Winter Begins as Snowstorms Continue: Are Your Clients Insured?
Travelers heading to winter cruise or tour departures are reassured by Missed Connection coverage that can provide up to $750 per insured under a Worldwide Trip Protector comprehensive or Trip Protector Gold plan, or up to $300 under a Worldwide Trip Protector Lite or Lite Expanded plan. The coverage applies when your insured client misses their scheduled cruise or tour departure due to weather-caused cancellation or delay of all scheduled flights for three (3) or more hours. Benefits can cover transportation costs to join the departed cruise or tour, and reasonable expenses for meals and accommodations. It can also reimburse the unused portion of the cruise or tour that is missed due to the weather disruption.
Baggage delay coverage provides up to $300 or $500 in benefits depending upon the type of Worldwide Trip Protector plan selected. The coverage is a valuable selling point with clients wary of widespread baggage delays that commonly occur when winter storms disrupt the airline transportation system.
Answers for Customers Asking About Terrorism Coverage
A politically-motivated act of terrorism, such as the recent event in Mumbai, is a covered reason for Trip Cancellation / Trip Interruption protection in all of our Worldwide Trip Protector plans, including Worldwide Trip Protector, Trip Protector Gold, Trip Protector Lite & Lite Expanded. A terrorism attack is covered under these plans when it occurs within the territorial limits of a city listed on the insured traveler's prepaid itinerary.
The covered attack must occur after the effective date of the policy's Trip Cancellation coverage, and must occur within 30 days of the insured traveler's scheduled departure date. The plan effective date for Trip Cancellation coverage is 12:01 a.m. on the day after the Travel Insured plan is paid for. A covered terrorism attack could therefore be covered if the event occurred on or after the second day following receipt of the policy payment by Travel Insured. Since a terrorism attack can be covered when it occurs within 30 days of a scheduled trip departure, insured travelers with Mumbai on their planned trip itineraries could have canceled trips departing up until Dec. 25, which was 30 days following the attacks that occurred in the city on Nov. 25.
It should be noted that terrorism is not a covered reason for cancelling on interrupting a scheduled trip to a country when the scheduled itinerary does not include a visit to the city in which the terrorist attack occurred. A trip to India, for example, that did not include Mumbai on the scheduled itinerary, could not be covered under Trip Cancellation or Trip Interruption using the terrorist event in Mumbai as a reason.
All Travel Insured plans include Worldwide Emergency Travel Assistance, available 24/7 from anywhere help is needed. Included services readily available in emergency situations are: Medical Evacuation, Medically Necessary Repatriation, Repatriation of Remains, Medical or Legal Referrals, a Hospital Admission Guarantee, Translation Services and Prescription Replacements, among others. Travelers with Worldwide Trip Protector and Trip Protector Gold plans can use Travel Insured's Worldwide Concierge Services for help in finding emergency accommodations or transportation as needed.
Travel agents or insured travelers with questions are encouraged to contact our Travel Insured claims department at 1-800-243-2440 for further information. You can also find more information at www.travelinsured.com.
"Wave Season" Starts Early: Are Bargain Cruisers Protected?
Many sales are indicating "first come, first served" as a standing policy for obtaining the best staterooms at the best prices. Some may be capacity controlled with limited inventory at deepest discounts. Remind your cruising clients to add a Worldwide Protector Plan for several key benefits that protect their cruise. Trip Cancellation is a major protection for covering family medical or weather-related reasons that could disrupt scheduled cruise plans. Worldwide Trip Protector comprehensive and WTP Gold plans include bankruptcy / default protection under Trip Cancellation coverage when the supplier's bankruptcy or default occurs more than 14 days following the policy's effective date, and Missed Port of Call benefits under Missed Connection coverage. The latter allows for reimbursement of prepaid, non-refundable activities that may be lost due to a supplier's unforeseen change of cruise itinerary due to weather or other factors.
The same Missed Connection coverage can reimburse costs of catching up to a cruise if a weather-related or carrier-caused airline delay of three hours or more causes your clients to miss their ship's departure. Trip Delay coverage, Cancel for Any Reason and Cancel for Work options and Worldwide Emergency Travel Assistance, available from anywhere 24/7, are all valuable protection features for your client's cruise. It is most important for your clients to understand that when their cruise leaves the U.S. for international waters, or departs from a foreign port, they are no longer covered for Emergency Medical or Medical Evacuation under Medicare or most U.S. health care plans, according to advice posted by the U.S. State Department (travel.state.gov).
Reports Say Affluent Consumers Are Shopping for Travel
Ypartnership reported a survey finding that 71% of affluent consumers (defined as those with $75K household income or more) intend to make a trip 50 miles or more from home or overnight in the next six months, and 48% have no intent to change their travel plans. The Times, while reporting luxury bargains already available from sources like Four Seasons Hotels and the Caribbean islands of Virgin Gorda and St. Barts, gave a prediction from a hotel analyst from PricewaterhouseCoopers. He told readers to look for many more luxury winter travel bargains that he expects will hit the market during the week after New Year's weekend.
We recommend that you urge your affluent clients to add Worldwide Trip Protector or Trip Protector Gold to their "luxury bargain" trip purchase. Keep in mind that a major concern should be avoiding any loss of prepaid money due to travel disruptions after the economic turmoil experienced by everyone in recent weeks. Remember that you, the travel agent, will be the hero if your recommendation of a WTP plan results in their prepaid vacation being saved from a disruption. And don't forget that Cancel for Work Reasons and Cancel for Any Reason options are both affordable ways to make sure your affluent clients are not hurt financially if, as a result of a personal or business reason, they are forced to cancel their trip.
Protect Against Added Fees for Mileage Program Bookings
When your clients cancel their trip for a covered reason under a Worldwide Trip Protector plan, their cancellation coverage includes "airfare cancellation charges for flights joining/departing your land or sea arrangements." Remind them that frequent flier program award tickets are no longer "free" anymore, and travelers who leave themselves unprotected can face airline service and penalty charges that can add expensive insult to injury after their trip is cancelled!
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