The travel world has recently been rocked by a number of global events – both natural disasters and political action – which makes the point that families planning on Easter travel should consider travel insurance plans that protect their holiday travel.

Just a few recent examples:

• Travelers stranded or delayed by the recent Southwest Airlines’ struggles could have had help from their travel insurance company if they purchased travel insurance ahead of the event.
• British Airways is considering possible strike action, but travelers can still purchase travel insurance prior to the strike date announcement.
• Prices for travel insurance may be going up due to recent payouts due to a world in crisis and multiple natural disasters. Experts recommend travelers purchase their travel insurance early and consider multi-trip plans or annual plans, where appropriate, to take advantage of today’s prices.

Families traveling with children this Easter holiday – even if traveling to see family members in other states – need to consider the value of coverage for travel situations like:

1. Missed connections, which can be caused by severe weather, labor strikes, and overbooking. Review the information about missed connections and what the airline won’t provide.
2. Travel delays, which can be caused by weather, flight operation problems, and strikes. Take a look at the information on travel delays to understand what it covers.

Families on the go should think about the many travel situations that can put a damper on holiday fun and make travel far more difficult than it should be. See the complete guide to travel insurance coverage for more information.

 

With political revolutions in North Africa and across the Middle East, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and more, travelers across the globe are looking into purchasing their travel insurance plans early. Not only because most plans require you to purchase your plan soon after making your initial trip payment, but also due to recent payouts and the potential for rising costs.

Due to payouts from multinational companies required to cover the losses due to the latest round of disasters and bad weather this past winder, prices of travel insurance products you may need to cover your vacation in the coming months may go higher.

Consider buying an annual plan at today’s prices

Under annual travel insurance plans, multiple trips are covered with the same benefits without having to have your travel plans locked down tight. You’ll be covered for the next year for any trips you want take.

In addition, multi-trip plans are available in many duration periods, so if you only want to cover the coming summer travel months, you’ll be set.

 

National Passport Day in the U.S. is this Saturday, April 9th. On that day, passport agencies in 26 cities will be accepting passport applications without an appointment.

The travel website of the U.S. Department of State has a load of information available for first-time appliers and those who need to renew their passport in advance of the summer travel season.

See the Travel.State.Gov website for information and download a passport form.

• Applying
• Renewing a passport
• Processing times
• Fees
• Photo Requirements
• Getting a passport quickly
• Passport card info
• and more.

Check out the link, double-check your passport expiration date (if you’ve got one already), and get ready to travel!

When thousands of Britons could not get out of Libya recently due to holes in their holiday travel insurance coverage, they realized that war effectively nullifies their coverage. Many travel insurance plans include exclusions similar to the following:

This plan does not cover any loss caused by or resulting from war or act of war, whether declared or not, civil disorder, riot, or insurrection.

Therefore, it’s vital that those purchasing travel insurance plans understand their policies and what is (and is not) covered.

How Travel Insurance Covers War, Civil Disorder, and Unrest

Travel insurance plans cover travelers for war, civil disorder, and political unrest by allowing travelers to cancel their trip if they have ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage.

Some plans allow for non medical evacuations that include social upheaval as a covered reason for evacuation, but it’s important to understand your policy limits and exclusions. See a list of plans offering non medical evacuations.

Important notes

1. If political unrest is not listed as a covered reason for a non medical evacuation, you won’t have coverage.
2. All evacuation arrangements must be arranged and coordinated by the travel insurance provider’s assistance services for coverage to apply.

 

While thousands of employees and crew have voted in favor of a series of well-timed British Airways strikes (potentially over the coming Easter holidays), the union has yet to set the strike dates. This means that passengers worried about being stranded as a result of flight delays or cancellations still have time to purchase travel insurance to protect themselves. Once the strike dates are announced, the strike is no longer an unforeseen event and it cannot be covered.

