Coronavirus has caused travel to come to a screeching halt throughout the world. Flights are empty, cruise ships are waiting in port, and everyone’s waiting to find out when they can start planning trips again.

But, much like after 9/11, there will be changes to how we travel. From flights to cruises, it’s safe to expect several changes in procedures, regulations, and traveler habits.

Today’s show discusses several of the most likely changes coming in the wake of Coronavirus.

Selected Links From This Episode

• Article from ThePointsGuy.com
• Self-service health testing kiosks
• Does UV light kill germs? Getting an at-home sanitizer may be worth it

Show Notes & Timestamps

• Changes to air travel 00:01:22
• Trying to make airplane travel more “touchless” 00:03:33
• Using technology solutions 00:03:56
• Self-serve health check kiosks 00:06:07
• Cruise industry changes 00:06:34
• Summary 00:07:38

Listen

Transcript

Hi, it’s Damian here. This is the Safe Travels podcast, the show that tries to help you get rid of those travel worries so you can sit back and relax and enjoy your trip.

Today we’re talking about the changes to expect when we start traveling again after coronavirus.

How is travel going to be different? What are the changes that are coming down the line?

It’s been awhile since anybody’s really traveled and we really have no idea when we will get back to it.

It’s a little bit like after 9/11, there is a bit of a waiting period and nobody really knew when they could travel again. That was a time when the entire travel industry changed overnight in the US, and largely abroad as well.

And, the list of changes that came from that is pretty long. For instance, the TSA screenings got much more thorough. You used to be able to greet people at the gate…you’d go through security and actually stand at the gate and wait for them to get off the plane. That went away.

We all get to take our shoes off now after the shoe bomber incident.

That’s when liquids became an issue…the liquid restriction. In fact, I’ve always carried a pocket knife and I remember taking it through security a long time ago and they would just look at it and hand it back to you after the metal detector.

So all of that’s changed. All those things have come along since 9/11.

Everyone’s waiting to travel right now, but we’re not really sure when we can do that. The last show that we did talked about how we will know that we can start traveling again.

And we’re wondering what the new changes will be. I was just reading a piece by Brian Kelly from thepointsguy.com, and he had a good article which got me thinking.

So today we’ll cover some of the good points that he made in that article and a few of our own as well.

First of all, there will be changes to air travel. That’s one of those things that puts a lot of people in close spaces together…we’re moving around…it’s obviously the main way that this virus has been spread from country to country. Packing a lot of people into small places like sardines is not really in line with social distancing and there will likely be changes to how we deal with that.

One of those changes might be some sort of medical test…it could be very minor like a temperature check, but don’t be surprised to see some sort of standardized checks or a very simple test as part of the flying process.

What would that look like?

• It could be part of the check in process at the airport.
• It could be part of the security process.
• It could be prior to boarding the plane.
• It might be with international flights only.
• Maybe it’s just to/from “hotspots”…red zones, green zones where, you know, people might be infected or where they’re trying to really control it strictly.

In China, for example, we are seeing planes land at intermediary airports for health checks before flying on to its biggest cities. So they’ve really created bottlenecks where everybody needs to go in and out and have some sort of health check.

After 9/11 we created all sorts of new machines to seek out weapons and liquids to scan people as they got under planes. And we’ll need to do something similar to protect ourselves against viruses.

As Brian points out in his article, wiping down seats with disinfectant will become something really common instead of just something that the over-the-top germaphobes do.

You’ll see a lot more face masks. In fact, you might even see them as part of some sort of regular in-flight amenity. Perhaps you’ll have some sort of germ kit that has a mask, some sanitizer, wipes for your tray, gloves, things like that.

And we’ll also need to change how we sit on planes. In that same article from thepointsguy.com, Brian’s talking about anticipating airlines blocking off middle seats until they absolutely need to sell them…and then offering the ability to purchase them as a buffer, as a reasonable way to upsell to window seats or aisle. Basically leave that middle spot open until they really, really need it, which I think is an interesting idea.

We’ll probably see a few changes at the gate area too…like systems so passengers don’t need to crowd around the gate waiting to get on the plane.

It’d be nice to see more touchless features on the plane. For example, the whole bathroom process, some sort of touchless door handle, the sink operation, getting a towel, flushing the toilet. It’s amazing a lot of that stuff is not touchless by now.

I was trying to think of all the different things that we touch on an airplane, and really the only mandatory one that I can think of is the seatbelt. I’m not quite sure how to fix that, but of all of the other things, everything else is somewhat optional. You don’t need to touch your tray. You don’t need to touch the arm rests. You can really sit there and just keep your hands to yourself except for that seatbelt. You’ll probably see the magazines and other items in the seat pocket in front of you go away so that we’re not sharing things that way.

An area that we can do really well with is technology. As Brian points out in the article, we need to wage war against long lines in the whole travel process. Whether it’s at the check-in or security or immigration, having hundreds of people or even thousands of people in small spaces is not acceptable.

Technology can help with a lot of things so that we don’t have to touch stuff anymore.

For example, the check-in kiosk. How about some sort of voice activated system so that we don’t have to touch that screen or even use your own cell phone to limit screen cross contamination.

We still hand over our identification to TSA and check. Why not some sort of scanning tools so that they don’t need to touch that?

