Travel Insurance Review

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Breathalyzers on the ski slopes? Be careful not to invalidate your travel insurance

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alcohol and skiingAccording to some recent research coming out of the UK, over 90% of skiers would back ski policing policies like:

  • speed cameras
  • speed limit signs
  • breathalyzers

While these safety measures haven’t yet been introduced on ski slopes, the intent of implementing these kinds of safety measures would be to reduce the accidents and injuries caused by skiers going too fast.

Many skiers agree that ‘speed skiing’ is increasingly becoming an issue worldwide on ski resorts, and alcohol has been blamed as one of the largest causes of speed skiing.

Aside from the potentially life changing consequences of skiing out of control, if someone encounters a skiing accident as a result of drinking, their injuries would not be covered by travel insurance. That means, specifically, they would have to cover their own medical costs and evacuation costs if their accident was found to be the result of being under the influence.

All travel insurance plans have an exclusion that applies to all coverages and states it will not pay for any loss caused by or resulting from: “being under the influence of drugs or intoxicants.”

So, if they do implement breathalyzers on the ski slopes, be careful because ingesting alcohol could invalidate your travel insurance coverage.

Breaking traveler news: Dozens missing after a cruise ship runs around off Italy’s coast

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cruise ship runs agroundEmergency teams have been called into action to rescue passengers missing after their cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, ran aground off the coast of Italy, near the island of Giglio.

The ship carried approximately 4,000 people, three of whom are now confirmed dead and many (nearly 70) are currently missing. Some of those who are missing may, however, have swum to shore and have not been accounted for yet.

The Costa Concordia sailed from Civitavecchia near Rome on Friday morning. It apparently hit the rocks off Giglio late the first evening of the cruise.

According to current media reports, the ship’s evacuation drill was not scheduled until Saturday afternoon, so passengers were uninformed as to how best to evacuate. Some jumped into the sea after the life boats were delayed.

Business travelers don’t get sick, right?

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business travel insuranceMany road warriors have excellent immune systems because, after all, they reach a higher level of exposure than people who stay within their communities. While getting exercise, eating well, and getting plenty of sleep can help the frequent business traveler stay well, the high cost of rescheduling travel is a strong deterrent to canceling a trip when they do get sick. Many airlines charge as high as $150 or more simply to change a domestic ticket in addition to the additional cost of the new ticket, and hotels may require you to forfeit a night’s stay.

Doctors recommend that if you have a fever and are regular coughing or sneezing, you are probably contagious and shouldn’t fly.  The CDC recommends only traveling when you feel well because staying away from others when you’re sick can help protect everyone’s health, but let’s face it:  staying home is not always good for business and canceling a trip because you’re sick is not always a good career move. Therefore, business travelers may very well be in the position where they must travel when they are sick.

What can you do about it?

  • If you are sick and can change your trip, call the airline and politely ask for their help. If you can get a doctor’s note, that may help. If the first representative refuses to accommodate, politely thank them and call back to get a different representative.
  • Sick or not, consider carrying anti-bacterial wipes and swiping them across the tray tables, door and sink knobs in airplane lavatories, remote controls (in the hotels too!), and wash your hands every chance you get.
  • Always do your best to get plenty of good quality sleep, stay hydrated, get enough exercise and eat well. These are standard operating procedures at home and have to be carried through to your travels as well.
  • If you must be on the road a lot, familiarize yourself with the change fees of the various airlines on your routes. For example, Southwest Airlines doesn’t charge cancellation or change fees, but they may not handle the routes you need to travel.

Invest in an Annual Travel Insurance plan

Frequent travelers should invest in an annual travel insurance plan. If you find yourself ill in a hotel room in a foreign country, a call to your travel assistance services line can help you find a local doctor that accepts your travel medical insurance.

If you have to return home on an emergency, you’ll have help scheduling alternative transportation and with trip interruption coverage, you won’t have to pay for those unexpected charges.

Accidents and injuries can occur on a business trip just as easily as on vacation. A serious accident or illness abroad could bankrupt you, as these stories make clear:

So, be sure your annual plan has medical evacuation coverage to get you back home if you are seriously ill or injured.

See our recommendations for business travel insurance for complete details.

Worst-case Travel Scenario: Your Wallet or Purse is Stolen

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purse thiefHere’s a worst-case scenario we recently read:  a group of girlfriends was traveling through Spain when a young man bursts around a corner, smashing into the group and knocking several of the young women violently to the ground. A second young man races by, grabs two of their purses, and sprints down another alley.

Ouch!

Inside each of those purses were their passports and every money-retrieving option the young women had: their cash, ATM card, and credit cards – all gone.

