of Baggage
- S$3,000
- Total PremiumTotal Premium
S$6740% Off - S$40.20
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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 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) | $20.60/week | |
| Price (Asia) | $25.08/week | |
| Price (Worldwide) | $34.04/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 | |
At $20.60 to $34.04 per week, FWD’s Covid rider is actually more expensive than its competitors’. Direct Asia’s Covid rider costs $18.30 to $42.30 per week, while Etiqa Tiq travel insurance’s Covid rider costs $18 to $63 per week.
However, FWD’s Covid-19 rider offers much more value and coverage than Direct Asia’s. FWD offers $200,000 in medical coverage while Direct Asia’s is capped at $150,000. FWD gives you both hospitalisation and quarantine cash allowance while Direct Asia doesn’t all.
Etiqa’s Covid-19 coverage is comparable to FWD’s. However, FWD offers more in hospitalisation and quarantine cash benefit than Etiqa.
Total Premium
S$42
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 (Premium) is very good value for money.
5. FWD vs NTUC vs MSIG Travel Insurance
If you were to compare FWD travel insurance against top-tier insurance brand names such as NTUC Income and MSIG, you’ll realise that FWD is way cheaper at first.
However, add in the Covid-19 rider cost to make a better comparison.
You’ll then realise that the highest tier FWD travel insurance, First, is the most value for money plan that FWD has. At $107 for a week with FWD First travel insurance you get worldwide coverage with Covid-19, outdoor sports, and pretty high overseas medical coverage that’s on par with NTUC and MSIG’s.
The biggest drawback about FWD, again, is the low coverage for personal belongings and baggage loss.
| FWD Travel Insurance | NTUC Travel Insurance | MSIG Travel Insurance | |
| Price (per week) | $25 – $73 | $61 – $195 | $61 – $201 |
| Covid-19 (per week) | $20.60 – $34.04 | Included | Included |
| Medical Expenses (Overseas) | $200,000 – $1,000,000 | $250,000 – $1,000,000 | $250,000 – $1,000,000 |
| Emergency Medical Evacuation | Unlimited | (Under medical expenses) | $1,000,000 |
| Trip Cancellation | $7,500 – $15,000 | $5,000 – $15,000 | $5,000 – $15,000 |
| Baggage Loss | $300 – $1,000 | $3,000 – $8,000 | $3,000 – $7,500 |
6. FWD vs AIA vs AXA vs Singlife Travel Insurance
Other popular contenders for FWD travel insurance include AIA, AXA, and Singlife with Aviva.
Again, when you add FWD’s core plan premiums to its Covid-19 rider premiums, you’ll realise that FWD’s prices are somewhat on par with its counterparts. However, the highest tier FWD First travel insurance plan offers the most value for money.
When compared against AIA travel insurance, FWD’s core medical coverage pales in comparison.
You may be looking at Singlife with Aviva’s unlimited medical expenses coverage – do note that any emergency medical evacuation will be charged to the same limit. Singlife with Aviva’s trip cancellation coverage is also the lowest in this comparison chart.
| FWD Travel Insurance | AIA Travel Insurance | AXA Travel Insurance | Singlife Travel Insurance | |
| Price (per week) | $25 – $73 | $37.30 – $123 | $43.12 – $177.80 | $38.61 – $151.95 |
| Covid-19 (per week) | $20.60 – $34.04 | Included | Included | Included |
| Medical Expenses (Overseas) | $200,000 – $1,000,000 | $200,000 – $2,000,000 | $30,000 – $300,000 | $250,000 – Unlimited |
| Emergency Medical Evacuation | Unlimited | $500,000 – Unlimited | $100,000 – Unlimited | (Under medical expenses) |
| Trip Cancellation | $7,500 – $15,000 | $5,000 – $15,000 | $1,000 – $6,000 | $0 – $5,000 |
| Baggage Loss | $300 – $1,000 | $3,000 – $8,000 | $0 – $5,000 | $3,000 – $8,000 |
7. FWD Travel Insurance Promo Code
FWD is definitely one of the affordable brands and their prices are often competitive with ongoing promos (always use MoneySmart’s travel insurance comparison page to get the cheapest rates!) particularly if you’re travelling beyond Southeast Asia. I mean, $27 for a week’s coverage in expensive countries like Australia and New Zealand is really quite a steal.
There is an ongoing FWD Travel Insurance promo code FWD77 for 20% discount off your travel insurance premiums.
8. FWD Travel Insurance Claim Review
FWD has hands-down got the best claim reviews in Singapore at the moment. When you purchase your FWD travel insurance, there will be clear instructions telling you to keep your negative PCR departure test for documentation and so on. Listen, and follow. With FWD, online users with documentations done right got their claims smoothly.
FWD emergency hotline: +65 6322 2072
FWD WhatsApp claims: You can do a WhatsApp claim for travel delay or baggage delay. Send the message “I’ve a claim” to FWD Claims at +65 9128 8552. You can then WhatsApp photos of your documents.
FWD Online claims: Fill in this FWD claim form online and upload the supporting documents online.
FWD Hard copy claims: For medical expenses and baggage loss/damage, you have to complete the online claims procedure and then mail your documents to
FWD Singapore Pte Ltd (Claims Team)
6 Temasek Boulevard #18-01
Suntec Tower 4
Singapore 038986
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.
9. 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. Plus, you can make claims through WhatsApp!
The downside is the poor benefits for travel inconveniences. For some people, the low limits on travel and baggage delays, and the trouble you have to go through for claiming losses, are a major deal breaker. If you’re travelling with expensive or important items, FWD definitely doesn’t offer enough coverage.
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