The TSA bins that go around and around, we could see some sort of machine that cycles them through with instant sanitizing…maybe it’s UV light, maybe it’s some sort of spray.

We touch our tickets, even though we’ve largely done away with paper tickets so we’re not handling those as much anymore. A lot of people have switched to their phone, but think about the process for that.

You take something that you put against your face fairly often, place it against a little screen at the check in process, and so does everybody else behind you. Then we all put that phone back against our face again. So yes, you might use headphones and things like that, but in general, you’re taking something that belongs on or around your face and wiping it against a surface that everybody else does as well.

The seatbelts, something else that we’d touched on, like I mentioned just a minute ago, maybe the gloves in that safety pack, we can put them on, put it on then take them back off.

There must be some sort of way to make the overhead bin touchless Again, bathrooms, we need more touchless devices in there.

And then maybe even baggage claim. Run all the bags through some sort of sanitizing machine, UV light.

So what else as far as technology?

Well, we might have some sort of wellness card to show how well we are.

Privacy gets people freaked out here, but the overall results should be good with this.

It’s basically some sort of system to use technology to show that you have a temperature in a normal range…anything else that indicates that you’re a healthy person, that you should be traveling. All of these things could be entering the system.

For example, right now you need to have your temperature taken in order to eat at a restaurant in Hong Kong, but at the same time, you can fly into the United States from anywhere and travel throughout the country without any sort of screening.

These are things that we’re not very used to. We see pictures from other countries where they have some sort of mandatory screening taking place, but this is all new for us and I think there’s ways to do it that can become just part of our routine.

As Brian points out in the article, there are some signs that this is becoming the new reality. There’s a carrier in the Middle East that is now testing a self service kiosk that can monitor temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate of passengers checking in or passing through immigration. So it’s automated… It’s a machine that does this.

And just as passengers to some parts of the globe right now need proof of yellow fever vaccines, you might need to carry some sort of card that shows that you are immunized to other diseases.

How about the cruise industry? What will change there?

I think you can expect cruise companies to have more advanced onboard medical facilities and onboard testing for all kinds of illnesses.

Improved sanitation on board and improved systems on board, like ventilation systems and sanitizing systems so they have some method of limiting an outbreak.

Back to some of the airline checks, I can certainly see cruises having checks or scans or testing to make sure that everybody going on board is coronavirus free.

And otherwise for cruise ships, it’s a lot of the same stuff with airlines.

Some sort of standardized testing, improved sanitation, improving the line systems, improving check-in systems. Basically just a stronger focus on individual hygiene.

And outside of airline travel and cruise travel, a few other changes. Hotels are going to have to work harder to show guests that rooms are really getting cleaned in between visits. They should be incorporating some sort of technology. Again, the UV light sanitizing is a good method. Or other products or other tests or scanning that can make sure that rooms are truly clean.

You’ll probably see a lot more people booking refundable hotel rooms and seeking out flexible flight options as the possibility of cancellations increases.

We’ll likely see travel insurance become more popular, especially the cancel for any reason product, which gives people the option to call off a trip at the last minute and get most of their money back.

So in summary, what changes can we expect as we start traveling again after coronavirus is over?

We should see lots of systems and technology being used to address really big touch points that we have in the travel process. Anything like long lines, waiting areas, check-in processes…there are smart ways to do that so that we don’t have as much contact.

We might be seeing some standard testing incorporated into travel, whether it’s a very simple thing like a touchless temperature scan. It might be a machine that does it. It could be a scanner that you just walked through that gets your temperature. There’s a lot of good technology out there, And finally we’ll be seeing people trying to protect their investment a bit more.

Booking cancelable hotel rooms, flexible flights, buying travel insurance to protect their investment.

I hope this has been helpful. Thank you for listening. Please share it if you can, and again, Safe Travels!

The Coronavirus outbreak seems to be peaking right now.

And although it has been devastating for many, it seems to be less so than many models predicted…which is great news. The hard work of medical workers, travel bans, restrictions, and social distancing have combined to keep this under relative control.

As we work through this, one of the next questions for many becomes, “When can I start planning travel again?”.

Or first…”When will we know it is safe to travel again?”.

This show covers a few indicators to watch for that will answer this question, plus a few things to not pay attention to.

Selected Links From This Episode

• WTTC (World Travel & Tourism Council)
• US Department of State Travel Advisories
• CDC (Center for Disease Control) Coronavirus Page
• WHO (World Health Organization) Coronavirus Page
• Travel Insurance “Cancel For Any Reason” Coverage

Show Notes & Timestamps

• The Billion $$ Question, Travel Statistics 00:01:19
• When will we know it’s safe to plan travel again? 00:02:06
• Other things to watch for to let you know 00:03:19
• 3 Indicators you can probably ignore 00:05:11
• Summary 00:05:50

Listen

Transcript

Hello again, welcome to the Safe Travels Podcast. This is Damian Tysdal.

This is the show that helps you get rid of your travel worries so that you can just sit back and enjoy your trip. Today, we’re talking about how to know when it’s safe to travel again.

That’s what a lot of people are wondering, today is April 10th, according to various models we are at the peak of the usage of resources, hospital resources.  In general, according to the data, everything should be peaking right about now.

