InsureMyTrip Blog

Given the headlines of the past month or so, I doubt very much that I have to work very hard to convince anyone at this point that travel insurance is a good investment.   It seems that the “why” of purchasing travel insurance isn’t really the question anymore.  What may be more important at this point is the “when” to buy it; too often, well-meaning travelers miss out on excellent coverage options because of timing.

Between airline strikes, civil unrest, and of course, the terrible tragedy of the Costa Concordia, there have been more than enough examples in recent days of travel gone awry.  And as a result, the InsureMyTrip Customer Care Center has seen what we by now expect to see after major travel news hits the airwaves: a big increase in calls from worried travelers who want to buy insurance.

You might expect that an increase in call volume would make us happy; after all, InsureMyTrip exists to help people find the right coverage for their trips, and to provide them with the peace of mind that they’re traveling with a solid insurance policy in their back pockets…just in case.  Unfortunately, when an influx of news-related calls comes in to our phone lines, it’s not always possible for us to help every one of those callers find the right insurance policy.  Too often, we have to tell customers the simple, but painful, truth: “You waited too long.”

Too long for what?  Too long to be eligible for that Cancel for Any Reason benefit you really wanted; too long to buy a policy with a pre-existing conditions waiver that our Customer Care rep can see you definitely need.  Too long to get the correct insurance coverage for your specific trip, so that you’re left with fewer options where once there might have been a virtual buffet.

We’ve said many times that if a volcano erupts in Iceland, you can’t call us the next day to get insurance against that volcano’s effects.  I’m pretty sure that message has gotten through to a number of travelers by now.  But what we need to add is the following piece of crucial information: If you want to be covered for the greatest possible number of unforeseen events, if you want to have travel insurance that offers the highest level of service and benefits to you, or even if you just want to have every option available when you buy…it’s worth at least taking a look at the range of plans that are out there as soon as you’ve booked your trip.

On behalf of our Customer Care Center, I ask you all not to wait before looking into travel insurance.  Not a week, not a month, not until a few days before your trip if you can help it.  As the days beyond your first payment on your trip continue to elapse, your options for insurance slowly diminish.  And nothing is more disappointing to us, or to a traveler we’re trying to help, than to have to say “I’m sorry…if you had called a week ago, you could have gotten that, but now you’re past the window.”  You don’t have to wait until every detail of your travels has been planned and paid for; in fact, your choices will be at their most broad when you’ve just made the first payment on your trip.

So go ahead — call us when the rush of that first booking is still fresh.  Call us when you’re still excited about making your plans for a new adventure.  We can’t wait to hear where you’re going, and we hope as always that you’ll want to take us with you.

Editorial Update: It’s clear to us that, in the past two months, Ratings and Reviews on InsureMyTrip.com has had a huge impact on the way people purchase travel insurance.  In less than ninety days, we’ve seen tremendous gains in the scope and popularity of the feature.  Our customers have generated six times more content than any other review site, and with nearly four thousand original, unbiased traveler ratings, InsureMyTrip.com has emerged as the leader in not only online travel insurance offerings, but impartial reviews of travel insurance as well.

We’re thrilled to announce the latest site improvement to InsureMyTrip.com: Customer Ratings and Reviews. This exciting feature allows users to view, submit, and comment on thousands of ratings by fellow travelers of the travel insurance plans sold on the site.  It also shows travelers the star ratings for plans they are comparing, offers sorting and filtering features for usability, and breaks down the ratings into categories so travelers can see how specific travel insurance policies measure up in areas such as cost effectiveness, coverage options, and claims processing.

Our reviews have been submitted only by travelers who purchased their policies through InsureMyTrip.com, which means that visitors to the Ratings and Reviews forum can be confident that the people rating the products have direct experience with only those plans that we sell.  However, commenting and actively engaging in discussions on the page is open to all users, whether they have purchased through InsureMyTrip.com or not.  Ratings and Reviews on InsureMyTrip.com is a community forum, where we hope to see travelers engaging with one another, with IMT moderators, and even with the companies whose products we represent.  Our vision is to build a community of informed, passionate, engaged travelers whose thoughts and opinions about travel insurance can not only serve to benefit other travelers, but also shape the way companies within the industry think about, discuss, and improve their products and services.

