New Type of Travel Insurance for Independent Travellers
Posted on | November 26, 2009 | 9 Comments
AXA launches new Independent Travellers insurance for growing market of ‘go-it-alone’ holiday makers.
Despite the increasing economic gloom, the holiday season is approaching and millions of Brits will be preparing to travel abroad over the summer months. But AXA warns that increasing numbers of people arranging their own holidays may be leaving themselves exposed despite taking out travel insurance.
Over the last few years the number of Independent Travellers has overtaken the number of Package Holiday Travellers. Internet access and low-cost airlines have helped escalate this trend – in 2006 over 16 million Independent Travellers headed overseas for holidays between April and September*.
However, insurance provision has not kept pace with the changing profile of the British holidaymaker and Independent Travellers can find that there are gaps in their insurance cover which AXA are addressing with their Independent Travellers cover, available with AXA travel insurance from www.axa.co.uk/travelinsurance.
The new product is an optional extension which costs as little as an additional £10 for annual European cover. It covers travellers for a number of areas such as problems with flight cancellations or delays, missed connections or the customer being denied boarding.
With a package holiday, the tour operator or travel agent is legally required to make suitable alternative arrangements for such eventualities, but the independent traveller must make and pay for their own arrangements.
Edward Dutton, AXA’s Personal Insurance Director said: “We are aware from our own claims area that Independent Travellers have run into problems with their travel insurance and a recent report from Defaqto underlined the need for insurers to offer cover that helps customers when things go wrong – the things that would normally be picked up by a tour operator or travel agent if it were a package holiday.
“We believe that the rise of the Independent Traveller is something that all insurers should be addressing – as the Ombudsman pointed out in his latest report ‘There is clearly a mismatch in … what insurers intend to offer and the cover that consumers believe they are buying.’”
The additional cover offered by this optional extension includes:
* delayed departure compensation for delays exceeding 5 hours occurring at the departure point of any connecting flights or booked public transportation on both the outbound and return journeys
* cancellation costs if you cancel your trip, or additional expenses to reach your destination because your flight from the UK was cancelled, delayed for more than 5 hours or you were denied boarding due to the flight being overbooked
* additional accommodation and travel expenses if you are delayed and miss any onward connecting flights or other public transport
* irrecoverable unused accommodation costs or additional expenses if your trip is affected by insolvency of the providers, an outbreak of food poisoning or infectious disease or natural disasters such as fire, flood or earthquake
* ONS – Travel Trends 2006: based on 69.5 million visits abroad in 2006, 65% of which were for holidays = 45 million. Of these 63% were taken between April and September = 28 million. Independent Travellers account for 58% of holidays = 16 million.
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Comments
9 Responses to “New Type of Travel Insurance for Independent Travellers”
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November 26th, 2009 @ 10:50 am
I think that you will find a great deal on Moneysupermarket.com thats where I got my travel insurance, and they actually had to pay out on my policy as I ended up in a French hospital.
My insurance was about 40pounds, and it was for annual insurance! I think from memory you could go away for up to 94 days at a time, or 17days at a time if you included winter sports.
Hope this helps – just remember to read the small print about how many consecutive days away from the UK you are covered for! Happy Travels!
November 26th, 2009 @ 11:19 am
Try this site for a quick quote on travel medical insurance. TravelEx allows for pre-existing conditions. —> http://www.travelex-insurance.com/index.asp?location=07-0018
November 27th, 2009 @ 1:25 am
healthquotes.awardspace.info – here is my health insurance plan. As I remember they can provide such a service.
November 27th, 2009 @ 2:03 am
There are some good travel insurance companies. Get ones that pay your expenses or pay you in cash. Dont get ones that make you take another trip or give you a voucher to travel again with them.
I only buy insurance if the trip is WAY more than I can afford to lose.
Read the fine print of the policies before you purchase.
November 27th, 2009 @ 8:17 am
November 28th, 2009 @ 7:02 am
You can get a refund if your insurance covers illness as a reason for cancellation. Different policies cover different contingencies. The way you would prove illness is by a note from your physician.
InsureMyTrip.com is one site that has comparisons among policies. I'm sure there are others.
November 28th, 2009 @ 3:22 pm
Here are some links-
I had a similar situation- I was living in the Caymans Islands, no longer a Canadian resident, and wanted to travel for the summer. But every policy required that Canadian citizens be insured in their home privince, which I no longer have as non-resident. IMG was the only one I found, but as you DO have Canadian insurance, this will be easy for you. There are lots of short-term plans.
https://www.imglobal.com/travelinsurance/index.cfm?show=&&CFID=1718830&CFTOKEN=d9392e2d0226f2d2-EC75C061-1143-EBE5-76B31862584AA777
http://www.internationalsos.com,
http://www.travelexinsurance.com,
http://www.ijet.com,
http://www.travelassistance.com,
http://www.wallach.com,
http://www.travelguard.com,
http://www.independenttraveler.com/resources/article.cfm?AID=48&category=8,
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/insurance.htm.
November 28th, 2009 @ 9:21 pm
Checkout their theft rider, and the link for a free quote. http://www.travelex-insurance.com/index.asp?location=07-0018
November 29th, 2009 @ 10:56 am
It could very well be true. Although they are different countries to where you are, we are in the UK and when we book to go to Ireland the company we book with insists on having our insurance details. Besides, as the first answerer says…they would be daft to travel without it as the cost of treatment is far more than the cost of the insurance. Accidents do happen…believe me, I broke an elbow last year, and a few weeks after that was healed I broke my foot…if I had been abroad I would have been in sh*t street without insurance!