Luckily it seems like it’s not as bad as a lot of the models said, so that’s a very good thing. Obviously, there have been a lot of casualties from this, a lot of sick people, a lot of people doing a lot of work,  but it’s really good to know that it might not be as bad as a lot of the models suggested.

But that also leaves all of us in quarantine. Right now, nobody’s planning any trips. Nobody’s going anywhere. Everything’s unlocked down. It is still recommended that everyone is staying home and social distancing.

But, the billion dollar question is, “when is it safe to travel again?”.

How do we know? As things wind down, we’re going to have vacations to plan, we’re going to have family members to visit, might have weddings to attend, and we feel like right now it is still a waiting game to see what happens.

So when do you know that it’s okay to plan something? That’s what we’re going to be discussing today in this short episode.

There are a few different experts to pay attention to, to watch as indicators for when it’s safe to travel again.  Plus there’s a few other signs that we can discuss.

I mentioned that it’s a $1 billion question, and that is not an exaggeration. Here’s a few quick stats about the travel industry.

There’s a group called the WTTC, that’s the world of travel and tourism council, and their research shows that travel and tourism globally accounts for over 10% of the GDP. That is a lot of money. 

It’s directly responsible for generating one out of every 10 of the world’s jobs, which is incredible, and for eight successive years it has outpaced the growth of the global economy. So travel has been booming for quite a while now.

They also say that international tourism generates $1.7 trillion in revenue, ao obviously it’s big business. A lot of people’s livelihoods are tied to travel. Obviously, we all want to be safe about it.

So let’s talk about when we will know that it’s safe to book trips again.

The broad answer here is “When the experts say that it’s safe to travel again”, but figuring out who these experts are can be pretty tricky.

Let’s talk about three main things that must happen before travelers can return to their trips.

First of all, the State Department must lift its level four travel advisory. On March 19th the government issued a warning to avoid all international travel because of this pandemic.  That’s something that’s not done very often.

So obviously it’s very serious and I would certainly want to see that lifted before anyone plans on traveling. 

Second, the CDC,  the Center for Disease Control should give some sort of “all clear” sign. The CDC normally does not issue travel advisories or restrictions on travel within the United States, but it did for Coronavirus. So it’s quite unprecedented.  So once that advisory is lifted, travelers can feel more comfortable in getting back to planning travel.

Finally, the World Health Organization, the W.H.O. should give some sort of thumbs up to travel.

So those are three organizations, or government bodies, that should give the thumbs up before we go. The State Department lifting it’s level four advisory, the CDC giving a thumbs up, and the W.H.O. giving a thumbs up. I wouldn’t necessarily wait for just one of those people to say, “go ahead”…I would wait for all three.

There’s a few other signs that might say it’s safe to travel again, or at least to get back to planning travel

We’ll see businesses start to reopen and offices start to reopen.

We’ll see schools open, although I’m not sure if that’ll happen before summer comes. But when classes resume or when businesses open or when restaurants open, there’ll be a good sign that things are returning to normal.

China has already done so that’s where all of this started and they are getting back to a bit of normalcy.

And Italy is also scheduled to start reopening some of its institutions and businesses and get things back online in early April as well.

Another sign will be when travel agencies start booking trips again. Although you might assume that they’ll book anything that you want to book, a lot of them are hesitant to do so because they know that those trips might get canceled and they might be losing a customer. So many travel agencies are doing the smart thing and just telling people to hold off for right now.

Finally, another indicator is travel insurance…when you’re buying travel insurance. Again, a lot of companies have stopped selling, not only cancel for any reason coverage, but just travel insurance in general.

One advantage that insurance has over some of these other indicators  is that they gather large sets of data and they’re able to figure out when it’s safe to take on the risk again.

For example, some travel insurance companies and comparison sites are really just seeing purchases for travel after August, and then even going into 2021.

Finally, after the government bodies and official organizations and some of the businesses around you, it’s going to be a personal decision as well. 

I know those that are caring for older parents, or if you are an older person, you’re going to have a different level of risk tolerance than somebody that’s a bit younger or healthier.

The other tempting thing that will happen is when the travel deals start coming out.  I’ve already seen lots of travel deals that are aiming for late summer, and later in the year there’ll come a time where a few of these indicators are showing that it’s safe again, businesses are starting to open up, the travel deals get  too good, and your personal risk tolerance allows you to say, “let’s book a trip”.

Finally, let’s just talk about a few things that are not signs that it’s safe to travel again.

One would be the reopening of tourist attractions. Basically, they are quite incented to get things opened up again for business purposes, which is understandable, but it’s not really a great indicator of when it’s safe again.

Another sign to not pay attention to are case counts in a specific area. As everybody keeps moving around, that’s when things spread. So just because the specific place that you’re looking to go does not have any new cases, does not necessarily mean that it’s safe to travel again.

And finally, the last group of people that are not always incented to do the right thing are politicians. If they are saying that it’s safe to go, I would still look for these other indicators.

So just the recap. “When will we know that it’s safe to book a trip again?”

I will listen to the State Department of the United States to reduce their level for travel advisory.

I will look for the CDC and the W.H.O. to give a thumbs up

Start to look for businesses to reopen schools to reopen if summer doesn’t happen first.

Watch for travel agents to get active again and travel insurance companies to start selling all of their product lines again.

Take into account your personal risk tolerance and whether you feel comfortable going or not.

