So you’re eagerly looking forward to your long awaited holiday. You have invested money and time in meticulously planning every small detail of your trip. However, you may have overlooked one important component which could be detrimental to your trip – Travel Insurance. While one is usually packed and prepared for the known adventures, any external and unanticipated exigency during a trip can turn a dream destination into a financial nightmare.
Your travel insurance will typically cover you for; medical expenses in case of hospitalisation, flight delay or cancellation, loss of checked in baggage, loss of passport, trip cancellation, medical evacuation, etc. However, before buying travel insurance there are a few things one needs to consider before buying a policy. To begin with select a travel insurance which suits the nature of your travel which can be a work trip, personal or adventure. You can choose your add-ons specifically if there is an adventure activity as part of your itinerary. Destination and duration of your travel play an important role in determining the sum insured you may need. Insurance companies provide geographic specific travel insurance plans from which customers can choose.
Here are the 4 major things that a travel policy helps you with:
Medical and Personal Accident Emergencies: When down with adverse medical or accidental conditions due to different climatic conditions, you may need to use your travel insurance. You can get benefits such as quick treatment or emergency evacuation to home country when required.
- Intimate your insurer about the situation through offered missed call facilities or toll free numbers or an email.
- If the claim is acceptable under the policy, the insurer can look for facilitating cashless treatment overseas which would lead to insured not being put under financial duress.
- Keep all your prescriptions, reports and payment receipts safe; provide them as defined in the claim procedure, in case of reimbursement. To avoid any rejection, ensure that all these documents are duly signed, dated and stamped. In case of any accidental situation and third party involvement, you will need to submit a copy of police report as well.
Delay of checked baggage: When travelling overseas, especially with connecting flights, loss or delay of luggage scenarios are a plausible possibility.
- Submit the payment receipts of basic essentials purchase that you made due to delay in baggage delivery.
- Get a letter from the airline confirming the delay/loss and its time.
- Additionally, copy of boarding pass, tickets and passport copy, PIR, Baggage Delivery Receipt confirming travel dates are also required for receiving the reimbursement.
Loss of passport: Despite being alert, situations like losing passport during travel do take place. So what should you do if you find yourself in such a situation?
- You need to intimate your insurer about the loss and file a police report; they can assist you in connecting with your nearest consulate office.
- Always keep a copy of the passport with you that will be handy in scenarios like these.
Trip Curtailment/Cancellation: Sometimes you may need to cut short or cancel your trip due to health/family emergencies. One can make a travel insurance claim against the monetary loss suffered due to cancellation or curtailment of trip as followed.
- Inform your insurer about the emergency and change of plan, giving document evidence of the reason to curtail or cancel the trip, for instance, death certificate in case of a death in close family, hospital bills in case of accident or police report in case of a burglary.
- Fill the claim form along with the documents such as hotel and flight bookings.
You must follow the timeline and procedure as directed by the insurer to file a claim.
Travelling helps break everyday monotony that we subject ourselves to but experience a thrill of adventure exposing your soul to a life unknown. While traveling helps you rewire yourself, insurance helps protect your peace of mind by protecting your financial investment you have made on your trip.
(Sasikumar Adidamu is the chief technical officer at Bajaj Allianz general insurance)