You may have heard there’s a major increase in travel insurance sales because of all the terrorism scares, environmental disasters occurring, and outbreaks of disease. But, there’s something else . . . If you decided to cancel your trip due to fear of these potential problems you may find your policy has limited protection for that decision.
If your concern focuses on potential bombings in the subway, or plots involving liquid explosives, those concerns probably aren’t covered. If you are concerned about a weather calamity that is approaching your vacation spot, most likely you are not protected from this either. The purchase of travel insurance would not alleviate your concerns about either of those possibilities.
The reason people buy traveler’s policies is that it is supposed to pay certain losses while traveling that won’t be refunded. Those non refundable costs might be plane fare and good faith payments on motel rooms. Travel insurance would apply in cases where the policy holder has delayed or canceled a trip; if the policy holder ends up stranded somewhere, the insurance would help to pay for food and hotel costs.
If you need medical care while you are overseas, travel insurance often can assist you. Since many overseas hospitals will not accept foreign medical insurance, travel insurance may be especially helpful. Be aware that a number of insurance policies contain various exclusions.
Events caused by natural disasters are not usually covered by this insurance. A lot of programs don’t cover terrorist acts at all. This forces travelers to have to carefully read their policies to find out which types of coverage are available.
In the event that terrorism actually is covered, you must be careful to review the fine print, because the protection may be restricted to a specific timeframe or radius. If you are concerned about going to Paris, or even Manchester in England because of a bombing in London, your travel insurance coverage will not pay. The concepts of fear or trepidation are not provided for in an insurance policy.
Ironically, it is the fears that are the reason for the increase in travelers insurance sales. But fears are the only thing that the majority of policies won’t cover. Insurances companies also have restrictions on when you buy the insurance, many insist that it needs to be bought within 15 days of booking for full covereage.
For those policyholders who were stranded in London in 2006 following a foiled attack to blow up planes with liquid explosives, travel insurance covered the costs of hotels and meals. However those same traveler policies would not pay for cancellation because the terrorism was not carried out and no attack was made.
What that travel insurance policy is going to cost you depends on the price of your actual trip as well as what you are going to want to cover. There are a variety of comprehensive policies available, and they provide coverage for cancellations, lost luggage, delays where you are stranded, flight accidents, and both emergency medical and medical evacuations. You can purchase policies that are itemized to the benefits you desire.
Now insurance companies are starting to feature “cancel for any reason,” which is essentially a catch all. If you cancel your trip, these policies will compensate you for upwards of 74% the costs of the trip. Generally you will pay an additional forty percent premium to get this coverage.
Travel insurance brokers sell roughly seventeen million policies every year in the U.S. Yearly sales of these policies have almost doubled since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. With the recent events that affect the travel industry, like environmental disasters and outbreaks of disease, sales of policies are going to keep on increasing.
Of course, in the event of a major disaster, most airlines, cruise lines and hotels will eliminate any fees or restrictions placed on re-scheduling. Many times you can get relief for your foiled travel plans without the benefit of insurance.
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