But don’t pay attention to reopening tourist attractions, the lack of coronavirus cases in a specific area, or if a politician gives you the thumbs up.

I hope this has been helpful.  We’re all trying to figure out when we can book travel again, but I hope this has given you a good indication of when it might be OK…at least a few things to watch out for.

Thanks for listening. Safe travels.

In this interview we discuss the basics of travel insurance, how it covers Coronavirus, tips for planning travel in light of the virus, and some general ideas for worry-free travel.

The interview features Jeremy Murchland from Seven Corners Insurance. Jeremy is an expert in travel insurance and international medical insurance, and has been President of Seven Corners since 2019.

Coronavirus has virtually shut down travel (both international and domestic) but travelers still have plenty of questions. Does travel insurance cover COVID-19 cancellations, does it cover medical emergencies related to it, can I still buy insurance.

Travelers also want to get back to trip planning once the Coronavirus quarantines have eased, and they want to know how they can protect their trip investment.

Jeremy and I discuss these questions in this short interview.

Selected Links From This Episode

• Jeremy Murchland LinkedIn
• Seven Corners Insurance
• Travel Insurance Overview
• Cancel For Any Reason travel insurance
• Travel document tips
• Travel.state.gov STEP Program

Show Notes & Timestamps

• Who is Seven Corners and what do they do? 00:00:07
• Key features of travel insurance and what it covers 00:00:59
• Which type of plan is most popular? 00:02:30
• Why your cruise line insurance plan is not as good as 3rd party 00:03:32
• How travel insurance can cover Coronavirus 00:05:42
• How unforeseen events work with travel insurance 00:07:28
• Jeremy’s tips for planning travel now 00:11:20
• Possible changes to CFAR and insurance in general 00:13:41
• What are the main Coronavirus concerns for insureds now? 00:14:48
• Advice for travelers concerned about Coronavirus 00:19:12
• Debunking travel insurance myths 00:19:55
• Avoiding common travel insurance mistakes 00:23:17
• Top travel insurance tips 00:24:26
• Tips to remove travel worries (besides travel insurance) 00:26:02

Listen

Transcript

Damian Tysdal: Today, I’m speaking with Jeremy Murchland, who is the president of Seven CornersI Insurance. Jeremy, thanks for joining us.

Jeremy Murchland: Yeah. Thanks Damian for having me on.

Damian Tysdal: Can you tell us a little bit about Seven Corners and what the company does?

Jeremy Murchland: Sure. Sure, no problem. So Seven Corners, we’re a privately held, international travel insurance and specialty benefit management company. We’ve been in business since roughly 1993, so I guess that puts us at about 26 years old. We service all different types of customers, international travelers like you and I, agencies of the U S government, foreign governments, corporations, and different types of insurance companies to help remove risks from their travel, and people that they may have traveling overseas.

Damian Tysdal: So everything from vacation travelers to long term visitors and things like that?

Jeremy Murchland: Any, and all of the above, yeah. People that might be just going on a short weekend trip to the Caribbean, or others that may be spending a longer period of time, a year or more at a time, outside of their home.

Damian Tysdal: Okay. Digging into that a little bit more, I think a lot of people probably aren’t very familiar with travel insurance in general, can you give just a brief overview of travel insurance and what it covers?

Jeremy Murchland: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Travel insurance provides emergency benefits and travel assistance for people that travel outside of their home country, within their home country, what have you. There’s really two kinds of general types of travel insurance. At least we classify them in two different ways.

The first is trip protection. Trip protection is going to give you really three main types of coverage. First, there’s the protection for your unused and non-refundable trip costs if you need to cancel, interrupt, or have a delay to your trip for a certain reason within the policy. Trip insurance can also protect your medical expenses if you get hurt or sick on your trip. And finally, trip insurance also covers your belongings if they’re lost, stolen or damaged while you’re traveling. So really those three things.

The other type of travel insurance we classify as travel medical, and it’s, it’s just that…it’s a plan that provides mostly medical benefits and emergency services that are important to people if they become sick or hurt while they’re on a trip outside of their home country.

So, that one’s really focused on a variety of wide benefits around the medical side of things, whereas the other is more, it includes, it has the medical, but it also has some of the other protections for your trip costs.

Damian Tysdal: Right, and which one is more popular?

Jeremy Murchland: Well, you know, it really depends on the type of traveler, I would say, and it depends on the type of year and what type of trip people are protecting.

Interesting enough, in our business right now, it’s almost split half and half. So about half of the people are buying trip protection. About the other half are buying travel medical only.

I think if you’re…if you’re spending a significant amount of money on a vacation, and you’re, not only are you concerned about potentially protecting yourself if you get sick while you’re on the vacation, but you’re spending a lot of money on the trip itself, people are more likely to go for the trip protection.

If somebody is traveling overseas, perhaps for a long period of time…it’s just a flight but they’re staying with family or friends, they don’t maybe have as much in trip cost and people are more likely just to get the travel medical side of things.

What it boils down to, I think is your investment and your risk tolerance for that investment…is really going to impact which of those you choose.

Damian Tysdal: Right. I think a lot of people know about travel insurance through things like cruises or a package tour. In that case, are they typically thinking of trip insurance when it’s mentioned to them?

