Last year, more than 29 million pieces of luggage were delayed, damaged, or lost at the world’s airports. The 2011 Air Transport Industry (ATI) Baggage Report found an average of 80,657 pieces of luggage were globally mishandled in 2010 – an 18 percent increase over 2009 numbers.

Some of the mishandling in 2010 may well be due to the travel problems that resulted from a number of natural disasters, including the eruption of an Icelandic volcano and the resulting ash clouds that grounded planes and stranded many travelers. Unfortunately, some of the mishandling is simply endemic to the travel industry.

In fact, we tracked down a few interesting facts about lost luggage:

• 51% of mishandled luggage is due to transfers – that’s when you change plans in Atlanta, but your bags continue on or get on the wrong plane
• 14% of mishandled luggage simply fails to get loaded – that’s when you get on the plane, but your bag stays tucked in a corner in the baggage handling area
• 1.2 bags are mishandled for every 100 travelers

Where does lost luggage go?

The Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama is considered one of that state’s largest tourist attractions. This is where unclaimed luggage and the items inside are auctioned off. Their website offers a peek inside the bag to know what real people purchased and how much they paid for unclaimed items. According to the staff at the Unclaimed Baggage Center, some of the more unusual items they have found include: a live rattlesnake, Egyptian artifacts, and a full set of armor (wonder if the owner had to pay overweight fees for that bag?).

What can travelers do?

It’s important for travelers to understand that the airlines provide only limited compensation for delayed baggage and they can take as many days as they like to locate your bag. When you need the items in your bag for a meeting, a special event, or simply enjoy your vacation, the airline compensation is not likely to be helpful.

This is where baggage delay coverage with your travel insurance plan comes in handy.

The running of the bulls, cliff diving, and other risky, albeit classic, adventures travelers can participate in around the world prompted us to review some travel insurance policies to discover what might be covered and what definitely isn’t.

The running of the bulls isn’t an unlawful or illegal act, which are exclusions in all travel insurance policies, so that didn’t exclude resulting injuries from coverage. Intoxication is absolutely excluded, so if the insured is intoxicated, then resulting injuries would not be covered.

This year’s running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain resulted in several injuries – one Australian runner was gored in the leg – and as far as an insurance definition, that falls under ‘bodily injury’. In reviewing several policies to discover whether this type of injury would be covered or not, we found these definitions:

In the Worldwide Trip Protector Gold plan from Travel Insured:

“Bodily Injury” means identifiable physical injury which: (a) is caused by an Accident, and (b) solely and independently of any other cause, … ”

Under the general exclusions in the Travel Guard Gold plan, we found:

“This plan does not cover any loss caused by or resulting from: (a) intentionally self-inflicted Injury …”

In short, risky behaviors that the insured intentionally participates in are not likely to be covered expenses, which makes sense when you think about it. A homeowner’s insurance plan doesn’t provide payout when a person intentionally sets their house on fire, so why would a travel insurance company be expected to cover a person who intentionally participates in activities that are known to be dangerous?

The covered reasons for trip cancellation are a common source of confusion (and, in some cases, dissatisfaction) in the review comments. Often, those purchasing travel insurance think they can cancel their trip simply because they need to cancel for their own reasons. We recently had a question about whether trip cancellation coverage included canceling due to a flooded residence.

Just as with any insurance plan, the key to understanding what you’re covered for is reading the policy. Lucky for all of us, the description of coverage for travel insurance plans is much easier to understand than the typical homeowner’s or automobile insurance plan.

All that being said, some travel insurance plans do allow the insured to cancel their trip if their primary residence is rendered uninhabitable due to a natural disaster. The key is understanding these terms: uninhabitable and natural disaster.

We’ll use Travel Guard’s Gold plan because as an example because it covers trip cancellations when “the Insured’s Primary Residence or Destination is [being] made Uninhabitable by Natural Disaster, vandalism, or burglary.” All quoted and italicized text bits in this post are copied directly from the Gold plan’s current description of coverage.

Plan Language

Let’s look at some travel insurance plan language that should make this a little clearer.

Using Travel Guard’s Gold plan as an example, they define a natural disaster as “a flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, fire, wildfire, volcanic eruption, or blizzard that is due to natural causes”.

The plan language also includes a definition for uninhabitable. It means “(1) the building structure itself is unstable and there is a risk of collapse in whole or in part; (2) there is exterior or structural damage allowing elemental intrusion, such as rain, wind, hail or flood; (3) immediate safety hazards have yet to be cleared, such as debris on roofs or downed electrical lines; or (4) the rental property is without electricity or water.”

So what does all that mean really?

Travel Guard’s Gold plan language is similar to that of many travel insurance plans in that it spells out the covered reasons for trip cancellation and the definitions of the terms. This means that a disaster such as a flood qualifies as a covered reason for cancelling your trip when your primary residence (or your destination residence) is so badly damaged that it’s unsuitable for living in.

What isn’t covered?

The text from the Gold plan makes it clear that you cannot cancel your trip for reimbursement simply because your home flooded and you want to stay home and supervise the insurance details and/or repairs. The residence must be damaged to the point that it cannot be lived in. Nor can you cancel your trip because you are worried about the potential for flooding in your area.

