USTiA Advice

USTiA Urges Consumers to Buy Travel Insurance

USTiA Urges Consumers to Buy Holiday Travel Insurance

The U.S. Travel Insurance Association (USTiA) is urging Americans to insure their travel. Jon Ansell, president of USTiA, describes five examples of how travel insurance can come to the rescue this holiday season.

  • Family Fevers
    Your client's plane tickets and hotel reservations are paid for, and they have to cancel at the last minute because their child is sick. Travel insurance policies cover cancellation or interruption of a trip due to illness of an immediate family member, in case a family member becomes ill while traveling, or if an immediate relative back home takes ill or has an accident and forces your client to return home early.
  • Wreck the Walls-Home Disasters
    Your client has to cancel your trip because their Christmas tree caught on fire and their home is uninhabitable due to smoke damage. In the event the client's home is made uninhabitable due to a catastrophe such as fire or flooding, travel insurance can help salvage nonrefundable vacation costs.
  • Illness on Vacation
    Your client is on a family holiday get-away in the Caribbean, and a family member suffers a surfing accident. He needs to be transported to a hospital in Miami with specialists. Many medical plans have limited coverage for out of network or more than 100 miles away from home. Travel insurance can fill the gap between what the health insurance covers and the actual costs of medical care. Also, medical evacuation - which can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars - is typically not covered in standard health insurance policies.
  • Bye, Bye, Baggage
    Your client lands in Atlanta but their baggage goes to Alaska. Most travel insurance policies will pay up to a fixed daily amount for replacement items needed due to baggage delays exceeding a certain period.
  • Bad Weather Blues
    Because of a winter storm your client's return flight is grounded in Boston, where they must spend the night. They can't get home, and they have no hotel reservation. If a flight is canceled due to weather conditions, an airline is not required by law to provide accommodations. 24-hour traveler assistance lines and trip delay coverage will help locate a hotel room, reimburse up to a set amount for expenses while delayed, and help reschedule or rebook a flight. The assistance hot line service will also help notify family and relay any necessary messages to workplaces and elsewhere.

In addition to cruise and ski insurance policies, there are special travel insurance policies that cover situations such as canceling for workrelated reasons or even canceling for any reason, Ansell said. These policies, while usually more costly than the average 4-8 percent of the trip cost for standard policies, will cover travelers against an even broader range of circumstances.

According to UStiA research, major reasons for purchasing travel insurance are peace of mind, protecting against the unforeseen, and being able to recoup considerable nonrefundable expenses. When helping a client decide if travel insurance is right for them and their family, Ansell suggests that you ask them to determine how important peace of mind is to them, and how much money they could conceivably lose due to illness, emergency or catastrophe. "The more expensive their trip, the more likely they may want to protect their investment with travel insurance," Ansell said. One comprehensive policy can insure all family members traveling together, covering them against a wide range of possible mishaps.

UStiA promotes fairness, integrity and a commitment to excellence in the travel insurance industry. The UStiA is a nonprofit association of insurance carriers and allied businesses involved in the development, administration and marketing of travel insurance and assistance. In 2004, UStiA member companies provided travel insurance policies to more than 17 million people.

Published November 13, 2006

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