3 Steps to Being Prepared and Avoiding Purse or Wallet Theft

  1. In crowded areas, consider wearing a money belt under your clothing and store your passport, cash, credit cards, and ATM card there instead. It’s very difficult to steal when it’s not hanging off your shoulder or in your back pocket.
  2. Have a sheet of your account numbers and bank phone numbers with you, but have a system of switching the numbers by one or two digits (so the hotel staff can’t find it and use it illegally). If your wallet is stolen, you’ll have the necessary information to report it to the police and cancel the cards.
  3. Make a copy of your passport identification page and leave one behind with a friend or family member, pack the other with you. (Again, store it safely when you arrive.) This will help if you need to replace your passport.
  4. Before you leave, get a back up card from your bank or have a secondary credit card on hand and stored in a different place. You’ll still have the headache of reporting the theft and canceling all the stolen cards, but you’ll have a way to get around and continue your trip.
If you were smart to purchase travel insurance, the travel assistance services representatives can help you get access to cash by contacting your family. They can also help you replace your passport by telling where you need to go. Many travel insurance plans will reimburse the cost of issuing a replacement passport (up to $50 typically).

We’ve mentioned before that you should not travel with your debit card, for a number of reasons, but many of us forget to clear out our wallets when we travel – especially if we travel frequently.  See these top 6 strategies for protecting your identity on a trip for more information.

Best Travel Insurance for Bed and Breakfast Stays or Inn Retreats

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Bed and breakfast stayMany travelers prefer the personalized attention and unique ambiance of a bed and breakfast or an inn when they travel, but this type of travel comes with its own unique set of risks that travelers do not always consider.

How inns and bed and breakfasts are different

Bed and breakfast facilities are typically individually owned and run by an innkeeper who may or may not reside on the property. The same is true of many smaller and intimate inns. These are small businesses, and as such, they operate under very different rules than a typical corporate-owned hotel chain.

First, they typically require you stay a minimum number of nights (two is typically the minimum) and the full amount for your entire stay is required up-front.

Second, their cancellation policies are non standard and can be very restrictive. While with many hotels, you can call within 24 hours of your stay and cancel, that’s not true of inns and bed and breakfast facilities. Nearly always, the policy is that the innkeeper will attempt to rebook your room and charge you a simple cancellation fee ($20 and higher is typical). Unfortunately, it’s important to remember that these facilities are not drive-up types of establishments. If the innkeeper is unable to rebook your room with other guests, there is no refund.

In addition, you must cancel long before your arrival (many require 7 full days notice or more). If the inn or bed and breakfast is located near an annual event, such as a festival, or your stay is around a holiday, the cancellation notice period may be significantly extended or non existent.

For example, we’ve read cancellation policies like this:

Your deposit will be refunded less a $20.00 handling fee if we receive your cancellation request before the cancellation period. If a cancellation request is made within the cancellation period no refund will be made UNLESS your room can be rebooked, in which case you will receive a refund less a $20 cancellation fee. Our cancellation period is 7 full days before the check-in date EXCEPT:
* 14 days for holiday periods or 3 or more rooms or for stays longer than 7 nights
* 14 days for the Prescott Frontier Days Rodeo (4th of July week)
* 14 days for The Lodge (30 days for holiday periods)
For all 14 and 30 day cancellation periods, guests will be charged the full amount for ALL room nights reserved less any amounts received for room nights rebooked.

Cover the risks of your bed and breakfast trip

  • If you’ve long planned a restful getaway at a quaint inn in the mountain, but your boss cancels your leave, you could lose all your pre-paid costs. A travel insurance package with trip cancellation coverage will help in this instance.
  • If you receive a call that your child has been hospitalized and have to abandon your weekend, you’ll lose the money you’ve already paid. A travel insurance package with trip interruption coverage can help in that instance.
  • If the inn is hit by a natural disaster, but still open for business, you might prefer to book your stay somewhere else. A trip insurance package with ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage will help in this instance.

Staying at a unique one-of inn or bed and breakfast has it’s delights, but don’t risk your entire travel investment.  See our full page on travel insurance for inn and bed and breakfast stays.

Does Travel Insurance Cover if I Get Sick or I Just Want to Go Home?

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bored on vacationYes, and no. If you have a travel insurance plan with trip interruption protection and your ‘getting sick’ is being hospitalized due to a heart attack, then that’s a covered reason to head home early.

Any unexpected illness or injury that causes an attending medical doctor to advise you to return home is covered. (Be sure to get that in writing – you’ll need it for the travel insurance claim.)

Trip interruption coverage reimburses a traveler up to 150% of their unused pre-paid trip costs if they have to end their trip and return home for a covered reason. This is post-departure trip cancellation coverage that allows for additional reimbursement to cover the costs resulting from the purchase of additional tickets to return home.

What are the covered reasons for abandoning a trip?

