Ticket refunds: illness and cancelled events

Short answer: If the organiser cancels the event, they refund the ticket price, usually through the ticket seller — cancellation insurance doesn’t deal with that. If you can’t go because of illness or injury, the organiser usually doesn’t refund you, and the 14-day withdrawal period doesn’t apply to tickets. That’s when cancellation insurance taken out in advance helps: it costs 9% of the price (at least CZK 26) and pays back the ticket price after deducting the 10% excess.

One-minute summary

Event cancelled or postponed: the organiser refunds you under their terms. The deadline for asking is often short — with some sellers, only until the 5th working day after the event date.
Illness, injury or a sick child: the ticket price usually isn’t refunded, and you can’t withdraw from the purchase within 14 days for a ticket to a specific date.
Cancellation insurance pays back the ticket price after deducting the 10% excess, or in full if the insured person is hospitalised or dies. For a CZK 1,990 ticket, the premium is CZK 179, and if you fall ill it pays back CZK 1,791.
You have to take out the insurance before anything happens. 30 days or less before the event, you can only take it out at the same time as paying for the ticket.
Send the original cancelled tickets to the insurer before the event starts.

Who refunds you: an overview of situations

What matters is whose side the reason is on. If the event doesn’t go ahead as planned, that’s for the organiser to sort out. If you can’t come, the organiser usually won’t refund you anything — and that’s a situation for cancellation insurance.

Who refunds the ticket price in each situation
Situation	Who refunds you	Cancellation insurance
The organiser cancels the event	The organiser, usually through the ticket seller. Sometimes they offer a voucher instead of money.	Not covered — cancellation of the event by the organiser is one of the exclusions.
The organiser moves the date	The ticket is usually valid for the new date. Whether you can ask for your money back, and by when, is set by the organiser’s and the seller’s terms.	Not covered.
You fall ill	The organiser usually refunds nothing.	Covered if you insured in advance: the price after deducting the 10% excess, or the full price if you’re hospitalised.
You get injured	The organiser usually refunds nothing.	Covered in the same way as illness. The exception is an injury during a race or competition.
Illness or death in the family	The organiser usually refunds nothing.	Covered — also for the person you bought the tickets with.
You don’t feel like going, it’s raining, your plans changed	Nobody.	Not covered. Try transferring or selling the ticket.
Sold out and you can’t go	Nobody. You can transfer the ticket to another name or sell it through official resale, if the seller or organiser offers it.	Only for a covered reason and only your actual loss — whatever you get for the ticket is deducted.

If the organiser cancels or postpones the event

Ticket sellers sell tickets in the name and on behalf of the organiser. So your contract is with the organiser, and they’re responsible for the event going ahead. If they cancel it, they refund the ticket price — the seller usually sends the money back on their behalf. How and by when is set by the seller’s terms and conditions and the organiser’s instructions.

If the event moves to another date, the ticket usually stays valid. If the new date doesn’t suit you, the big sellers’ terms usually let you ask for a refund or a voucher — but only within the set deadline. With Eventlook and GoOut, that’s the 5th working day after the original event date at the latest.

The seller will tell you about a cancellation or postponement by email, at the address you gave when buying. Keep the message and note down the deadline. If the organiser doesn’t respond or refuses to refund you, send them a written complaint. If that doesn’t help, you can turn to the Czech Trade Inspection Authority (ČOI), which handles out-of-court consumer disputes.

Cancellation insurance doesn’t cover a cancelled eventThe policy terms exclude cancellation or changes to the event by the organiser. In that case, the organiser refunds you. Cancellation insurance is for situations where the event goes ahead but you can’t go.

If you can’t go

Here it’s the other way round. The event goes ahead, the organiser does their part, and if you don’t turn up, they usually keep the ticket price. According to the big sellers’ terms and conditions, illness or injury doesn’t change that.

The 14-day period for withdrawing from a contract made online doesn’t help either. Section 1837(j) of the Czech Civil Code excludes it for contracts for leisure activities provided on a specific date — and a ticket to a concert, the theatre or a match is exactly that. All four sellers whose terms we describe below state this explicitly in their terms.

What you can try even without insurance:

Transfer to another name. For named tickets, many organisers allow it, sometimes for a fee and only up to a certain date.
Official resale. Ticketmaster has fan-to-fan resale, and some festivals have their own marketplace. It’s safer than selling on social media, where scams are common. More in our guide Festival tickets.
An agreement with the organiser. Smaller organisers or theatres sometimes meet you halfway, for example by swapping your ticket for another performance. But you’re not entitled to it.

When cancellation insurance helps

Cancellation insurance is made for exactly the case where the event goes ahead but you can’t go. It pays back the ticket price after deducting the 10% excess if you can’t go for a reason listed in the policy terms, for example:

illness or injury — tonsillitis, flu, a broken arm; a doctor confirms the diagnosis and the length of treatment,
illness, injury or death in the family or of the person you bought the tickets with,
caring for a sick family member who isn’t going to the event with you — such as a child with a fever,
a resit exam scheduled on the day of the event or within 7 days after it,
dismissal by your employer that you didn’t expect when you bought the ticket.

