When a Volcano Blows Up Your Travel Plans
Isaac Cymrot:
Hello, and welcome to the latest installment of DisasterMan. Today, we've got one of our most experience employees really; Christine Peruccio's been with us for 11 years. She's covered a lot of bases with us here in Travel Insured, from customer service to her current role assisting the sales team. And thought she would be the perfect person to assist with the topic of Icelandic volcanoes and how it affects travel insurance and just travel in general. So I think this is an appropriate topic at an appropriate time, coming on the heals of the second eruption of a volcano in Iceland over the weekend. And Christine, welcome to DisasterMan.
Christine Peruccio:
Good morning.
Isaac Cymrot:
I guess let's just start - get right into it with what exactly does a volcano do for a travel insurance policy when travel is disrupted?
Christine Peruccio:
Well in regards to volcanoes and ash specifically, Travel Insured takes the stance that ash is considered as inclement weather. So providing that you had insurance in effect at the time that the situation occurs, you would be eligible for benefits of trip cancellation, if the ash caused cessation of services of your carrier for 24 consecutive hours or if there was possibly a delay, you could be eligible for those benefits as well.
Isaac Cymrot:
Okay. Now I know that there's a couple key points to keep in mind. You had already mentioned that one was the timeframe on how long the flights have to be cancelled. But let's back up for one second and cover the initial piece of eligibility. And that is, when do you need to have purchased your policy to be eligible for coverage for a volcano.
Christine Peruccio:
The most important time to purchase insurance is when you first start making your travel arrangements. You want to make sure that you're insurance is secure as soon as possible, so that if any unforeseen circumstances occur, your benefits are in effect and you're eligible for coverage. Through this specific volcano, coverage would have had to have been purchased prior to May 22nd, as that's when everything was unforeseen.
Isaac Cymrot:
I think anything with travel insurance is - at the very least, the policy needs to be purchased prior to whatever the event is that occurs, of course when we get into some of the medical stuff and other things, there's pre-existing conditions and time frames there, but that's not the topic for today, so we won't get distracted and go down that road. The other piece that you had mentioned was 24 hours for travel - or 24 hour delay has to occur. Can you explain that a little bit? And what pieces of the coverage that applies to.
Christine Peruccio:
Well that is specific to trip cancellation. If your flight cannot travel for at least 24 consecutive hours from the original scheduled departure time, due to inclement weather, which would be ash in this particular circumstance, then you're eligible for complete cancellation of your trip, which would cover anything that was pre-paid and non-refundable that you had protected under your policy.
Isaac Cymrot:
One of the other important pieces is what happens if you're in Europe when this happens or wherever disaster like this could occur, if you're at that particular destination or whatever the disaster, is affects your return home that would fall under travel delay coverage. Can you provide some detail on travel delay?
Christine Peruccio:
If you're delayed on your return under our Worldwide Trip Protector in our Gold Policies, for six hours or more due to inclement weather or any common carrier delay, the benefit would cover for reasonable accommodations and meals, if your delay requires an unplanned overnight stay, as well as additional transportation costs, if necessary, to get you back home.
Isaac Cymrot:
So I think the moral of this story is purchase your policy at the point that you make deposit, 'cause you never know what's gonna happen.
Christine Peruccio:
Absolutely.
Isaac Cymrot:
And this also - we hear a lot of the times the consumers feel that they're going no matter what. And it's always nice to have that kind of bullet proof mentality, but I think a volcano's a perfect example of a situation where you don't have a choice. Even if you want to go and you're able to go, if the flight's not going, you're not gonna go. So it's important to purchase travel insurance because it's not just the trip cancellation fees, it's also the delay fees and the added hotel nights can be very expensive, the change in airfare costs and additional meals and all that kind of stuff. Is there any other pieces of the coverage, maybe the assistance company or any thing else that you would find beneficial for a situation with a volcano?
Christine Peruccio:
Well our assistance company is always beneficial under any circumstances when you're in duress on your trip and especially if you're on your trip and you don't know what to do and you need assistance in making additional arrangements or finding a suitable hotel. Our assistance company is available 24 hours a day and they can provide you with all of that information.
Isaac Cymrot:
Great. Well, Christine, thank you very much for agreeing to appear with us on DisasterMan today. And until next time, this is DisasterMan signing off.
Christine Peruccio:
Thank you.