That is why travel insurance is an afterthought for most of us or a necessary evil if you are going on a package holiday. The predictable result is that many end up paying way over the odds for cover that often lets them down if they have a claim.

The worst place to get insurance is from your travel agent or tour operator.

They pocket huge commissions for selling cover that can be bought for a fraction of the cost from the new crop of discount brokers selling travel insurance online.

For example, one of the main tour operators, Sunworld, charges 30 per adult and 15 per child for a standard policy giving up to 3,000 cover for holiday cancellations, up to 1,000 for lost or damaged baggage, and up to 350 for stolen cash.

But the exact same policy, with the exact same level of cover, and underwritten by the same insurance company, can be bought online for 10 per adult from Simply Mortgages.

An even better option if you take several foreign trips a year is to buy an annual travel policy. For less than 100 a year you should be able to get cover for the whole family, covering multiple trips to anywhere in the world and including hazardous sports such as skiing.

The best deals are offered to families who already pay for private health insurance from the likes of VHI, Bupa or Vivas. These companies should cover your medical bills no matter where you are in the world so there is no need to pay on the double by including expensive medical cover in your travel policy as well.

It is also worth checking if personal possessions are covered under your home contents policy. It may automatically include cover for some items away from home.

Ask for a discount on premiums if you do not need possessions cover.

But cheap insurance is a false economy if it fails to cover you when things go wrong. And judging from the growing volume of disputes between holidaymakers and their insurance companies, things have a habit of going wrong.

According to Joe Meade, the ombudsman for financial services, travel cover accounted for one in three of insurance complaints handled by his office last year, more than any other class of nonlife insurance.

A look at some of these complaints gives a useful insight into the pitfalls lurking in many travel policies.

Holiday cancellation is one of main reasons for claims but the insurance companies usually give themselves plenty of scope to wriggle out of paying up.

One disappointed holidaymaker complained to the ombudsman after he was forced to cut short a fiveweek foreign holiday after only four days because of the sudden death of an aunt. His insurance company refused to pay up, claiming that only the death of a "close relative" would trigger a refund and that aunts did not fit the bill.

After combing through the small print, the ombudsman was forced to agree with the insurance company. The policy had a broad definition of close relatives, including inlaws, partners and fiances, but not aunts.

Another flash point is holiday cancellations arising from illness because insurance companies will throw out claims if the condition already existed when the policy was purchased. The former insurance ombudsman, Caroline Gill, handed many complains in this area.

One involved a person forced to cancel a holiday when a travelling companion fell ill after an existing medical condition flared up. The insurance company was well covered by a catch-all restriction in the policy wording, which required notification of almost any conceivable medical condition, even by relatives who are not travelling.

Gill found that this watertight restriction meant that the insurance company could throw out the claim. Nevertheless she was concerned about other errors in the small print and, following pressure from her office, the insurance company agreed to pay out half the claim.

Theft is another frequent case of dispute, with the upset of being robbed while on holiday made worse when the insurance company tries to walk away from the claim.

Gill handled a complaint from a woman whose bag, containing cash, passport, jewellery and mobile phone, was snatched while she was swimming. The insurance company threw out her claim, accusing the woman of failing to take reasonable care of her possessions. Given that she had left so many valuable possessions unattended, Gill had no option but to side with the insurance company.

A more recent complaint, handed by Meade's office, involved a woman who lost her handbag and passport while on holiday. Because the policy had a baggage excess of 40, and the handbag was worth less than this amount, the insurance company rejected the woman's claim.

It also refused to cover the cost of a replacement passport, claiming that the money had to be spent while abroad before the cover would kick in. But the ombudsman found that the woman could claim under a different section of the policy, covering money and travel documents, and awarded her 50.

With travel delays now commonplace, especially in the peak summer season, it is important to check the extent to which insurance will come to your rescue.

The ombudsman handled an interesting complaint in 2004 from a man who missed a flight connection to Dublin because of a strike. The airline told him it would take two days to find an alternative flight, forcing the man to make his own arrangements. This involved considerable expense, including an overnight hotel stay, a flight to Belfast and a train ticket back home.

His insurance company threw out the claim, saying it would only cover expenses related to his original travel plans. But because of ambiguities in how this should be interpreted in practice, the ombudsman ruled in favour of the complainant.

In buying travel cover, it is important to learn from the mistakes of others in the past.

But because the same problems keep cropping up in the ombudsman's case load, it would seem that few heed this advice.

'It only costs 5.95 for a single trip within Europe and takes less than "ve minutes to arrange online' EMMA CONNOLLY is a frequent traveller, taking in a visit to New York and three trips to Malaga on Spain's Costa del Sol in the past year. A 27year-old conference and banqueting coordinator at the Marine Hotel in Sutton, Co Dublin, Emma gets her travel insurance from Insurancebookers. ie, which is owned by ebookers, an online travel agency.

Her top priority is adequate cover for personal possessions. "I recently spent 560 on a digital camera and, because I've lost cameras so often in the past, it's good to know that Insurancebookers covers me for up to 3,000, " she says.

Emma used to buy cover through Ryanair and some other discount insurance brokers but she says she found the policies hard to understand and was confused about the amount of cover on offer.

Rather than buying an annual policy, which would cover all trips taken within a 12-month period, Emma buys her cover trip-by-trip.

"It only costs 5.95 for a single trip within Europe and takes less than five minutes to arrange online, " she says.

Another advantage is that Insurancebookers does not automatically exclude travellers once they reach a certain age. "My aunt, who's 68, came with me to Spain last year and she was covered for 11.90, " says Emma. "I couldn't "nd affordable insurance for people aged over 65 anywhere else."

Last-minute cancellations are one of the main reasons for claims on travel policies. But Emma says she pays little attention to the cover on offer if she was forced to abandon her travel plans. "If I've booked a trip, I'm going and nothing is going to stop me, " she says.

On the cards for the coming year is a return trip to America, although Emma says she usually leaves her travel plans until the last minute.