Experts: Buy travel insurance separately
By Ellen Creager,
MCT News Service
Never buy travel insurance from the company providing your trip.
Even if agents twist your arm.
Even if they make it sound like it is the only option (it’s not).
If you are insured by your own tour operator, airline or cruise line – and then it goes under – you’ll have no recourse.
Nobody’s answering the phone. You can’t collect. Money’s gone.
That’s what happened to students across the country last month when an educational tour company went bust.
In May, Walled Lake Northern High School’s French Club members in Commerce Township, Mich., lost $4,000 each when Voyageur Educational Tours of Worcester, Mass., declared bankruptcy. Students at 41 other schools around the country lost trip money, too.
“I gave them $12,000 and they never even booked our flights or hotels. They stole from me,” says Julie Nichols of Commerce Township, who paid for her entire family to go to France. Her trip insurance was bought through Voyageur, so it is now worthless.
Luckily, another company, the National Educational Travel Council, stepped in to help the students with the land costs of another trip, and the Walled Lake group left June 12, relieved but still poorer because they had to pay for additional flights.
If students at the time of booking had bought their own policies (for example, through a travel agent or the big insurer Travel Guard for about $140 each) their 10-day France trip would have been protected against the financial default of the provider.
So here’s the lesson. Within 7 to 14 days after paying for an upcoming trip, go to a site such as www.insuremytrip.com online. Compare plans, rates and coverage. It may look confusing, but in general, I’ve found that choosing a middle-priced plan will provide the coverage you need. Make sure financial default is covered on the policy you choose. Make sure your tour provider isn’t excluded by the insurer (most companies post this information online).
If it sounds like a big hassle, think about how you would feel if you lost $4,000 on a trip.
