The combined disaster of an earthquake in Northern Japan, followed soon after by a devastating Tsunami and a nuclear disaster, caused great personal suffering for many Japanese people. The compounding after effect, however, has been severe losses in tourism dollars resulting in additional financial losses.

We’ve written before about the long-term effects on tourism after a natural disaster, but one Swiss man has decided to take matters in his own hands and prove to foreigners that it’s safe to travel in Japan.

Thomas Koehler, a former travel agent from Switzerland, is walking across Japan to encourage people to visit the country, and he’s blogging as he goes. You can review his blog (not yet available in English translation) and read more about his story (in English). His trip is self-funded and he’s been traveling about 20-30 KM per day.

Related posts

• Radiation fears are not covered without ‘cancel for any reason’
• Travel insurance companies explain post-earthquake coverage for Japan
• Headed to Japan to aid relief efforts?

On October 14th, 79-year-old U.S.-born Alfonso Acosta, who was visiting relatives in Mexico, barely survived a devastating bus crash and then lay effectively untreated in a government-run hospital in Toluca, Mexico for over five weeks.  When the family was notified, they were told only that their father had a concussion.

Supplies at the hospital were limited, and so, as Acosta’s children (he has seven) started arriving in Mexico, they took turns walking to the nearest pharmacy over a mile away to buy the medications and gauze their father needed. Any medical care ordered at the hospital had to be paid for in advance and in cash. The kids slept on the floor near his bed, but they were not given pillows or blankets. They also ate very little, hording their cash for their father’s care.

Repeated calls to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico gave the family no help in getting their father out of Mexico, and the family accuses the hospital of holding their father hostage for the money the family was repeatedly shelling out.

The family tried calling medical evacuation flight companies, but because Acosta didn’t have coverage before he left, most companies refused. Ultimately, they were able to contact an independent pilot to whom they paid $12,500 in advance who agreed to fly Acosta from the hospital in Toluca to Houston, Texas. Finally, after a final struggle with hospital staff to release their father, they had him on a flight back to the U.S. on November 18th. According to the latest reports, Acosta is expected to make a full recovery.

At Travel Insurance Review, we extend our sympathies to the Acosta family and express our gratitude that he is safely back in the States.

Our Strongest Recommendation to Travelers

For travelers who plan trips outside the U.S., we strongly recommend you have medical evacuation coverage from a reputable travel insurance company who can provide the kind of coordination assistance the Acosta family so desperately needed.

We ran these details through our travel insurance comparison tool to see how much travel insurance protection would have cost for a traveler like Alfonso Acosta:

• 1 traveler
• Iowa resident
• 79 years old
• Staying one month in Mexico
• No trip cancellation included
• At least $50,000 medical coverage
• At least $100,000 evacuation coverage

The following plans, among many others, showed up as available (examples are shown priced lowest to higher):

• Global Alert Preferred – $100,000 medical and $500,000 evacuation included at a price of $62.00.
• Seven Corners RoundTrip – $75,000 medical and $350,000 evacuation included at a price of $64.00.
• MH Ross Bridge – $100,000 medical and $500,000 evacuation included at a price of $75.00.
• Travelex TraveLite – $50,000 medical and $250,000 evacuation included at a price of $76.00.

As you can see, purchasing even a small amount of coverage is ideal when compared to the horrific struggles the Acosta family endured. Your family will have a travel assistance services hotline to contact and coordination support to get you to a place where you can receive qualified medical care.

Last week, a United flight from Denver to LA was diverted as an emergency landing into Grand Junction, Colorado. Many people on that plane had to make changes to their travel plans. Some folks had short stopovers in which to make connections, which is where travel plans can go awry.

What happens when the plane you’re traveling in makes an emergency landing?

Each traveler on that plane has their own schedule and because the plane’s mechanical failure was the reason for the emergency landing, i.e., it wasn’t bad weather that caused the emergency landing, the airline is responsible for getting passengers back on schedule as best they can. It’s also up to the airline to handle accommodations, meals, etc. for the passengers who are in that spot, but every airline has their own policies.

When the airline is responsible for the delay, travel insurance won’t be of too much help because it’s not their responsibility. The travel assistance services, however, may be able to help you get routed onto another flight or make other travel changes, but if the airline is going to pay you for the delay or missed connection, then that money will come out of any compensation or reimbursement you receive from travel insurance.

When the airline is not responsible for the delay – that is, in cases of weather or natural disaster for example, that’s when travel insurance can be your best friend. In those instance, the airlines aren’t responsible and travel insurance can help.

For those travelers who would face a missed connection, see what the airlines owe you when a missed connection occurs for more information on how this works.

In a disturbing and continuing upward trend, travelers are being surprised by a number of hidden fees just when we’ve gotten used to hauling our limited luggage through security to avoid baggage fees and carrying our own blankets, meals, and pillows thanks to the fees charged by airlines.

These days, travelers have to be aware of hidden fees imposed by just about everyone, and they can really add up quickly!

When you stay at a hotel

Hotels have begun imposing resort fees, which are extra per-day charges tacked onto your hotel bill. Unfortunately, this is another example of simply gouging customers because most travelers have no idea what services they are getting (if any) for these extra fees and hotels aren’t required to pre-disclose them. Plus, the traveler pays taxes on the fees on top of everything else.

When you rent a car

Rental car companies may not tell you about airport fees, which can be $10, $15, or more per day. You won’t be aware of these fees unless you do some research because they’re charged to your card when you return the car and not before.

When you see a game

Ticketing fees and convenience fees are being added to sporting events, as well as a new fee called a delivery fee, which is added to your charge to print the ticket or send it in an e-mail.

