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Worst-case Travel Scenario: a Bomb Goes Off in the Street

February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

street bombingAs reports of a bomb blast in Bangkok circulated last week, travelers are reminded that they should think carefully about what to do should a bomb go off where they are traveling.

What should you do if a bomb goes off in the street where you are walking?

Although you may be tempted to remain and render assistance, the experts advise immediately leaving the area where a bomb has exploded for two reasons:

  1. Unless you are a medically trained expert, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to offer the injured much assistance, and
  2. there is always the chance of a secondary explosion timed to cause additional damage and wreck rescue operations.

It’s a horrible scenario, but it’s been proven true over and over again. Terrorists will time their bombings to hit once and then hit again to cause additional damage.  Leave the heroics to the local authorities and get as far away from the scene as possible, returning to your place of lodging where you can monitor the news and let folks know your condition and whereabouts.

While there is little to no value in over-worrying, it is worth your life to stay aware, pay attention to the security levels at public places where tourists are likely to congregate. If you must travel to places where the risk of terrorism is high, register your trip details with the free U.S. State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program. When you sign up, you’ll automatically receive the most current information about the country to which you will be traveling and you’ll receive updates and warnings. Plus, the government will be better able to assist you in the event of an emergency.

Who cares for Fido and Frisky if your Return is Delayed?

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Travel GuardMany people board their pets when they travel, but what happens if your return trip is delayed because you are unexpectedly hospitalized? Will you have enough money to cover the added cost of additional boarding fees?

If you board your pet or pets while taking a trip, Travel Guard’s Travel Rite plan includes a benefit just for pet-lovers: additional boarding fees can be covered up to $25.00 per day (up to $200 maximum) if your return trip is delayed due to your hospitalization.

That means, if you end up in a hospital in Rome with a broken ankle, you’ll have the coverage you need to help with the additional pet boarding fees when you get back home. It’s a great feature for travelers board their pets.

See a full review of Travel Guard’s Travel Rite plan for additional information.

 

This is only a brief description of the coverage(s) available.

The Policy will contain reductions, limitations, exclusions and termination provisions. Insurance is underwritten by National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pa., a Pennsylvania insurance company, with its principal place of business at 175 Water Street, New York, NY 10038. It is currently authorized to transact business in all states and the District of Columbia. NAIC No. 19445. Coverage may not be available in all states.

Considering Spring Break in Mexico? Maybe not this year

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

spring break mexicoThe U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning – not a travel alert – regarding the ongoing and dangerous security situation in Mexico, which has begun spreading into resort and tourist areas. If you’ve been considering a Spring Break vacation in Mexico this year, we suggest you reconsider.

A number of U.S. citizens have been the victim of growing violence in a number of areas of Mexico, including being murdered, caught in gun battles, kidnapped, carjacked, and robbed on the highway.

The rising number of kidnappings and disappearances have caught the attention of the media as both locals and expats are also targets. In some cases, local Mexican police officers have been implicated in these crimes.

If you do choose to travel to Mexico this Spring Break season, see the U.S. State Department’s state-by-state assessment (scroll down to see this portion) to understand the risks you are facing. Be sure to have travel insurance that includes travel medical coverage and medical evacuation in case you are injured and need to return home.

Review our Travel Safety Tips for information on finding travel medical care in a hurry and the top 12 hotel safety tips (among others).

Remember, your standard trip cancellation coverage will not let you cancel your trip simply because you got nervous and changed your mind. If you book your travel to Mexico and media reports make you nervous, you’ll need ‘cancel for any reason’ protection if you are to get 50-100% of your pre-paid travel costs back.

Turned Away at the Border for a 3-month Passport Validity Requirement

February 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

passport validity requirementsWe recently read about this travel disaster: A Canadian couple with two children landed in Costa Rica only to be put immediately on a return flight because their presumably valid passports were due to expire in less than three months, which made the passports invalid according to Costa Rican laws. 

A staggeringly long list of people should have informed the travelers of the problem, including their own travel agent and the airline representatives who let the family travel from Syracuse to Chicago before boarding their flight to Costa Rica.  The airline this family flew – United – reportedly faces a hefty fine from the Costa Rican government for bringing passengers with invalid documents into the country, but that won’t help this family recover their expenses.