Best Bet for Flood Protection

Your best bet if you are concerned about the potential for flooding is the ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage, which is usually an optional upgrade to most travel insurance plans. This coverage will let you cancel your trip – for any reason at all – up to 48 hours prior to your scheduled departure.

Our hearts go out to the bereaved family and friends of a young husband and father who recently died in a para sailing accident off Long Boat Key, Florida. We wish them every relief and comfort during this time of devastating loss.

This unfortunate event brought to mind the fact that this family will now be faced with necessary decisions and expenses related to transporting the deceased back home to South Carolina. We decided to dig a little into what must be done when a tragedy like this happens.

Funeral Shipping by Air

It’s important to  understand that you cannot arrange for air transportation of human remains directly with the airline, whether the shipping will occur across international boundaries or not. This is due to the transportation requirements, which are determined by the Office of the Consulate General. Every country has specific rules and regulations that must be complied with in order for a body to be shipped inside of, into, or out of that country.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has partnered with funeral homes to ensure that human remains can be safely transported by air. Funeral homes who are ‘known shippers’ are those recognized by the TSA as licensed and qualified to accomplish this delicate task.

Inter-city funeral shipping

Depending on the events surrounding the death, the deceased may be transferred to a local funeral home or held in the city or hospital morgue. To arrange for shipping, you’ll need two funeral homes – one locally and the second in the final destination. Those funeral homes will generally coordinate the transportation arrangements. Those costs will have to be paid.

International funeral shipping

An international shipping effort requires an immense amount of coordination. To ship the deceased to another country, you’ll need to contact an international funeral service provider who specializes in this type of shipping.

The steps that must be accomplished include:

1. Care of the body and preparation for shipping.
2. Gaining approval from state and federal offices, including those receiving the body.
3. Delivery of the body onto the international flight.

What does it cost?

If the body will be flown to its final destination, the airline will impose their charges. Airfare is determined by the combined weight of the deceased, the casket and the approved shipping container. Once the deceased reaches the final airport, of course, additional transportation must be arranged to get the body to the local funeral home.

Costs vary depending on the funeral service provider, but according to recent research: door-to-door international funeral shipping will cost between $4,000 and $9,000.

How does travel insurance help?

Of course, your travel insurance assistance services will help you locate and coordinate with approved funeral services providers. Covered expenses typically include those related to embalming, cremation, and an approved container for transportation.

All travel insurance plans have a list of general exclusions and will not cover any loss resulting from those listed exclusions. It’s important to understand what those exclusions are and realize that coverage for repatriation of mortal remains may not be covered if the insured was participating in an activity that is listed as excluded from coverage. (Note: pre-existing conditions are not excluded from evacuation and repatriation expenses, but the insured must purchase the plan within a certain number of days after making the initial trip deposit.) Many travel plans require the insured to be traveling a certain number of miles from home for repatriation to be considered a covered expense.

In all cases, all arrangements must be approved in advance by the travel insurance company in order for those expenses to be covered.

We recently updated the Hurricane Season Travel Tools to help hurricane travelers stay out of harm’s way because the current consensus of hurricane experts is that the 2011 hurricane seasons looks to be more dangerous than usual.

Specifically, all indicators suggest that the Atlantic will see:

• Between 13 and 17 named storms
• Between 7 and 9 hurricanes
• Between 4 and 5 major hurricanes

According to our research, the average number of storms each hurricane season is:

• Between 9 and 10 named tropical storms
• Between 5 and 6 named hurricanes
• Between 2 and 3 major (category 3-5) hurricanes

So, as you can see, this hurricane season is predicted to be a little rougher than usual.

If you’re traveling this hurricane season (June 1st through November 30th), even if you’re not traveling in the typical hurricane zone, be sure to review the Hurricane Travel Resource Center for tips and information about safe travel and how travel insurance can help.

Business travelers are a special breed of traveler. Unlike leisure travelers, who are likely to be annoyed and frustrated by travel delays, business travelers are facing a different scenario. They could miss important meetings or even scheduled speaking events.

If you travel often for business, you know that strange and unexpected things can happen, so it pays to be prepared.

Every business traveler has their own set of tips and steps for handling emergencies, but we scoured the web to find the most useful:

• If you are checking your bags (see the airline chart of fees charged for baggage), pack a light change of clothes suitable for your initial activities in your carry-on. That way, if you land in London, but your bags land in Rio, you can still get through your day. Travel insurance plans typically require the bags to be delayed a number of hours (usually 12-24), which doesn’t help much if your interview occurs within hours of your landing.
• Carry a paper or mobile copy of your itinerary, hotel info, rental car numbers, etc. You won’t always have wireless available and a copy stored on your mobile device can save you in those situations.
• Sign up for flight status notifications with the airline so you can receive a text when flights are delayed. Program the airline phone numbers into your cell phone, so if the flight changes will impact your plans, you have a head start on making a flight change.
• Carry a healthy snack or two because you never know what will be available (or open) when you land. Plus, have you seen what the airlines are charging for basic snacks these days?
• Carry a USB memory stick or two in case you cannot connect your laptop to the projection system and they only way you can show the presentation is to move that file to their system.
• Ditto for a second – fully charged – laptop battery.

We recently posted that some airports are trying to make things easier on travelers. See some of the airport innovations we really like. Hint: look for locking charging stations to keep your cell phone and MP3 players well fueled.