Jeremy Murchland: They are, generally they’re thinking of trip insurance. You know, the interesting thing that people really have to watch out for when they’re buying, call it trip insurance, in what I would call the purchase path when they’re booking their cruise or they’re booking their vacation or they’re booking their flight.

Sometimes that trip insurance is very limited, it may be just covering trip cancellation or interruption, it may not have the travel medical benefits that independent travel insurance companies have.

So it’s always important that consumers, you always hear “consumer beware”, right? And that applies no matter what you’re buying, who you’re buying it from, but alway make sure you’re looking at your travel plans, what you’re buying, you fully understand the benefits of what you are and aren’t getting.

Damian Tysdal: So those types of plans might not be as robust? Is it made especially for the cruise line in that case?

Jeremy Murchland: Yes, that is correct. It may not be as robust. And secondly, oftentimes because yes, it’s, it may be, it’s very specific to what someone’s buying or booking at the time. So, there could be limited medical benefits or more limits on the coverage or the actual benefits being provided.

It’s just always important to make sure that what you think you’re getting, you’re actually getting.

Damian Tysdal: If you hear the term travel insurance, don’t assume that they’re all the same, that everything includes everything…

Jeremy Murchland: it’s a very, it’s a very broadly used term that covers a lot of different things. And, depending on who’s selling it, who’s distributing it, the words travel insurance can mean different things

Damian Tysdal: it’s an area where there’s a lot of insurance talk.

Jeremy Murchland: Yeah, for sure. For sure. A lot of insurance talk, and I always say to people that, you know, insurance is complicated, it’s a complicated thing no matter what type of insurance, whether it’s auto or home or what have you. . And because it’s complicated, this is one of those things where you really should “quote unquote” read the fine print. I don’t know that it’s fine, but just read the small print, read your policy documents, make sure you understand exactly what you’re buying. Damian Tysdal: So with the timely events now with Coronavirus, I’d love to just talk a little bit about how coverage could apply to Coronavirus and the entire situation right now.

It seems like there’s a few areas where a traveler’s insurance policy could come into effect so if you can just lay out a few common examples, kind of some typical scenarios, and you can speak to how a product like travel insurance could support them, that’d be great.

Jeremy Murchland: No problem.

Damian Tysdal: Let’s say I’m on a trip abroad, I have insurance, and I were to get sick with coronavirus…actually be diagnosed.

Jeremy Murchland: So, yeah that, so it can be covered. I mean, and this is going to, I’ll probably start all of my answers with this, but it can be covered. However, again, travelers really need to read their plan document to make sure they know for sure, and the reason why is because none of the plans are created the same.

They all have slightly different languages for covered reasons, and because of that, some plans may actually exclude coverage if the traveler purchased the plan or traveled after certain types of warnings were issued. And those warnings could be the World Health Organization emergency travel advisory, or a CDC warning or a designated level such as a level three or level four.

For travel warnings , or even other governmental agency related warnings…some plans exclude coverage for those things…and they, some plans may also exclude coverage for epidemics or foreseeable events.

So coverage definitely varies by insurance company, and by plan type. So it’s going to be important that, again, you read your policy, you understand what’s covered, not covered.

So in some cases, yes, but in some cases, no. Unfortunately

Damian Tysdal: Right. So you mentioned a few dates, whether it’s a CDC warning or travel warnings, the idea there is that it’s becoming no longer an unforeseen event. Is that the concept there?

Jeremy Murchland: That’s exactly right. A lot of insurance companies are going to say, hey, once it’s, once it’s a foreseen event, after a certain date, and by the way, some insurance companies, they, they, those dates differ by a day or two or three or whatever number, uh, once it becomes a foreseen event…if you kind of travel to one of these areas that have been restricted or that you’re warned against, it could be an exclusion and cause you not to receive the benefits in your policy depending again on the policy and the carrier.

Damian Tysdal: So that’s, just as a kind of a side comparison with hurricanes, I know that it’s similar where when a hurricane is named that becomes that set date where, uh, before it’s considered unforeseen and after it’s considered for a scene. Is that generally correct?

Jeremy Murchland: That’s a good example, because you know, if you, if you’re booking a travel insurance plan right now for a cruise in the fall, we don’t know what hurricanes are going to happen in the fall, but once, once a hurricane is named in the fall, if you go then buy travel insurance, most of those benefits aren’t going to apply if you need to, if you want to cancel your trip because of the hurricane or what have you.

So yeah, it’s very, very similar in that regard.

Damian Tysdal: so again, back to the example, I’m in Europe, let’s say. Staying healthy, but, whether it’s now or even a few weeks ago, I was just getting nervous and I would want to come home, cancel the trip, hop on a plane, come back home, and I’m losing the rest of my trip and hotel expenses and things like that. Would there be any sort of coverage for that?

Jeremy Murchland: Well, that generally falls under what we’re going to call trip interruption, and you’d need to really, again look at the, you look at your policy, understand what the covered reasons are going to allow you to do and not do. So a lot of times kind of interrupting your trip or canceling your trip out of a fear reason is not going to be a covered reason. Now, if for example, I don’t know, trip interruption occurs because you have to be quarantined and you can’t go on the rest of your trip and whatever country you’re in, you’re quarantined or you’re quarantined at home and you can’t go, then , that’s a common covered reason which would apply to your trip because you’ve had to interrupt it.

