Not just good to have, it’s a must have reprinted with permission from The Tobago News
Most international travelers do not leave home without it. No, I am not referencing the American Express card; I am talking about travel insurance.
Travel what? Insurance to cover you in case certain events occur. What events? Let’s examine the newspapers to find some examples.
On July 3, 2014, a Trinidad and Tobago newspaper reported that stranded passengers of Caribbean Airlines (CAL) were calling for the reimbursement of ticket fares. As you may recall, CAL cancelled all flights to Tobago following sickout action by 24 of its pilots. If you were travelling from Tobago to Trinidad to catch a Copa Airlines flight from Port-of-Spain to Panama and you could not get on your flight due to a strike, you are on your own, unless of course you have great travel agents. That aside, you will experience great inconvenience without compensation. If on the other hand, you took the advice of your experienced travel agent and purchased travel insurance, you would be compensated for the inconvenience, and in some cases any additional cost to get to your destination.
All insurance policies are not created equal, and travel insurance coverage for industrial action will vary, however, some travel insurance policies provide coverage for travel delay or abandonment due to industrial action so long as you booked your vacation and bought your travel insurance before the strike or sickout is announced.
Where coverage is provided, you can claim a fixed benefit for every 12 or 24 hours that you are delayed. This clause is designed to help you cover the unexpected additional cost, such as food and drink, whilst you are waiting at the airport. If a hotel stay is required, that is covered as well. Of course, if your flight delay is longer than 24 hours, your travel insurance policy may give you the option to abandon your vacation and make a claim for the cost of the vacation, up to maximum benefit in the policy. Think about all the people you know who have had delayed flights because of good reasons, bad reasons or no reason at all. Wouldn’t it be good to have some kind of coverage for such delays?
When travelling in the United States of America and Europe, you will benefit from laws which require airlines to provide assistance to passengers during flight delays, regardless of whether they are caused by industrial action, mechanical breakdown or bad weather. The legally mandated assistance includes food, drink and overnight accommodation, if necessary.
An Australian newspaper recently carried a story that on Saturday, August 30, 2014, 24 persons were injured after a busload of tourists crashed in southwest Bolivia. Accidents happen and they can happen anywhere. If those passengers required medical treatment, who would cover the cost? Well, if the passengers had travel insurance with medical coverage, some policies would cover up to $100,000 USD for accident and sickness medical expense. For those passengers, travel insurance is not just good to have, it’s a must have. As a general practice, Caricom nationals should purchase travel insurance.