With all the time, effort and care that goes into planning your clients’ trips, you wouldn’t want to leave it to chance everything will go as smoothly as you’ve promised them. We highlight the four most common travel disruptions that threaten to ruin the perfect getaway.
While we can’t predict the future either, our claims data provides the most likely scenarios that might cause unexpected trouble for your client’s trip. Help your client prepare for what could go wrong, so when it does, you look like the hero. When they check the box on insurance, they’re not just getting world-class travel protection and assistance, they’re buying peace of mind.
1. Trip Cancellation
Here’s a common scenario: David and Jennifer have booked their 10-year anniversary getaway, a 10-day bucket list tour of France and Italy. But their whole family goes down with the flu two days before their departure, causing them to postpone it. People getting sick before a trip is the number one culprit for cancellations. Thankfully travel insurance can reimburse the prepaid, non-refundable expenses (up to the policy limit) they would otherwise lose.
Often the illness of a family member or traveling companion, injury of the insured, or death of a family member causes a cancellation. Other covered reasons, depending on the plan, may include unexpected work commitments or common carriers stopping service due to severe weather.
2. Medical Emergencies
Not only are severe illnesses and injuries often the most expensive travel disasters, medical emergencies can also be extremely difficult to navigate outside of the U.S. Whether it’s a heart attack, food poisoning or serious fall covered by your plan, our 24/7 global assistance team can quickly help your client locate a medical facility by night or day, guarantee payment, consult on treatment options, and help them safely return home.
Many domestic health insurance plans and Medicare won’t cover your client abroad. If an emergency medical evacuation is needed, your client could be on the hook for transport costs ranging from $15,000 to over $100,000, depending on their condition and location in the world.
3. Trip Interruption
Often people don’t think about what might go wrong during their travel that could end it prematurely. For instance, empty nesters Jack and Linda are on a two-week Caribbean cruise when Linda slips in a stairwell and fractures her hip. Clients becoming ill or injured while traveling are the most common causes for a trip interruption. In addition to reimbursing the unused portion of their pre-paid, non-refundable expenses, trip interruption benefits can pay for reasonable transportation expenses—either to resume their journey or to return home early—for a covered reason.
Some people have to cut their vacation short due to an illness or passing of a family member. In other common scenarios, trip interruption can help with expenses related to common carrier delays or stopping of service due to severe weather.
4. Travel Delay
Your clients are likely to encounter a travel delay at some point, so why not protect them from the inevitable? Thanks to our innovative SmartBenefitsTM, a covered flight delay (3-5 hours, depending on the plan) can proactively pay $100 to each insured person for their inconvenience. For a more costly delay, insurance can cover additional travel expenses for a missed connection or boarding, or their lodging for an unexpected overnight layover.