Other things are, would be included if, if there’s sickness or if there’s a death in the family. Or you’re called up to military duty, something like that. But those covered reasons are gonna kind of vary by plan, again, fear is not generally going to be a covered reason.

Damian Tysdal: Right, and you mentioned covered reasons, that’s a section of the policy. It actually spells out what is covered.

Jeremy Murchland: It usually does, and it’s usually very upfront in the policy, so you don’t have to read too far

Damian Tysdal: and I think the final scenario I was going to mention is you purchase insurance for a trip coming up. And now with all this coming along, let’s say it’s in June, and you just want to call it off. Does it fall into the same category where it needs to be listed for you to call that trip off and have any coverage for cancellation?

Jeremy Murchland: Yes and no. Um, there is an exception to that, I’ll explain. So again, the trip protection and the standard trip cancellation benefit isn’t gonna apply if it’s, if it’s canceled because of fear, but the only way to cover trip cancellation, if you want to cancel because of fear or frankly, any other reason that might not be a covered reason, is if you add on the Cancel For Any Reason benefit to your policy. So we call it CFAR, Cancel For Any Reason. If you buy that at the time you book your trip, usually you have to, you have to add, Cancel For Any Reason within 15 to 20 days of, of your initial trip deposit, it is going to increase the cost of the plan.

But as long as you do that and insure 100% of your non-refundable expenses, you can effectively call off a trip anytime you want. Now, you’re only going to get back usually 75-ish percent of your trip costs, but if you get that Cancel For Any Reason, it does kind of broaden the options you have down the road. If you’re just not comfortable going,

Damian Tysdal: so, and that’s something that, let’s say you’re, you don’t have insurance, you don’t even have a trip planned, but a lot of people right now are trying to figure out when they could plan something. They might be being optimistic and picking a date in the summertime, would that be the only option?

Jeremy Murchland: Okay. Well, I’ll tell you if I was booking a trip right now for summer, I think especially early summer, given the situation we’re in, I’d most certainly be buying travel insurance with Cancel For Any Reason. Because again, you get to June and, let’s just play it out for a minute, if the travel restrictions are lifted, but perhaps where you’re going or they’re still enough of a proliferation of the virus and the disease out there, and you’re just not comfortable going and putting your family at risk…but yeah, the cruise line hasn’t canceled the trip, or the airlines aren’t offering refunds. Again, you’re in this situation where you’re wanting to cancel out a fear. , and because fear is not a covered reason, it’s most definitely recommended that you have Cancel For Any Reason to at least protect a big chunk of your trip costs.

Damian Tysdal: And I do believe a few companies have stopped selling CFAR, is that right?

Jeremy Murchland: Yeah, some have, I mean, ‘ve seen some travel insurance companies stop selling travel insurance completely, especially overseas. Um, so yeah, we are seeing it on an international basis right now, I think until, until the dust settles. We have not, we’re still selling CFAR. But I have seen it in other places.

Damian Tysdal: Okay, and did Seven Corners see a big increase in CFAR policy sales over the past month or so, with this situation?

Jeremy Murchland: Yeah, I think, well, you know, the first quarter of the year is generally a very busy time anyway for trip protection plans. The reason is because we, in the travel industry, it’s called wave season and it’s when a lot of cruise lines are offering deals for cruises in the falls and different vacations.

And so that’s a period of the year when we sell a lot of trip protection anyway, add on the fact that at that time, this, what is now a pandemic, which wasn’t a pandemic at the time, was getting some leg showing up in the news. People were wanting to make sure they had extra protection and they were getting all the facts.

So I think our sales team did a good job of explaining to people what the benefits were, and so we did see an uptick in CFAR sales in the first quarter of the year.

Damian Tysdal: Do you see, I mean, going into the future, even after this has passed, do you see changes to the product? Whether it’s changing the terms or their restrictions, I would imagine as it gets more popular, it becomes a little bit tougher to underwrite from a financial standpoint.

Jeremy Murchland: Yeah, I think CFAR, I’d be surprised if it was eliminated completely. I think it’ll be a much more popular option with travelers. I think what this, obviously, what this situation is doing, it’s definitely created more awareness about travel insurance, people may not quite understand what it is or how it works.

But I think it’ll probably still be out there. It remains to be seen whether there’s changes in the benefit, and maybe that’s who knows, maybe it could be how much is being reimbursed or the cost of the benefit or something like that. On the other side of this, it’s just so early.

But I’d be surprised if it was, if it went away completely.

Damian Tysdal: It seems like a product that could be pretty popular going into the future.

Jeremy Murchland: you know, these are insurances protecting risk and in the hope you never need to use it. Right? So, it’s just unfortunate, right now, a lot of people have had to.

Damian Tysdal: So what are the main problems that you are hearing about regarding Coronavirus with Seven Corners clients right now?

Jeremy Murchland: Um, well, I think, I think a couple of the things are, you know, people are just a bit confused about what their options are. Maybe, maybe they have, to your point, they’ve either canceled their trip , uh, without kind of checking in to terms or, or what have you. Or they’re, they’re unsure of whether or not they should cancel them in the future.

And if they do, what, what’s going to happen? Where are they going to be reimbursed for? We spent a lot of time just kind of walking clients through what their benefits are. Again, do they have CFAR? Do they not have CFAR? Do they have just travel medical versus trip protection? So a lot of it’s just confusion in light of what’s going on in the market.

