Travel Insurance

By Anna Lynn C. Sibal

Travel insurance is designed to protect the traveler’s person and belongings whenever he or she is traveling, whether domestically or internationally, and whether by air, land or sea. Applications for travel insurance are usually done along with the other arrangements made when a person is booking a trip. Travel insurance can cover the traveler being insured for the duration of the trip. There are forms of travel insurance, however, that guarantees continuous protection for the traveler whenever he or she goes on travel for a certain period of time. The latter form of travel insurance is popular among business travelers, who travel frequently and on a regular basis.

Travel insurance is generally included in the list of requirements that a traveler must submit to an embassy of a country in order for him or her to obtain a visa that will grant him or her entry to that particular country. Visa applications are denied if documentation of an active travel insurance policy for the visa applicant is not turned over along with the other required documents.

What does a typical traveler insurance policy cover? Travel insurance answers for costs regarding the insured traveler’s tickets. In the event of a cancellation and the traveler needs to rebook a flight, the provider of the travel insurance policy shoulders the expenses. In case another booking needs to be made because the flight was cut short due to emergency landings or stopovers, or if the flight itself was delayed, the travel insurance policy is also supposed to cover those expenses.

Another risk that travel insurance policies are supposed to cover are incidences of loss or theft of the traveler’s baggage and other possessions during the trip. Losing one’s bags during a flight is not an uncommon incident and is one of the leading reasons for grievances on airline service. A traveler being robbed or being stolen from in his or her hotel room or accommodations while staying abroad is also not unheard of. Travel insurance covers these losses, including the loss or theft of passports, tickets or other travel documents.

It is also possible for a traveler to get sick whenever he or she is on the road or in another country. Travel insurance usually takes care of the medical expenses the traveler would incur in case he or she is hospitalized during the trip. In the unfortunate event that the traveler meets an accident and sustains injuries, or is disabled due to that accident, the traveler is entitled to some form of benefits from the travel insurance provider.

If the traveler dies because of an accident during his or her travel, the travel insurance policy provider takes care of the expenses involved in shipping the traveler’s body back home. The beneficiaries named by the traveler on the policy are also given benefits upon the traveler’s accidental death.

Travel insurance providers also give assistance to the traveler in case political turmoil explodes in the country where the traveler or the expatriate is staying in or traveling to. The travel insurance company flies these travelers or expatriates out of that country and back to their homelands.

For travelers who get into trouble while traveling out of the country, the travel insurance company that covers him or her can provide legal assistance.