As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, any kind of new breaking news can change your travel plans. Before booking your next holiday, consider buying a comprehensive travel insurance coverage to protect you from financial losses due to unexpected issues before and during your trip.
Travel insurance is essential for luxury cruises, safaris, and multi-city international vacations, but it can also be helpful for domestic trips. Travellers should consider what they would lose if they had to cancel.
Finding an insurer
Travel insurance is easy to buy and offers many options. There are sites that let you compare prices and coverage. Simply answer a few questions about the trip and traveller. Aggregator sites let shoppers compare travel insurance policies across the market. Beyond comparison sites, you can visit a travel insurance company’s website or call its toll-free customer service number for a quote.
What does a standard travel insurance cover?
Travel insurance typically covers financial expenses, well-being, and loss of personal belongings.
Consider these benefits when buying a policy:
Cancellation Insurance
If a trip is cancelled for one of the covered reasons, travel insurance can reimburse you for non-refundable deposits. Military deployment, civil unrest, a severe family emergency, or even unplanned jury duty are acceptable reasons to cancel a trip.
Other reasons include your travel supplier stopping services for 24 hrs due to a natural disaster, severe weather, or strike, your home or destination becoming uninhabitable, or you or your travelling companion losing your job after purchasing your travel insurance coverage.
Delay Insurance
Travel insurance can help if your plans change. Weather, airline maintenance, and civil unrest are usually covered. Ensure you save all your receipts because you must submit them along with your reimbursement claim form.
Trip interruption coverage
Should you cut your trip short due to illness or injury during your trip, or if there’s a family emergency, your insurance may reimburse non-refundable expenses you would have forfeited if you returned home early.
Your policy may cover a one-way economy flight home. Trip interruption benefits won’t apply for uncontrollable reasons like if your beach holiday rains or if you miss your new puppy!
Medical and evacuation benefits
Your personal health insurance should be able to cover any illness or injury you suffer while travelling. If you’re travelling abroad, your health plan won’t cover anything, so sign up for extra coverage. Emergency medical evacuations are more expensive than medical treatment, but travel health insurance can cover them.
Lost luggage
Travel insurance may help if your checked baggage gets lost. If your travel insurance plan has baggage benefits, your insurer can reimburse you up to a decided amount for covered loss, theft, or damage to your baggage and personal items. Loss or theft of your personal belongings while travelling can be covered. Report losses to your airline, airport, police, tour operator, or hotel manager. Claiming this requires additional documentation.
Travel insurance does not cover everything. Cash and expensive jewellery, art, antiques, and heirlooms are not covered. Avoid vacationing with irreplaceable items. Check your policy for coverage.
Credit cards may include travel insurance.
You may carry a credit card with travel insurance. Coverage may be automatic with relevant purchases. You may be covered when you book a flight with a card with trip cancellation insurance. So, before planning and paying for your travel, check your travel insurance benefits.
Charge your trip expenses on your card to get travel insurance
Credit card travel insurance can shine if you run into weather issues or mechanical delays or if you get sick while travelling, or even if your luggage gets lost or delayed.
We hope the article was helpful to you. We wish you happy travelling and a safe journey!
* Standard T&C Apply
** Currently, there are 2 tax regimes in India – new and old. To get the tax benefit you desire, choose the correct one after consulting an expert. You can opt for a regime change during the next financial year.
# Visit the official website of IRDAI for further details.
## All savings are provided by the insurer as per the IRDAI-approved insurance plan. Standard T&C apply
Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation. For more details on benefits, exclusions,
limitations, terms, and conditions, please read the sales brochure/policy wording carefully
before concluding a sale.