So, we’ve seen a huge increase in kind of call volumes and contact volumes, emails, chats, everything…any way that people can contact us. But we’re also recommending to people that are unsure of what their options are to make sure that they contact their travel provider. Again, whether it’s the cruise line or a tour operator, make sure they understand whether or not refunds are being offered or re-bookings are being offered.

Remember, travel insurance is going to cover only non-refundable trip costs. So a lot of cruise lines, at least in the near term period, have been offering full refund. So the cruise line offers a refund, then your travel insurance doesn’t have anything to reimburse. So, it’s always important to kind of go back to your travel operators or your travel providers to find out what they’re doing.

So a lot of questions and answer right now. Definitely a lot of confusion, but you know, that’s, that’s kind of what we’re here for.

Damian Tysdal: I can see where it’d be confusing because it seems like a situation that insurance is purchased for. But like you say, it’s hard to insure the fear of something.

And, but in this case, even though there are things like State Department warnings and things like that, I know I’ve fielded questions from people that are under the impression that should be a trigger to make it something that’s insurable.

But, when you go back to the policy, it’s really not in there. Do you see companies in the future, insurance companies, trying to add any sort of coverage or language for something like that?

Because it seems like something that could be insurable, much like the naming of a hurricane by NOAA.

Jeremy Murchland: Yeah. You, you know, it definitely could be insurable…how’s the saying go? There’s never a bad risk, there’s just a bad price. I mean, anytime you look to broaden a policy, the benefits, um, the triggers, the things that are covered, that can certainly be done.

And there may even be pressure to do that. And some insurance companies may want to be the first ones to do it, to be able to say, “Hey, we’ve done this”. But that’s always going to come with a cost to the consumer. And those kinds of cost benefits are going to have to be weighed by consumers and by the insurance companies.

You know, maybe it’s a benefit they can add. But it increases cost to the point where now, uh, are we going to be able to sell it? That, that’s really what it boils down to.

Well, you can cover everything, but it’d be too expensive. So you try and cover the things that cover most of the reasons that people need to cancel their trips or the most types of medical emergencies. And so once you start getting into these areas where you say should you now include State Department warnings or should you include World Health Organization warnings or should you now include pandemics if your policy excludes it?

All that can be done, but it just always comes, comes at a price.

Damian Tysdal: Right…it could become a product that nobody wants to buy.

Jeremy Murchland: That’s exactly it, yeah. You price yourself out of the market because again, even as consumers, they’re weighing the risk, is what I’m paying for this insurance worth the risk? And if it gets so expensive because it covers everything, then they potentially don’t buy it.

Damian Tysdal: Right, and that’s how CFAR is kind of a little mini version of that product because it does cover a lot more, but it’s more expensive and it’s not a hundred percent coverage.

Jeremy Murchland: That. That’s right. And so it, you know, it becomes, I always say insurance is math, both on our side as a company that sells it and underwrites it and developed products. It is truly a math equation, a very complicated one, but , math, all the same. And it’s the same thing for the consumers that are buying it.

Every consumer is going to know their own risk tolerance, and make decisions accordingly based on what they’re willing to accept as risk.

Damian Tysdal: So just to summarize the Coronavirus/travel insurance situation…is there any way you can just wrap it up in general for people out there that are either insured or trying to plan something?

Jeremy Murchland: Well, I think the first thing is to put safety first. You know, for me personally, I’m not rushing into anything, but when it’s safe to travel…don’t travel without travel insurance, that’s the first thing. The second piece of that is if you have it or you’re thinking about booking a trip and getting travel insurance, make sure to review the plan document, talk to the insurance company, ask questions, make sure you understand exactly what you’re buying and what is covered…and what is not covered. So that you have a full understanding before you go on your trip or before you book your trip on, on what your benefits are.

Damian Tysdal: That’s great. So just moving a little bit away from Coronavirus , just travel insurance in general. Are there myths about travel insurance? I think we’ve probably chatted about a few of them. But a lot of assumptions or just things that people have in their minds that may or may not be true. Are there some common ones that you can debunk?

Jeremy Murchland: Yeah, I would say, I would say one of the biggest ones that we encounter the most is that many people think that their domestic health insurance is gonna cover them when they leave the U S and it’s simply, it’s simply not true in most cases.

You know, you need to know whether or not you have coverage while you’re abroad and kind of what those limitations are. Reach out to your health insurance company and ask them. Medicare, for example, provides coverage outside the U S only in a few very limited situations, just as is one example.

And it’s also very important to know, should you have an accident, God forbid, make sure you have emergency medical evacuation protection for your trips, because I’ll tell you it is not uncommon, especially when you hit peak travel season, and I always give this example, our business manager at my church, I think it’s been two years now, he went on a trip with his family to the Dominican Republic…was simply in the beach with his kids, got hit by an errant wave, knocked over, um, hit the bottom of the ocean a bit odd and caused an injury to his spine. Next thing you know, he’s in a Dominican hospital that’s demanded payment, he can’t get back to the U S because his family didn’t have enough cash to fly an air ambulance back home. So they had to raise money on GoFundMe…it turned into this big thing because they didn’t have travel insurance. And so, if they had known or understood, they might’ve had it, but a lot of, a lot of consumers just don’t understand that their domestic health insurance doesn’t travel.

