Hurricane Sandy - Travel insurance advice

The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) is advising travellers affected by hurricane Sandy to contact their insurance broker or provider, or use their travel insurance policy’s emergency helpline to ensure that any resulting claim process is as smooth as possible. BIBA has advised that in general travel insurance policies should provide cover for:

Travel delay and cancellation

This section is for policyholders who are either delayed from travelling out of the UK to affected areas (if they are stranded at the airport and not at home) or if they are delayed overseas from returning home. For those travellers delayed in UK, they would have the option to cancel after 24 hours delay and claim for any irrecoverable costs.

Medical expenses

If travellers are injured in the storm then medical expenses should be covered. Anyone injured should contact their policy’s Emergency Assistance line as soon as possible.

Baggage

Loss of personal baggage due to storm should be covered within the limits of the policy.

Graeme Trudgill, BIBA’s Head of Corporate Affairs, said: “Our members are on standby to help any affected travellers and we would urge customers to stay in touch with their insurance broker or provider to ensure that they understand what their policy does and does not cover and how to claim, should the worst happen.”

BIBA is advising that not all policies are the same and travellers should check levels of cover with their existing provider.