Continued terrorist attacks abroad raise fears and bring up the issue of travel insurance what is it, what does it cover, and is it worth it? All good questions, and worth researching to be able to advise students and their families. The New York Times published a helpful article recently discussing travel insurance and trip cancellation policies as they relate to terrorism.
As with most insurance policies, coverage is very specific regarding terrorist attacks and how they affect your particular travel. As the article author writes, Keep in mind that policies that include terrorism coverage have fine print that experts advise travelers to read carefully. The article goes on to give a couple of examples of the fine print and what coverage for terrorism will and will not cover:
- “Most travel insurance policies cover terrorism in very narrowly defined ways,” says John Cook, the founder of QuoteWright.com , a travel insurance comparison and shopping site. . . . This is particularly so when it comes to canceling or interrupting a trip already in progress. For example, he said, a policy may say that a terrorist event must have occurred within 30 days before your scheduled departure date. And a policy may exclude coverage for a terrorist attack if one has already occurred in the same place within a certain time period.
- Christina Tunnah, the regional manager for the Americas for World Nomads , a travel insurance company, said the two major factors that determine whether you have a claim are when you bought the insurance, and how exactly your travels were affected during a terrorist event.
Good starting points for building your knowledge about travel insurance coverage!