Is Monzo Max Worth It? Travel Perks, Greggs & The Real Value
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Travel planning is fun.
Travel admin… not so much.
Insurance, spending abroad, railcards, exchange rates — it’s the sort of stuff you only remember a few days before a trip when you think “ err, we should probably sort that.”
Over the years, we’ve kept things simple.
For a while, we used Barclays travel insurance, and more recently, we’ve switched to Monzo Max, which bundles a few handy travel perks together.
Here’s what we use and why.
What We Use Right Now
After using Monzo for a while, we decided to switch to Monzo Max.
It’s basically a bank account subscription that bundles a few travel perks together, which works well for us because we tend to take multiple trips each year.
The big ones for us are:
- Worldwide travel insurance
- A railcard is included (you can also get two together, etc.)
- Lounge Discounts
- Easy spending abroad with the app (on all plans, but honestly, a massive perk)
- Worldwide mobile phone insurance
- Free weekly Greggs
- Breakdown cover
The railcard alone normally costs about £30 a year, so having that included makes the subscription feel a lot more reasonable straight away.
For us, it’s just simple. Insurance sorted, train discounts sorted, and spending abroad is easy to track in the app.
Next, we’re going to break down the costs to see if it’s worth it for you.
Breaking Down the Cost
At first glance, Monzo Max looks like another monthly subscription. And let’s be honest — nobody wants more subscriptions these days.
But when you break down what’s included, the maths actually starts to look pretty reasonable.
Here’s how it stacks up.
Travel Insurance
If you buy annual multi-trip travel insurance separately, it can easily cost around £40–£70+ per year, depending on the provider and cover level. To cover your family, it costs an extra £5 per month with Max.
Railcard
The included National Rail railcard normally costs about £35 per year (for a Two Together railcard), and with Max, you get to choose which railcard suits you.
This isn’t just for new users either. Our own Two Together railcard had just expired, and we simply renewed it through Monzo Max.
All easy, no faff.
Breakdown Cover
Breakdown cover is another perk included with Monzo Max.
It’s not a huge deal for us personally as we already get free cover with The AA, but for many people, this could be one of the biggest benefits.
Looking around at providers like RAC, even very basic breakdown cover starts at around £75 per year, and that’s usually for fairly limited assistance.
You’ll get UK & Europe cover with max.
So if you don’t already have cover through a bank account, car package, or employer, this alone could offset a big chunk of the subscription cost.
Greggs
Along with O2, you can also grab yourself a free weekly treat from Greggs.
Every Monday, you get the option to claim a free item — a sausage roll, hot drink, doughnut, or muffin — which you can redeem whenever you like during the week.
Assuming you grab a sausage roll each week (around £1.45), that works out at roughly £75 a year.
Prefer a regular latte at about £2.40? That’s closer to £124 in value over the year.
All the little things add up — especially for stuff you’d probably be buying anyway.
Mobile Phone Insurance
Another perk included with Monzo Max is phone insurance.
If you’ve ever looked into phone cover separately, you’ll know it usually costs somewhere around £5–£12 per month, depending on the phone and the level of cover.
That means many people are paying £60–£100+ per year just to insure their device, especially with newer phones pushing well past the £800 mark.
So if you don’t already have cover elsewhere, this could easily be one of the more valuable perks included with Max.
Monthly Cinema Ticket
Another small perk included with Monzo Max is a free monthly cinema ticket at Vue.
Ticket prices vary depending on location, but they’re usually around £7–£10, so if you use it each month that’s roughly £90–£100 a year in value.
It’s not a huge perk, but if you enjoy the occasional film night it’s another nice extra included with the subscription.
Airport LoungeKey
Not the biggest perk in the bundle, but it can come in handy if you enjoy the occasional airport lounge.
With Monzo Max, you get access to LoungeKey, which lets you enter a range of airport lounges in the UK and abroad for a fixed discounted price. At the moment, that’s around £24 per visit.
The nice thing is you usually get a choice of lounges rather than being automatically funnelled into one — so you’re not always stuck with somewhere like No1 Lounges if there are better options available.
It’s not something we’d personally use every trip, but if you like a quieter space, free snacks, and a drink before your flight, it can be a nice upgrade from the usual terminal chaos.
That said, our personal preference these days is staying at the Sofitel Gatwick and using twilight check-in. Many packages include breakfast (sometimes even free), and once you’ve checked your bags the night before, all you really need to do in the morning is walk straight to security.
For us, that makes airport lounges a bit redundant — but it’s still a handy perk to have if you prefer that kind of pre-flight setup.
Total Value
So before even looking at some of the smaller perks, the rough yearly value starts to look something like this:
- Travel insurance – £50
- Railcard – £35 (based on a Two Together railcard)
- Breakdown cover – £75 (based on basic cover)
- Greggs weekly treat – £75 minimum
- Phone insurance – £60
- Vue cinema ticket – £90+
Potential yearly value: – £385
These figures are based on comparing the perks with the lower end of what you’d normally pay separately for similar services.
Of course, the real value depends on whether you’d actually use them. But even when using conservative estimates, the included perks can already cover a large chunk of the yearly cost.
How we use it abroad & why it suits us
For us, the perks included with Monzo Max just remove most of the travel admin.
The travel insurance means we don’t have to think about sorting cover every time a trip comes up.
The railcard comes in handy for the odd train journey — whether it’s heading to the airport, some other adventure or Southampton.
Don’t ask why we like Southampton.
We don’t know why either.
Spending abroad is simple too. The app makes it easy to see exactly what you’re spending without trying to mentally convert currencies at the bar. You also get the Mastercard exchange rate, which is usually one of the best rates you’ll get when spending abroad.
And while the Greggs perk obviously isn’t a travel essential, grabbing a free coffee or sausage roll during the week is a nice little bonus.
None of these things are life-changing on their own, but together they take care of a few everyday bits we’d probably be paying for anyway.
We also really like the virtual card feature, which lets you create a one-time card for online payments. If you’re ever unsure about a website or worried about dodgy transactions, it means your real card details never get exposed.
Why We Moved From Barclays
Before switching to Monzo Max, we were actually using Barclays travel insurance.
The reason we eventually moved over to Monzo Max was simply that it bundled more of the things we already use into one place — things like the railcard, travel insurance & phone insurance. Mastercard is always cheaper abroad, too.
Instead of paying for them separately, they’re just included along with a few other decent perks.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, Monzo Max isn’t some magic travel hack.
But if you’re already paying for things like travel insurance, railcards, or the occasional coffee on the go, bundling it all together can make things a lot simpler.
For us, it just takes care of a massive bulk of travel essentials without having to think about them too much — which is exactly how we like to plan our trips
More Holiday. Less Faff.
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¡Adiós amigos!
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