By David Sharos and ?Stephanie Hunsberger for Sun-Times Media July 26, 2011 11:32AM
Anything from canceled flights to illness or injury can leave travelers out of the money they put down on a vacation if they passed up on traveler?s insurance. Travel agents recommend that any trip costing more than $5,000 should be protected with insuran
On the web
To read more about health and safety risks abroad, visit the U.S. State Department?s travel website at travel.state.gov and the Center for Disease Control at cdc.gov/travel.
Updated: July 27, 2011 2:34AM
You?ve been dreaming of that faraway trip for months ? picturesque palm trees, camel riding across the desert, ancient architecture, exotic food. You?ve read all the guidebooks, you?ve packed, you?ve prepped and now the vacation is under way ? without you. you are trapped in a U.S. airport because your connecting flight was canceled because of inclement weather.
Cynthia Clampitt of Arlington Heights found herself in just this situation. her flight to Morocco was canceled, and Clampitt was stuck in new York for the night. What did she do? She called her travel insurance company.
To some, travel insurance seems like an additional cost to be avoided. To others, like Clampitt, it?s a must.
?The insurance company helped me find a hotel,? Clampitt said. ?I hadn?t planned on staying in new York, and because of the storm, all the hotels near the airport were full.?
Travel insurance may seem like only an additional expense after you?ve snagged a great deal, but agents like Nancy Staples, owner of Hobson Travel in Naperville, says that it?s important ?people insure themselves for the things they?ll never get back.?
?If you ask people about travel insurance, the ones that had it and needed it love it, and the ones that don?t think it?s a waste of money,? Staples said. ?The thing is ? you never know if you?re going to get sick, or these days, lose a job. we have various areas of our business here and in the leisure division, at least half our customers accept some type of cancellation insurance.?
Buying insurance on rise
According to the United States Travel Insurance Association, 30 percent of leisure travelers taking cruises, air/tour vacations and international trips bought travel insurance in 2004, which is a significant increase from the estimated 8 to 10 percent of travelers who purchased insurance before 9/11.
?The number (of people purchasing travel insurance) may be rising,? says Daniel Durazo, director of communications for travel insurance provider Access America. ?In a national Access America survey completed last month, nearly two in 10 (16 percent) Americans say that events of this past year, including dramatic weather, terrorism, civil unrest, volcano eruptions and tsunamis, has made them more likely to purchase travel insurance.?
While it is good to be prepared for the event of a national crisis while abroad, whether it be a volcano eruption or political turmoil, the emergency most likely to make your insurance pay off is illness. According to Durazo, the most common travel insurance claim is made for unexpected illness or injury that prevents the traveler from using their trip.
when to buy it
so how do you decide whether travel insurance is a worthwhile investment?
Jacklyn Buchner, of Buchner?s Travel in Aurora, strongly recommends travel insurance to those whose vacations cost around or more than $5,000.
?If a person?s spending less than $1,000 on a vacation, I really don?t push it,? Buchner said. ?But when I have people spending between $5,000 and $10,000, I really want them to take insurance.?
Staples said that buying insurance over the internet ?where you check the box after ordering your tickets? isn?t the best option, since you can?t talk to anyone and ?most customers aren?t even sure what they?re buying.?
?People need to hear the truth about what they?re getting and what?s covered and what isn?t, and you can?t always get that with online travel sites,? she said. ?This isn?t about agents like me trying to sell people something ? we don?t really make any money off this sort of thing.
?If you have a flight for $10,000 and a cruise for $5,000 ? you don?t need $15,000 worth of insurance as you?re going to get a credit for the flight and, at most, pay a couple hundred dollars to make a change later on.?
Kim Schneider, a travel consultant with Naperville?s Viking Travel, says that customers are adding insurance more than 50 percent of the time because of the way Americans think about travel.
?Since Sept. 11, people have gotten smarter about the way they travel, and a lot of it depends on where and when people are going,? Schneider said. ?Hurricane season, for instance, lasts a long time ? from June to November ? so a lot comes into play. Families with sick relatives who don?t know what might happen to them are another example where you really need to cover yourself in the event things change.?
if you get sick
Naperville?s Joe Kubal, 56, said his plans to go to Europe this year were cancelled because of a decision he made at the last minute about an ailing parent and that he was fortunate to receive 90 percent of his money back.
?I have an ailing mother who lives in the city with my sister, but she has to work and can?t always take care of my mother,? Kubal said. ?About 72 hours before I was scheduled to leave, I just had this bad feeling that something was going to happen. it turned out my mother wound up going into the hospital and would have been there while I was gone.?
Kubal said he took out insurance last year as well before taking a trip to Alaska, and while he admits he would never have bought it earlier in his life, ?it?s better to have insurance given the possibility of things happening in your life.?
Schneider says the ?quick weekend to new York? or whatever usually doesn?t involve adding insurance charges to the bill, but Staples suggests it still comes down to protecting yourself against ?more than you can afford to lose.?
?Most people can handle losing a $500 airfare, but what if something happens to you while you?re away and there?s a serious medical condition on board a ship or an emergency evacuation?? she asks. ?Insurance is all about the things you never expect to happen.?
sophia loren john travolta royal wedding grease harry reid wac tiffany
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.