From cat surgery to a call from the tax office. Surprising reasons for travel cancellation insurance
Holiday plans can fall apart for the most unexpected reasons, which go far beyond a simple cold or a broken leg. The travel insurance market is constantly evolving, and insurance companies are competing with each other in offering more and more flexible solutions that protect tourists' wallets against loss of funds. See in what surprising situations your trip cancellation policy will work.
Compensa and TU Europa set new standards
For years, travel cancellation insurance was based only on strictly defined and closed lists of events, which often caused understandable frustration among customers. A real revolution on the Polish market was introduced by Compensa, which in April this year was the first in Poland to offer an extended variant based on the so-called open catalog of risks. Instead of a rigid list of specific reasons for canceling the trip, protection here covers any documented event that is completely independent of the will of the insured person and objectively prevents the previously planned trip. This means that the customer no longer has to frantically check whether his specific case qualifies for a refund, provided it is not expressly excluded in the general insurance conditions.
– For years, cancellation insurance was a product in which the most important element was a catalog of risks specifying when the policy would become effective. Meanwhile, customers buy insurance to have real protection in unforeseen situations – not to find out after a claim that their case is not on the list. That's why we decided to break with the existing logic and set a new market standard. This is a change that should have happened much earlier – says Małgorzata Jakuta, head of the Tourist Insurance Team at Compensa.
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Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń Europa has significantly expanded its traditional, closed catalog of risks, introducing a variant called 100% Max to the insurance of cancellation costs. Under the policy, the client receives protection in the event of 37 precisely defined reasons for canceling the trip or its sudden interruption. The new version of the insurance covers not only classic health problems, but also family and formal situations, and as emphasized by Katarzyna Szepczyńska, Director of the Tourist Insurance Sales Department of Europa Ubezpieczenia, this is due to the awareness of the travelers themselves, who want to protect themselves for various needs.
Random events and illness are standard when canceling a trip
Before we move on to the most surprising reasons for canceling a trip, it is worth recalling what standard events guarantee quick reimbursement of incurred costs from most insurers. The most common reason for canceling a trip remains sudden illness or an accident the insured person himself, as well as the travel participant accompanying him. The protection also invariably covers a sudden deterioration of the health of a close family member, which results in unexpected hospitalization or constitutes a direct threat to life, and an equally obvious and common reason for reimbursement of travel cancellation costs in policies is the unexpected death of the insured person, his or her loved one or a participant of a foreign trip.
Typical insurance risk catalogs very often also include unexpected problems related to property and professional life. It is standard in many market offers protection in the event of an accidental event at homesuch as fire, flooding or burglary, which absolutely requires our presence in the country for administrative and legal reasons. A similar principle applies theft of documents necessary to travel foreign, i.e. a passport or entry visa, provided that this fact is reported promptly to the appropriate services. Insurers usually also respect information that is documented and is not the employee's fault job lossprovided that he was employed by a given employer under an employment contract for a sufficiently long time.
When the insurer refuses to reimburse, i.e. key pitfalls and liability exclusions
Despite quite broad scopes of protection, insurers still apply strict liability exclusions that every tourist should remember. No famous company will not pay us compensation if the cancellation of the trip was a direct result of intentional actiongross negligence or attempt to commit a crime by the insured customer. Any events that occurred while the insured was present are categorically excluded from coverage under the influence of alcohol, drugs or other intoxicating substancesas well as while driving without the appropriate licenses required by law.
Important and The effects of chronic diseases are often excluded in insurance against cancellation coststhat were diagnosed before the official purchase of protection. An unexpected exacerbation of such a condition does not normally entitle you to a refund of the trip costs, unless the insured person decides to pay a higher premium earlier and purchase the appropriate extended variant.
Insurance protection usually does not apply in the event of mass riots, unexpected acts of terrorism and hostilities taking place in the destination country, as well as in extreme situations when the travel agency itself or the destination carrier declares bankruptcy. Moreover, societies almost always refuse to pay out funds in specific cases related to pregnancy and childbirth after the week of pregnancy indicated in the contract, most often 32 or 37.
A sick cat, a call from the tax office and much more
Insurers have begun to notice that tourists are increasingly looking for protection in the event of cancellation of their trip, for reasons that seemed absurd a few years ago, but today constitute a real problem. Thanks to the open catalog of risks in Compensa, customers can now recover travel costs, even in the event of… summons to a divorce hearingand also when an event occurs in our company or farm that prevents us from leaving. Financial protection will also work for people who cannot go on holiday due to receiving something unexpected calls for compulsory military service or life-saving bone marrow transplantation. It is worth remembering that each situation should be documented, otherwise the insurer will refuse to pay the funds.
Equally surprising reasons covered by travel cancellation insurance can be found with insurers such as TU Europa, Warta or Allianz. Many of them concern health, official matters, but also… pets:
- Sudden illness or accident of a dog or catunless it urgently requires surgery or a minimum 24-hour stay of the animal in a veterinary clinic.
- Theft of funds from a bank account as a result of online cyber fraud in the amount of, among others, five thousand zlotys.
- Requesting the insured person to be present in person in connection with an inspection by the National Labor Inspectorate, the Social Insurance Institution or the Tax Office.
- Receiving an unexpected court summons requiring you to attend a divorce or separation hearing.
- Allergic reaction of the insured person after vaccinationwhich was formally recommended or obligatory upon departure to the destination country.
- Serious and permanent damage to a prosthetic limb, eye or hearing that cannot be effectively repaired before the start of the holiday.
- Death of an assistance dog or a certified guide dog.
Other unusual situations in the policies include positive events in personal life that still conflict with the date of the planned trip. Travel cancellation insurance can be a lifesaver when, during a long adoption procedure, we receive an official offer to adopt a child or we are called up to an important international sports competition. In the offer of some companies, costs are also reimbursed when, as unemployed people, we receive an employment offer and the new employer sets us a date for starting work that coincides exactly with the long-awaited holidays.
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