Travel insurance can’t help them recover their pre-paid travel costs or the unexpected costs they had to pay either. Even though their passports were valid, it’s the responsibility of the travelers to know the passport rules of the country they are visiting.

Many countries have similar passport validity requirements on foreign passports. In fact, in some countries the requirement can be as high as six months. Visitors to some countries (Canada and Australia included) are only required to have a passport that is valid for the duration of their stay.

Entry requirements for each country can usually be found with a search on the Internet.

CDC Travel Notice – Polio Outbreak in China

February 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

CDC Travel Notice - Polio outbreak in ChinaYesterday, the CDC issued a traveler notice regarding a polio outbreak in China. Polio is an infectious viral disease that can occur at any age and affects the human nervous system. So far, all cases were reported in the Xinjiang Uygur region and genetic sequencing shows that this strain closely resembles a poliovirus found in Pakistan during the second half of 2010.

The Chinese government has declared a public healthy emergency and deployed nearly 150 health professionals to administer five million doses of oral vaccine.

As a result of this outbreak, the CDC is recommending that travelers to all parts of China check their current vaccination records and verify they are up to date on the polio vaccine. A visit to your doctor will ensure whether you need a booster dose prior to traveling or not.

Review the complete CDC travel notice for polio in China.

Injured Snowboarder Needs Close to $80,000 for Medical Evacuation

February 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Injured snowboarder Sara Baker Emergency Medical EvacuationSara Baker, a young woman from the UK, recently broke her back snowboarding in Canada.

Baker lost control in Whistler resort and needed immediate surgery to repair crushed vertebrae and a nearly severed spine. Rescuers had to land on a glacier to rescue her. According to current media reports, she has a good chance of walking again but she’s facing months of rehabilitation.

Baker thought she had annual travel insurance, but unfortunately her policy had recently expired. It’s an easy mistake to make.

Now, her family and friends are trying to raise the funds necessary to get her home in a specially adapted air ambulance – at a reported cost of £50,000 (close to $80,000).

Here at Travel Insurance Review, we hate hearing stories like this because the tragedy of a travel accident is horrifying enough without adding a financial burden that can take years – even decades – to recover from as this American couple traveling in Costa Rica recently discovered.

It’s vital for citizens of all countries to have travel insurance and be sure it’s valid before traveling.  Emergency medical evacuation coverage provides for medically necessary evacuations to a medical facility, medically equipped flights home, and even the repatriation of mortal remains. With many travel insurance plans, this coverage will also pay to have a friend or family member brought to your bedside if you are hospitalized a certain number of days (usually 7).

Read all about emergency evacuation and repatriation coverage, including a list of plans and policy limits.

Worst-case Travel Scenario: Deathly Ill on a Cruise Ship

February 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

cruise ship norovirus outbreakIn the last few weeks, a number of cruise ships have been re-routed and delayed due to outbreaks of norovirus. Norovirus, often called the ‘cruise ship virus’, is a nasty stomach virus that spreads like crazy in close quarters. It causes vomiting and diarrhea and it’s extremely contagious; you can be infected by coming in contact with just a few particles. It’s also very hard to stop and those who’ve had it can be contagious for up to 72 hours after their symptoms stop. Of course, because the person feels better, they get back to having fun and continue the spread of the virus around the ship.

Avoiding Norovirus

There is no medical intervention that prevents the spread of the virus – it’s all about strict hygiene efforts. Unfortunately, alcohol-based hand sanitizers aren’t very effective at stopping the spread of norovirus, so you must wash your hands after touching any surface that may be infected. Vigorous hand washing with plenty of soap and water will take the virus off your hands.

Cruise ship cleaning teams know that keeping all surfaces very clean is also important. That means washing doorknobs, handrails, and faucet handles, but don’t forget computer keyboards, remote controls and cell phones as well.

Some passengers recommend putting the remote in a plastic bag to avoid touching it.

Recovering from Norovirus

If you are stricken with the virus, the first rule of thumb is to drink plenty of fluids because the dehydration caused by norovirus can cause more serious symptoms. Some people are treated with IV fluids if they cannot keep them down. In some cases, anti-nausea medications can help with the symptoms as well.

