Travel insurance protections for acts of terrorism have evolved over the last decade and many travel insurance companies now include coverage for terrorist acts in their travel insurance plans.
Travel Guard offers a number of travel insurance plans with cancellation and interruption coverage for terrorist incidents:
- Platinum
- Gold
- Silver
- My Travel Guard
- Basic
- Sportsman’s Travel
- Adventure Travel
- Travel Rite Annual (with optional upgrade)
- Business Traveler (with optional upgrade)
With these plans, trip cancellation and trip interruption benefits are available if a terrorist incident occurs in a city that is listed on the insured’s itinerary within 30 days of their intended arrival.
As with any insurance product, it’s important to understand the definitions. Travel Guard defines a terrorist incident as:
“an act of violence, that is deemed terrorism by the United States Government other than civil disorder or riot (that is not an act of war, declared or undeclared) that results in Loss of life or  major damage to property, by any person acting on behalf of or in connection with any organization which is generally recognized as having the intent to overthrow or influence the control of any government.â€
What this coverage means
This coverage means that you can cancel your trip if a terrorist incident occurs within 30 days of your expected arrival in a city that’s listed on your travel itinerary. Let’s say you’re headed to the London 2012 Olympics and you want to have this coverage – if a terrorist incident occurs within 30 days of your arrival, you can cancel your trip and be reimbursed for all your covered trip expenses.
How does a city get listed on your itinerary? When you fill out the form to get a quote and purchase your trip insurance, the destination city, state and/or province must be listed in that form.
What this coverage does not include
This coverage does not mean you can cancel your trip and receive reimbursement simply because you are concerned about the current media reports and worry there may be a terrorist incident. A terrorist incident actually has to occur for this coverage to be in effect.
Further, you can’t cancel your trip and receive reimbursement for a terrorist act that occurs in a nearby country.
Consider ‘Cancel for any reason’ coverage
If you want more trip cancellation and interruption protection for situations where you are concerned about the potential for terrorist actions, then you’ll need to purchase the cancel for any reason upgrade. This coverage will let you cancel your trip and receive at least a portion of your trip costs back in the event you decide to cancel your trip for your own reasons.
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.