What to watch out for

You have to insure before anything happens. The insurance only covers events that occur after it’s taken out. If you already have a fever, it’s too late.
The 30-day deadline. If there are more than 30 days until the event, you can take out the insurance at any time. A ticket bought 30 days or less before the event can only be insured at the same time as you pay for it.
When the reason must arise. Illness, injury, death and pregnancy are covered if they arise no more than 180 days before the event. Other reasons, no more than 30 days before it.
10% excess. If the insured person is hospitalised for at least 24 hours or dies, no excess applies and the full price is paid back.
Original tickets before the event. Send the cancelled tickets to the insurer at skody@colonnade.cz before the event starts. For tickets sent only after the event has started, the insurer may reduce or refuse the payout.

You’ll find all the covered reasons and exclusions on the what the insurance covers page. You can insure a ticket bought anywhere — from the organiser, at a box office or from the sellers below. Details are on the ticket insurance page.

What ticket insurance costs

A concert ticket for CZK 1,990: the premium is CZK 179. If you fall ill a week before the concert and the organiser doesn’t refund the ticket, the insurer pays you CZK 1,791. If you had to go to hospital for at least 24 hours, it pays back the full CZK 1,990.

The premium is 9% of the price, at least CZK 26 per policy, and you can insure tickets online from CZK 300. You can insure several tickets for a group with one policy — enter the total price and all the people. Work out your own amount in the price calculator.

We’ll send you a ticket insurance quote by email: I’d like a ticket insurance quote.

What the big ticket sellers’ terms say

We went through the current terms and conditions of four big ticket sellers in the Czech Republic (verified 21/10/2026). They all sell tickets on behalf of the organiser, and they all exclude withdrawing from the purchase within 14 days. They differ mainly in how and by when they refund money for a cancelled or postponed event.

Eventlook

Claims arising from the ticket are made against the organiser. Eventlook only refunds money up to the amount the organiser provides to it.
Date change: a refund of the ticket price, or a voucher for a future purchase. You have to ask by the 5th working day after the original date at the latest; otherwise the ticket is valid for the new date.
Event cancelled: a refund of the ticket price, or a voucher — once the same deadline has passed, only a voucher. If the event is cancelled or postponed because of force majeure (such as an epidemic or a decision by the authorities), the terms say you only get a voucher, or the ticket is valid for the new date.
If you’re entitled to a refund of the ticket price, the service fee is refunded too.
For most events, it offers cancellation fee insurance from Colonnade when you buy — only online and at the same time as buying the ticket.

GoOut

Postponement and cancellation follow the same rules as at Eventlook: a refund of the ticket price or a voucher, a request by the 5th working day after the event date at the latest, and only a voucher in the case of force majeure.
Service fees aren’t refunded when the ticket price is refunded.
When you buy, it offers ticket insurance from ERGO Cestovní pojišťovna. According to GoOut’s terms, it doesn’t apply to cancellation or postponement of the event.

Ticketportal

Claims, including refunds of the ticket price, are made directly against the organiser.
If an event is cancelled, the organiser sets the refund conditions within 10 days. Ticketportal only refunds money on the organiser’s instruction and from funds the organiser provides to it.
The network’s transaction fee is non-refundable.
According to its FAQ, tickets are only refunded if the event is cancelled or the date changes. If you can’t come, only insurance helps — if you took it out.

Ticketmaster

It acts on behalf of the organiser. If an event is cancelled, it refunds the ticket price only up to the amount the organiser provides to it, and it also refunds the service and transaction fees.
For a rescheduled event, the organiser decides how and by when you can ask for a refund. Ticketmaster publishes an overview of rescheduled and cancelled events with instructions on its website.
It runs fan-to-fan ticket resale — you can offer a ticket you won’t use there, if resale is available for the event.

Terms can change, and the organiser may set its own rules for a specific event. What counts is the wording valid on the day of purchase — for a pricier ticket, read it before you pay.

What to do if you can’t make it to the event

See a doctor before the event. You need a medical report with the diagnosis and the length of treatment — even for flu.
Ask the seller or organiser whether they’ll refund the ticket price or whether the ticket can be transferred. If not, get that confirmed in writing (an email is enough) — it’s proof that they don’t refund the ticket.
Send the original tickets to the insurer at skody@colonnade.cz before the event starts.
Report the claim without undue delay, always with your policy number. You’ll find the process and the online form on the how to make a claim page.

Frequently asked questions

Will the organiser refund my ticket if I fall ill?

Usually not. The event goes ahead, and under the big sellers’ terms and conditions, illness or injury doesn’t entitle you to a refund. Only cancellation insurance taken out in advance gets you your money back: the ticket price after deducting the 10% excess, or the full price if you’re hospitalised.

The organiser cancelled the concert. Will I get my money back?

The ticket price for a cancelled event is refunded by the organiser, usually through the ticket seller. Watch the deadline: with Eventlook and GoOut, you have to ask by the 5th working day after the event date at the latest, otherwise you’re left with just a voucher. Cancellation insurance doesn’t cover a cancelled event.

Can I return a ticket bought online within 14 days?

No. The Czech Civil Code excludes this period for contracts for leisure activities on a fixed date, and tickets are among them. Sellers state this in their terms and conditions too.

Can I insure a ticket I already have?

Yes, if there are more than 30 days until the event and nothing has happened yet. A ticket bought 30 days or less before the event can only be insured at the same time as you pay for it. It doesn’t matter where you bought it.

Sources

We verified the sellers’ terms and the wording of the law on 21/10/2026. The links lead to third-party websites.

This article is general information, not legal or financial advice. The wording of the policy terms and your seller’s terms is what counts. The example scenarios are illustrative.

Ticket refunds: when the organiser pays you back and when the insurance does