The covered reasons for trip interruption are usually the same as trip cancellation in any travel insurance policy. These covered reasons usually include:

  • Illness, injury, or death of you, a traveling companion, a family member or business partner (be sure to review the definitions of ‘family member’ and ‘business partner’ in the plan’s description of coverage).
  • Common carrier delays due to severe weather, mechanical breakdown, and unannounced strikes.
  • Being involved in a documented traffic accident, being hijacked, being quarantined, being required to serve on a jury or appear in court (be sure to review the definitions in the plan’s description of coverage).
  • Having your home destroyed by fire, flood, natural disaster.
  • Mandatory evacuations.
  • Being called into active military service to provide disaster relief.
  • A terrorist act occurs in your departure city or city you will visit on your trip.
  • Being laid off or terminated from your employment (minimum employment length applies).

If you simply don’t feel good or find yourself bored, not having a good time, or just wanting to head home early, those are not covered reasons to cancel your trip and return early.

Unlucky Traveler News: a Young Woman Plunges into a River on a Disastrous New Year’s Eve Bungee Jump

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erin_langworthyNew Year’s day 2012 is not one that Australian tourist Erin Langworthy is likely ever to forget. The 22-year-old nearly lost her life after the cord snapped during a bungee jump off the Victoria Falls bridge. The bridge is over 100 meters above the Zambezi River, a river well known to be inhabited by crocodiles.

When interviewed, Ms. Langworthy said she briefly blacked out after hitting the water and woke up when the current pulled her into the rapids below. With the trailing cord of her bungee snagging repeatedly on objects hidden beneath the water, and no one on the ground to help her, she had to swim down, yank the cord loose and regain the surface with her feet bound  together.

Ms. Langworthy eventually reached the bank of the river and was cared for at a local medical clinic before being evacuated to a South African hospital where she spent a week recovering.  Miraculously, she suffered only extensive bruising, cuts, and a fractured collar bone. Doctors kept her in South Africa longer than she originally expected because Erin’s lungs gave her continued trouble and she was not allowed to fly.

It’s important for adventure travelers to remember that you’ll be expected to sign a waiver that expunges the operator from any liability – specifically, you bungee jump, sky dive, hang glide, ski, kayak (and more!) at your own risk.

Travelers who partake in adventure tourism should have adventure coverage on their travel insurance plan because nearly all travel insurance plans specifically exclude adventure activities like these from coverage. If you have any plans to partake in adventures on your trip, be sure to have adventure coverage on your travel insurance plan so your medical evacuation and treatment will be covered by travel insurance. Plus, with medical evacuation coverage, you’ll have a safe return trip home when you are well enough to travel.

Know your rights when it comes to Airline Bumping and Overbooking

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bumping and overbookingWhen you finally get through the ritual mugging that is now passing through security, and find your departure gate, the last thing you want to hear is that the plane is overbooked.

Some travelers who have flexible schedules find an overbooked plan a treat: they can forfeit their seat, take the voucher and meal coupons, and hang out until the next flight.

For others, it can mean a rough scramble for an alternative way to get to an important business meeting or to your child’s school play.

So what is bumping and overbooking after all?

To be bumped off a flight is to be denied a seat even when you have a reservation. This is the direct result of overbooking, which is a common practice by the airlines to fill all the seats and then some because some passengers won’t make their flight. Essentially, the airlines are betting that someone won’t show up and they’ll get everyone on and have a full flight – more revenue for them.

In some cases, however, everyone shows up and wants to get on that flight, and so the airlines will offer a reward to the traveler who can forfeit their seat. These are typically future air vouchers, cash, and meal tickets and they’ll get you out on the next available flight. The longer the delay, the better the pay-off.

If the airline cannot secure enough volunteers the first go around, they will often sweeten the deal with additional cash and other benefits like drink coupons, upgrades, and more.  the volunteer system works really well even when the number of travelers to get bumped increases over the holidays and busy seasons.

Can you get bumped involuntarily?

Sure you can, but it’s not likely. The volunteer system works really well even when the number of travelers to get bumped increases over the holidays and busy seasons. Still, if you absolutely have to avoid being bumped, arrive as soon as possible because the last passengers to check in are typically the ones who will find themselves involuntarily bumped.

What does the law say about overbooking and bumping?

The Department of Transportation has guidelines outlining overbooking procedures. These are available in their Consumer Guide to Air Travel.

In brief: if the alternative flight will get you where you are going within one to two hours on domestic flights, or within one to four hours on international flights, then the airline must pay you double the cost of your one-way fare up to a maximum of $650. The reimbursement amount increases based on how many hours you are delayed and whether it is a domestic or international flight.

Important! The bumping rules don’t apply to charters or planes with fewer than 30 seats. They also don’t apply to flights inbound to the U.S. or flights between foreign cities because that is outside U.S. airspace. Foreign airlines have their own set of rules.

Your travel insurance travel delay coverage will help you when you are not compensated by the airlines. That is, when your flight is canceled due to severe weather, natural disasters, unannounced strikes, civil riots, and more. If you are compensated by the airline for the delay, your travel insurance won’t provide additional funds, which makes sense when you think about it because that would essentially be getting reimbursed twice.