Probably the other thing is simply if you’re buying trip cancellation or trip protection insurance, a lot of people say “I got the trip cancellation. I can cancel for any reason, or I can, you know, don’t worry if I don’t want to go, I don’t have to go. I’ve got this trip protection insurance”.

So again, that’s because they are buying on the headlines, but not understanding the details and the benefits. So those are probably the two biggest things.

Damian Tysdal: So on the second, that’s kind of missing that Covered List of Reasons for Cancellation?

Jeremy Murchland: It s. It’s just the…here buy your trip cancellation insurance and people just…they’re just buying on the names…Okay…this is trip cancellation insurance without understanding what they can actually cancel their trip for what it actually insures.

Damian Tysdal: I feel like a big problem of that is on booking sites, and that final screen before you click buy and it’s usually a checkbox. So you’re not really in the insurance buying mindset, you’re booking your cruise and it’s so easy to check that box, but you don’t really know what you’re buying.

Jeremy Murchland: It is, it’s easy not to open those terms and conditions or the travel documents or the policies and, and I get it, I think before I got into this business, I was probably the same…well, I know I was the same way. So it’s just knowing what I know now, and that’s why we spend a lot of time as a company…we’ve invested a lot of time on content. A lot of the things we’re doing are about educating consumers because we believe once people are educated on what travel insurance is and what it does and doesn’t do, the fact is most of them are going to buy it. It’s just in the, in the U S a lot of people don’t understand it.

Damian Tysdal: So when buying insurance, a lot of people, they’re worried about missing details or worried about buying the wrong policy. Are there common mistakes that travelers make in the buying process or in the research process, that you can help give some tips for?

Jeremy Murchland: Yeah, I think again, going back to the medical side of things, many people still don’t buy travel insurance to cover their medical expenses. Our governing body, the USTIA, reported at one time that I think only 6% of American travelers buy travel insurance with medical coverage.

People that do buy travel insurance are often buying kind of limited coverage type plans for trip can, trip interruption, I mentioned that a little bit earlier. So if they get sick or hurt while they’re abroad, they don’t have any medical coverage. And based on a lot of situations I see, that’s one of them, that’s one of the most important things.

Damian Tysdal: And is that more important for international? I mean, would that be the key there versus domestic?

Jeremy Murchland: Definitely, definitely for international travel, yeah. Domestically, if you have domestic health insurance you’re generally going to be okay. But, for international trips, cruises, make sure you have that travel medical coverage, either as part of your trip protection plan or as a standalone travel medical plan.

Damian Tysdal: Great. So just to wrap up, but I’d love to finish with a couple of quick tips…the key takeaways for people that are, that are interested in something like this to protect a trip. Do you have any, very simple buying tips for travelers? What are the key things to remember?

Jeremy Murchland: Well, a couple things. Like I’ve said over and over here, make sure that you’re buying something with travel medical insurance, that you have that medical evacuation coverage.

Buy your travel insurance plan immediately after you book your first trip deposit. That makes sure you get access, or you’re applicable for any of those optional benefits, um, and or any other additional benefits like pre existing coverage…and again, I can’t emphasize enough that medical protection is important. So whatever you’re booking in terms of travel insurance, have that medical protection.

Damian Tysdal: That’s great. So, and just to clarify on the second one, you said buying early, what is early, how would you define that?

Jeremy Murchland: Well, early is as soon as you make your first trip deposit, buy your travel insurance. There are certain conditions, especially in your trip protection plans, that are tied to making sure that you buy your travel insurance within a certain period of time of your trip deposits.

So rather than setting an alarm and beating around the bush, just buy it, buy it right away, and that makes sure you can do things like add CFAR on there, or there’s oftentimes conditions or benefits, like coverage for preexisting conditions if you’re traveling abroad. So yeah, make sure you’re just booking at the same time as your, as your trip.

Damian Tysdal: I see. If you wait, you can miss out on some of those?

Jeremy Murchland: Absolutely. That’s, that’s the short way of putting it. Yeah.

Damian Tysdal: Okay. That’s great. And so just outside of the insurance world, do you have any top tip, best tip to remove travel worries for the listeners?

Jeremy Murchland: Probably the two biggest ones are right now, I mean, the first one is any time, and certainly right now for the second, but the first is make sure you have copies of your travel documents with you. We hear stories all the time of people losing their passports or you know, visas or what have you.

So make sure you get a copy of your travel documents on your phone. And I would also always have a copy, leave a copy with a family member or a trusted friend. That way if something happens to your phone, you can access those. If you can access your travel documents and you have to go to an embassy to get a new passport, it makes life a lot easier for you. So that’s an important one.

The other thing is a go to travel.state.gov, it’s the US Departments of State Smart Traveler Enrollment Program. You get the latest safety and security information for your destination, any travel warnings, and also signing up gives the embassy or consulate a way to contact you in case of emergency.

So that’s really just, it’s a great safety measure. It’s easy to do, takes a few minutes. So, definitely do that and make sure you got copies of your travel documents.

Damian Tysdal: That’s fantastic. Thanks for speaking with us today. It’s been very helpful.

Jeremy Murchland: Yeah. Thanks for having me on Damian, anytime. I appreciate it.