When you find a great airfare

Some time ago, we wrote about online airfare purchase websites catching travelers by surprise by automatically adding travel insurance to their purchase, and apparently passenger outcry has prompted at least one company, Travelocity, to implement opt-out so that the checkbox is not already clicked when you make your purchase. This change won’t occur until January 2012, however, so be cautious when making travel supplier purchases until that time.

Note: here at Travel Insurance Review, we encourage you to purchase your travel insurance from an independent, third-party because you have greater control over your coverage, you can add necessary options, and you can compare plans to select the best price.

We recently had a comment from a traveler who was frustrated because their travel insurance didn’t cover trip cancellation when they had an important job interview.

While we recognize the value of an important interview (especially in this economy!) and we acknowledge that it’s frustrating when insurance doesn’t provide the coverage you think you’re entitled to have, it’s very important to understand what you’re covered for before you expect your travel insurance company to pay out.

Travel insurance – as a separate insurance product – is relatively new to the consumer market. We’ve all been familiar with how our homeowner’s insurance works and how our automobile insurance works for some time. We’ve read our policies, and we know whether our roof, for example, is covered in a hail storm or whether our windshield can be replaced with our coverage if the neighborhood kids throw something through it.

Travel insurance, on the other hand, hasn’t been around as long and consumers are still getting familiar with how it works. Plus, travelers typically read ‘coverage for trip cancellation’ and assume it means coverage for any reason at all and that’s just not true anymore than damage to your roof or your windshield are covered for any reason at all.

Most travelers who are experienced with travel insurance (and there are a growing number of these folks) could have quickly explained to our commenter that a job interview – not matter how important – is simply not a covered reason for trip cancellation. If the commenter had purchased a plan with ‘cancel for any reason‘, our traveler would have had 50-100% (depending on their plan) reimbursement  for their covered trip costs.

Here at Travel Insurance Review, it’s our goal to make travel insurance better understood by travelers. That’s why when we get comments like this, we feel compelled to explain the coverage. Anytime you have a travel insurance question, please let us know and we’ll help.

We recently read this plea for help on a discussion board: “Have a trip scheduled leaving Friday and have terrible flu. Does credit card travel protection cover the flu?”

Unfortunately, unless you are hospitalized with it probably not.

Trip cancellations with your credit card are limited to injury, illness, or death of you, a close family member (spouse, child, or parent usually) or your traveling companion.

As limited as credit card trip protection is for cancellations due to illness, trip cancellation with your travel insurance plan may not help you when you have the flu either – again, unless you are so ill you are hospitalized.

With your travel insurance protection, the illness must be disabling enough to make a reasonable person cancel, delay or interrupt their trip and the medical condition must be verified by a medical doctor.

• For pre-trip cancellation benefits, this means the physician must advise the cancellation of your trip prior to your scheduled departure.
• For trip interruption benefits, the medical condition must result in medically imposed restrictions certified by a physician at the time of loss (meaning, on your trip) and preventing your continued participation in the trip.

If you cannot be examined by a medical doctor before you cancel your trip, some travel insurance plans allow you a 72-hour window to accomplish the examination, but the result must still be the same: the physician must certify that you are too ill to travel. As proof of the loss, you will be expected to show the physician’s report, so be sure to get a couple of copies.

You can read more about illness and injury coverage for trip cancellations and see which companies and plans include this coverage. Consider ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage when you trip is very expensive or there is a risk from which you’d like to protect yourself (such as when all the kids are sick at home and you have a business trip).

In the case of US Airways Flight 1549, now known as the “Miracle on the Hudson”, Captain Chelsey Sullenberger and his crew managed to avert disaster by affecting a water landing; however, one outcome of that event was the fact that many passengers were ill equipped to handle an air emergency. Even though we are briefed before each flight on the emergency procedures, the passengers did not know what to do when the captain announced “Brace for impact.”

So, most passengers understand that in the event of an emergency, we are to leave our belongings behind so we can move quickly to safety, use the floor lighting to find the nearest exit, and when using the emergency chute, we go down feet first and move out of the way as quickly as possible when we get to the bottom.

Given the relative safety of air flights, what we haven’t heard in some time is “Brace for impact.”

The brace position is described as:

1. Placing your feet flat on the floor.
2. Tuck your arms and elbows close to your sides.
3. Bend forward, over your thighs, as tightly as possible.
4. Tucking your head on or as close as possible to, the surface you are most likely to strike when slammed forward. That is, the seat in front of you or the bulkhead, depending on your position in the plane.

Hotels will sometimes overbook their rooms. Similar to the airlines, they are counting on at least a few people having to cancel or failing to show up, but for frequent travelers or travelers on a holiday, the practice can be disastrous.

When you arrive at your hotel, however, you want the room you reserved. So, what happens when the hotel overbooks AND it can’t find alternative accommodations AND that results in your having to fork over additional money in a region that is clearly packed with travelers?

Travel Guard has a few travel insurance plans with a unique benefit. It’s called Hotel Overbooking and it means that Travel Guard will reimburse you those unexpected lodging costs.

Protection for hotel overbooking can be found in Travel Guard’s annual travel protection plan called Travel Rite.

The description of coverage for Hotel Overbooking reads like this:

The Insurer will reimburse the Insured for additional, alternative
lodging expenses, less any reimbursed deposit and/or pre-paid
Hotel arrangements up to the Maximum Limit shown in the
Schedule, for 1 night’s lodging for each room guaranteed or
confirmed by a Reservation made through the Insured’s Travel
Supplier that is oversold, if the Insured’s Hotel is unable to provide
reasonable, alternative accommodations.

Of course, it’s important that you insure the original lodging costs when you purchase your insurance, and you’ll need to get some written confirmation from the hotel saying your stay could not be accommodated.

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.