Why Should I Get Travel Insurance?

Peace of mind may be the cliché reason to get travel insurance but it is a well deserved reason. Starting a long, multi-stop international trip is really exciting but if there is one trip in your lifetime that you should insure, it is this one.

Eight reasons why we like travel insurance:

1. There is 24/7 Live Assistance for Travel Emergencies (very helpful)
2. Remember Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud that closed airports across Europe? Or the tsunami in Japan? There is coverage due to natural disaster
3. Coverage for up to 365 days of continuous travel (very rare)
4. You might get sick or injured
5. There are no deductibles
6. Reimbursement for a one way ticket home in an emergency
7. Your personal items may get stolen, lost or damaged
8. Most tickets that you will buy today are nonrefundable, and those that are refundable come with 30% penalties. Having travel insurance really is your only chance to recover 100% of your ticket and tour costs

What Does Travel Insurance Actually Cover?

Medical Expenses and Emergency Evacuation: Travel insurance is fantastic for anything medical. There are no deductibles. You can upgrade to get higher levels. It will cover you for a wide variety of different costs related to illness or injury, including: doctor and/or hospital visits, X-rays, lab work, and surgeries. A client fractured her leg on a hike in Hawaii and Travel Guard covered her carry out (evacuation), hospital and doctor visits in Hawaii, X-rays, plaster cast, pain killers, and six months of physical therapy once she was back home in Denver.

One exclusion to medical and evacuation coverage that is worth mentioning here is mountain climbing where ropes are used. As opposed to hiking or trekking which are covered. See General Exclusions in the Description of Coverage for a full list.

Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption:  These benefits are two sides of the same coin. Your trip can be cancelled before it starts or it can be interrupted after you depart. Our complementary Post Departure insurance does not come with Trip Cancellation but it does come with a small amount of Trip Interruption coverage ($1500) in case an emergency occurs during your trip. Trip

Interruption is best understood as an offset to the cost of a one way ticket home or a refund of your unused tickets whichever is worth more to you. If you choose to upgrade to the Full Package Plan, which adds Trip Cancellation coverage, then think of Trip Cancellation as a full reimbursement of what you paid, 100% of your trip cost. Trip Interruption is also higher with the Full Package Plan, 125% of your trip cost, to offset the full cost of a last minute one way ticket home or reimbursement of all unused tickets.

Airline or Tour Operator Goes Bankrupt or There is a Strike: Financial default and strike are included as coverable reasons for cancelling or interrupting your trip.  However, if you wait to buy your ticket/tour until after a strike or bankruptcy is publicly known, there would not be coverage.

Terrorist Attack: The hotel bombings in Mumbai, India in 2008 were coverable under the insurance and were a reason why you could have canceled or interrupted your trip. However, fear of a terrorist attack that might occur in a city on your itinerary, meaning you no longer want to go somewhere out of fear, is not covered.

Baggage and Personal Effects Theft, Loss, and Damage: With travel insurance the coverage for personal items that you lose during your trip is decent but not great. It is not a reason on its own to have insurance but since the loss can occur anywhere, not just on a flight, we think it has its merits. You leave your camera in the back a taxicab, or get your backpack stolen at a hotel, or you drop your phone, with this coverage you have something to fall back on. Keep in mind two things though: 1) Limits like $500 for electronics, and 2) original receipts will be needed to prove full value (replacement receipts are worthless).

Civil and Political Unrest: When the airport in Bangkok, Thailand shut down for two weeks in 2008 over violent protests in the streets, or when instability in Egypt or Greece pop into the news, these events are not covered. Any route changes or unexpected costs people have relating to their airline tickets/tours will in the hands of the airlines and tour operators, or at their own expense. But do not think we have it this way on purpose. No travel insurance policy will cover you for civil and political unrest and we have looked high and low for a policy that will.

24/7 Live Travel Assistance: One of the best resources you will have as an insured client is access to live travel assistance. Pick up a phone and call Travel Guard if you need help or advice while travelling. You will be tapped into a great resource for all things travel related. Plus they speak several languages. Use them to reconfirm your flights too.

Conclusion

We sincerely hope this information is helpful to you. Even with its limitations we still highly recommend travel insurance as part of your overall trip purchase, and in particular we recommend it for the medical and cancellation coverage, which are the two benefits travel insurance has the best track record for paying out a claim.