One report indicates that the British Airways strike action must take place between April 4th and the 25th. Travelers are encouraged to purchase travel insurance that specifically allows for strike action as a covered reason for claims including travel delays and trip cancellations.

Key points to understand

1. If the travel insurance policy does not include strikes as a covered reason, you will not have coverage for potential losses should their flight or travel plans be disrupted.
2. If you purchase the travel insurance policy after the strikes are announced, you will not have coverage for losses the occur as a result of the strike action.

Important note

British Airways has indicated it will update customers whose flights are affected using the methods of contact provided by the customers. This includes sending notices via e-mail, SMS, or phone. It’s vital that customers verify their contact information is updated in their booking details if they are to receive those notices.

 

The recent cancellations of hundreds of Southwest Airlines’ flights after a hole tore in the roof of a Southwest Boeing 737, forcing an emergency landing last Friday underscores where travel insurance can help in these situations.

Travel insurance cannot cover the flight cancellations, because it’s the responsibility of the airline to honor their contract with each ticket holder and get them to their destinations.  Each airline handles situations like this differently.

While some airlines have agreements with other major carriers, Southwest does not. This means that a Southwest ticket cannot be endorsed over to another carrier who can get a traveler to their destination.  It remains to be seen whether Southwest will issue refunds to travelers whose flights were canceled.

You can read the latest update from Southwest that explains their position.

How Travel Insurance can help

All that aside, how can travel insurance help customers who are stuck in similar situations?

If a traveler purchased travel insurance prior to these recent cancellations, then that traveler may have coverage (depending on their policy) for travel delays and perhaps ‘cancel for any reason’ if they decided to simply scrap their travel plans and wait for another time.

In all cases, travelers with travel insurance would have the support of their travel insurance assistance services who could explain their options and perhaps make alternative travel arrangements.

 

After the recent earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, the damage caused to a nuclear reactor plant is causing concern for travelers to Japan. While it’s important to note that radiation poisoning concerns to travelers as of this writing are limited, travelers with plans for future travel in Japan need to understand that fear of radiation poisoning isn’t a covered reason for trip cancellation if your plan doesn’t have the ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage.

Trip cancellation coverage provides coverage for a defined set of covered reasons and those reasons vary from travel insurance plan to travel insurance plan. In no case, however, is a concern or worry about an event that hasn’t yet happened covered under trip cancellation coverage.

If events in Japan change and nuclear contamination occurs, then coverage options may change. For example, if a hotel is shut down due to radiation concerns, then your travel insurance protection may kick in because the destination is rendered uninhabitable.

‘Cancel for any reason’ coverage, however lets travelers cancel their insured travel plans for any reason – including fears over radiation poisoning. See how much ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage is provided by each each company at Travel Insurance Review.

 

The days of low fuel prices are long gone and as fuel and oil prices continue to rise and plummet over global unrest, travelers of all types: families, honeymooners, seniors, volunteers, even business travelers are becoming increasingly aware that they have to protect their travel investment.

Some of the ways travel insurance can protect travel costs against these global shifts include:

• Travel delay coverage, which provides reimbursement for unexpected travel expenses that occur when your trip’s departure or return is delayed for a covered reason, such as airport closures due to earthquakes or civil unrest.
• Missed connection coverage, which provides reimbursement for unexpected travel expenses that occur when you’ve missed a flight connection and have to pay additional airline change fees, purchase new tickets or lose a day of pre-paid travel for a covered reason.
• Trip cancellation coverage, which provides reimbursement for pre-paid, non refundable travel expenses when you have to cancel your trip for a covered reason.
• Trip interruption coverage, which provides reimbursement for the unused trip costs and additional travel expenses if you have to end your trip and return home – whether you return to complete your trip or not.

The coverage provided by each travel plan varies, so it’s important to do your research. Compare plan coverage and benefits using the reviews here and a comparison engine (see How to Compare Quotes with a Travel Insurance Comparison Site).