We’re pleased and proud that as of the launch of the new Ratings and Reviews feature, the plans we sell have an average rating of 4.25 out of 5 possible stars.  97% of reviewers would recommend the policy they purchased to a friend or family member, and even among those travelers who had to file a travel insurance claim, 84% would still want to recommend that policy.  We’re honored that our customers have shared such positive feedback with us, and hope that Ratings and Reviews can be a tool with which we can continue to communicate even more closely with travelers.

Like the new Ratings and Reviews?  Have suggestions to offer?  Visit our Facebook page and drop us a note telling us what you think of InsureMyTrip.com’s Ratings and Reviews.

We’re pleased to welcome a guest writer to our blog today.  Eileen Ogintz is a travel writer who runs the wonderful site Takingthekids.com, which is an indispensable resource for families planning to travel with children.

Taking the Kids and Getting Travel Insurance
By Eileen Ogintz

For once I kept my mouth shut. I resisted the temptation to say “I told you so!”

When I heard about the couple’s honeymoon plans — a Caribbean resort during hurricane season – I suggested travel insurance.  I worried about a storm derailing their plans.

But they were too busy with the wedding to consider insurance that they were sure they wouldn’t need. None of us could have anticipated a power outage at Los Angeles International Airport that grounded all flights for several hours on the day they were leaving, causing them to miss their connecting flights and, ultimately, the first two days of their honeymoon. Their bags didn’t arrive until two days after they did.

The travel snafu ultimately forced them to spend several hundred dollars on airport hotels, meals and clothes — money that travel insurance would have refunded. Travel insurance may also have been able to get them rerouted and on their way more quickly.

Too many people think travel insurance is for seniors with serious medical problems. Not anymore. Not with volcanic ash, blizzards, hurricanes, terrorism and old-fashioned family emergencies causing travel plans to implode. These days, I like the idea of having a fairy godmother watching over my shoulder when I travel, even if I have to pay for it (typically 4-8 per cent of the trip.)

Even in the best of times, traveling with kids can be as unpredictable as hurricane season. A broken ankle, appendicitis, even an ear infection can force parents to delay departure. In other cases, families have to return from vacations early because of emergencies at home. Think of travel insurance as a way to protect your investment in your trip.  It can pay for hotels if you are stranded like so many were after last year’s holiday blizzard in the Northeast or out of pocket medical expenses—as it did for me when a scratched cornea sent me to the ER.  On a ski trip, my travel insurance picked up nearly $1,000 in costs that my medical insurance didn’t cover. Had it been necessary, the travel insurer would have arranged for medical evacuation and covered all of the costs if we’d needed to change our flights to return home earlier.

The key: Assess your needs before you sign on the dotted line, and read the fine print. Will your kids be insured free?  Once, we were delayed overnight without our bags when our connecting flight was canceled. I was annoyed to discover that, because our bags were returned to us within 24 hours, our travel insurance didn’t cover the essentials we had to buy.

Still, I think  travel insurance is worth it, especially if you’ve invested a lot of money up front — like for a cruise, for plane tickets to Hawaii, or for a ski condo during a holiday week — or if you’re visiting a country that might not have the best medical care.  It’s worth it for the peace of mind too, just knowing you don’t have to worry if your elderly mom gets sick and you have to return home or if your backpacking college student needs medical care far from home.

Most families opt for a package plan that will cover any costs incurred if they need to cancel or disrupt their trip because of a medical emergency, a hurricane, or a terrorist act. The insurance should cover the cost of changing your flight, as well as the unused portion of your vacation, if an emergency forces you to return early. If you’re traveling solo with a child and become sick or injured, some of these policies will even provide for a chaperone for your child.  But you can buy insurance just for what you need—medical evacuation, for example.

As for the honeymoon couple, their airline ultimately gave them some vouchers to make up for the inconvenience. They had a terrific time — once they got there.

Copyright 2011 Eileen Ogintz

For more on Eileen’s adventures and misadventures, visit www.takingthekids.com Her TakingtheKids  family travel guides are  newly updated and available for the NOOK and Kindle with individual sections starting at 99 cents.