For information relating to policies purchased prior to 17 June 2021, please check the Policy Wording provided with your purchase. You can contact us if you need this sent to you again. For policies purchased from 17 June 2021 please see below.
Yes, there’s cover if a Natural Catastrophe such as an earthquake, hurricane, flood, volcano, or tsunami affects your travel plans and/or injures you.
However, you need to have purchased your policy before these powerful forces of nature become a known event. So if you’ve done that, we’ll do everything we can to help you.
While the last thing we want to do is to talk about all the nasty weather that could come your way, it’s important for you to know what we define as a ‘natural catastrophe’ in our policy. The following are considered a natural catastrophe: Hurricane, tornado, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, storm, flood, landslide, avalanche, fire, high water or explosion.
Yes. You’ll first need to contact your private medical insurance (PMI) provider (if applicable) and follow their emergency medical procedures and their claims procedures. Cover available under this travel insurance policy is in excess of any cover provided by your PMI. Also, provide us with details of your PMI provider to help us co-ordinate your care. Where your PMI provider does not cover you, contact our 24/7 Emergency Assistance team before incurring medical costs. You must let us know how you are going and keep in contact with our EA team until you no longer require treatment or assistance.
Unfortunately, there’s no cover on the Standard Plan policy for cancellation expenses if your trip is cancelled before you get to travel. However, if you’re on the Explorer Plan policy and the Department of Foreign Affairs or similar body issues a warning of ‘Do Not Travel’ or ‘Avoid Non-essential Travel’ to a specific region or country, then cover is available as long as the policy and the affected travel arrangements were bought before the event.
If you’re travelling on the Explorer Plan, and you’re caught up in a natural catastrophe, we can help you get out of the country you’re in and to the nearest safe location when the Department of Foreign Affairs or similar body recommends evacuation from that area, as long as the policy and the affected travel arrangements were bought before the event.
As the policy is outside of its cooling off period and you’ve travelled on it, you’re eligible for a refund for only that part of the premium for the unused period of insurance, provided you are not making any claims on the policy. You are welcome to make a claim for any additional expenses you might have incurred; however, no refund will be provided.
Funnily, we get asked this a lot; so here’s something we prepared earlier, a step by step guide on how to claim. If you have questions about a claim, contact our Claims team.
It’s important that you contact our Emergency Assistance team as soon as you can so that they can help you out. Their details can also be found on your Certificate of Insurance.
Disease can spread very quickly post disaster, so ensure you protect against injuries and infections by wearing a face mask and sturdy footwear.
Tetanus is a potential health threat for cuts and grazes so make sure you see your doctor before you travel and update your preventative medications.
Frequent hand washing and sanitizing helps keep germs at bay. (If a traveller becomes unwell within six weeks of returning home and has fever, rash, respiratory illness or any other unusual symptoms, advise a physician of having just returned from a disaster-affected region.)
Drink only sealed bottled, boiled or disinfected water. For more information refer to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.
In the event of diarrhoea, replace lost fluids with clean drinking water or oral rehydration solutions.
The policy isn’t designed to cover everything so take the time to read the terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions in the Policy Wording for full details, so there are no surprises if you need to use it. If you’re not sure if something is covered get in touch.
We’re here to help if you have a question about travel insurance.
Before your trip, check the latest government advice for any travel alerts for your destination.