The Only Sure Way to get a Refund on a Nonrefundable Airline Ticket

February 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

trip cancellation coverageAirlines have initiated a new way to gouge gullible customers. What sounds like a good idea, charging you an extra fee to retain the value of your nonrefundable ticket should you have to cancel, has morphed into something less than desirable because the airlines will charge you a fee to change your ticket and you still don’t get your money back. You simply get to use whatever value is left, after their fees, toward another ticket you can use in the future.

Rather than accept these airline ‘deals’ that really have little value, consider trip cancellation or ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage instead.

Let’s run some quick numbers through our travel insurance comparison tool, and see what this would cost.

We’ll imagine two travelers are taking a short anniversary trip, here are the pertinent trip details:

  • Denver to San Francisco
  • Three night stay
  • Travelers are 32 and 37 years old
  • Cost per traveler is $1,095

Using those trip details, we got about 40 potential policies. We’ll choose the two lowest-priced plans from the results and compare.

travel insurance quote comparison example

 

Notice that with travel insurance, these travelers can get 100% of their trip costs back if they have to cancel for a wide number of reasons (the reason for cancellation must be a covered reason), but they also get:

So, for a lot less than what the airline will give you, you really can have your entire pre-paid costs refunded to you. The key, of course, is to carefully read your trip insurance policy and cancel your trip for a covered reason.

Having travel insurance really is the only SURE way to get a refund on your nonrefundable airline tickets, but you’ll also get a refund for your pre-paid hotel costs and a number of other benefits in case something goes wrong on your trip too.

Passenger Protection laws ban ‘opt-out’ travel insurance sales

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Minnesota Department of Commerce has announced that over 80,000 travelers will receive refunds for travel insurance policies they were automatically enrolled in when purchasing airfare on Travelocity.com.

‘Opt-out’ travel insurance is a bad practice

As we have written before, buying travel insurance through your booking site is not the best idea.

However, the practice of automatically adding travel insurance to your booking and forcing you to ‘opt-out’ by un-clicking a box is deceitful and misleading.

True, if you read every single word on the page you will fully understand what is included and what you are paying for. But expecting travelers to scour the page looking for check boxes so they aren’t unknowingly opting into something is absurd.

Booking sites these days have so many up-sells, add-ons, options, and newsletters that the checkout process has become a field of landmines.

Starting Jan. 24, 2012 the law has changed

Last year, the Department of Transportation released a final version of their Passenger Protections and the rules went into effect last month.

As a part to the concept of full fare disclosure, the new rules prohibit “opt out” provisions in any advertising. This includes the sales of travel insurance.

Starting 1/24/2012, booking sites should not be automatically including travel insurance with any purchases.

Buy your travel insurance separately

I recommend buying travel insurance separately from your airfare or cruise tickets.

Why?

When you are booking your flight or cruise, you are not in the insurance mindset.

You are thinking about departure days, arrival times, connections, getting the best fare, (and avoiding check boxes that sign you up for things you don’t want).

You are less likely to make in informed purchase when your simply click a checkbox. You won’t fully understand what you are buying and this can lead to misunderstandings.

Instead, book your trip or cruise, then research and purchase travel insurance from a comparison site or direct from the company.

This will give you time to make an informed decision and be confident in your travel insurance purchase.

Grenades and cannonballs in your luggage? A lesson in ‘things not to pack’ on your trip

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

what not to pack in your luggageRecently, there seems to be a rash of strange items found in passenger luggage by the TSA, some of which are causing temporary airport evacuations and potentially disrupting traveler’s plans.

Read about the hand grenade found in one passenger’s carry-on in Kentucky and the live cannonball found in one passenger’s checked luggage in Florida.

In both cases, the passengers had no intent to harm, in the case of the cannonball it had been collected as a souvenir on a diving trip, but of course these events have the potential to cause serious harm. Cannonballs found at the bottom of the ocean can still retain their explosive elements and have been known to detonate.

Other recent reports of dangerous items collected by TSA screeners include a cattle prod, loaded guns, and even a lipstick knife.

Attempting to board a plane with these items can have some unfortunate side effects. The less serious side effect is the potential for delaying flights, which can have a ripple effect throughout the airline flight plans for that day. Another side effect is that passengers who attempt to board with these items are often denied boarding. In all cases, these items are confiscated by the TSA, and in the case of loaded guns, the passenger is in serious trouble.

So, should you find a hand grenade or other interesting artifacts on your trip, consider leave them where you found them and settling for a photograph instead.

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