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Travelers who were briefly stranded abroad after the U.S. operation to extract Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro got a hard lesson in the limitations of travel insurance.
Travel insurance policies offer a financial backstop to buyers for various unforeseen snafus, like having to pay for medical care abroad or for a hotel room after a flight delay or cancellation.
But insurers set rules that indicate when they do and don’t have to pay those benefits.
Many limitations — or “exclusions,” in insurance lingo — may surprise consumers, say travel and insurance experts.
“Consumers assume travel insurance is blanket and covers everything that could possibly happen,” said Chrissy Valdez, senior director of operations at Squaremouth, an insurance comparison site.
That’s not accurate.
Venezuela poses ‘gray area’ for travel insurance
On Jan. 3, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration closed airspace over parts of the Caribbean to support the U.S. military operation in Venezuela.
Airlines canceled hundreds of flights, disrupting plans for thousands of travelers during a busy holiday weekend and in a region that experts say is among the most popular for travelers this time of year. The disruptions forced many to absorb costs for extra days of travel.
Airlines generally aren’t obligated to reimburse passengers for disruptions outside their control, though they may do so voluntarily.
Travel insurance policyholders — including those with standalone policies or who get benefits via a credit card — may be out of luck, too.
Many standard policies carve out exceptions for disruptions due to war, undeclared war, civil disorder, rebellion, military activity or government intervention, experts said.
Policyholders stranded because of the military action in Venezuela “might be out money,” said Sally French, a travel expert at NerdWallet.
The fine print varies from insurer to insurer.
Insurers are generally the ones who make the final determination as to whether something like an undeclared act of war or civil unrest has occurred, French said.
“The Venezuela situation is very unique,” French said. “In another situation, you might see the government say we are declaring war on a country. But Venezuela is challenging because we don’t really know what is happening.”
“There is a lot of gray area,” she said.
Insurers may not cover ‘risky’ activities
Intoxication is another potentially surprising or “quirky” exclusion, said Suzanne Morrow, CEO of InsureMyTrip, an insurance comparison site.
“If you are drunk and injure yourself, your travel insurance can deny your medical [benefits], and not pay for it because you were intoxicated,” she said.
Insurers may also deem certain activities to be risky.
Riding a moped is generally one such exclusion, due to the risk of injury, Morrow said.
Standard policies also generally exclude going on a safari, hiking, horseback riding, skiing, snowboarding, scuba diving, riding in a hot air balloon, zip lining, quad biking, driving an all-terrain vehicle, bungee jumping and kayaking, according to Squaremouth.
However, there are certain policies and insurance riders that consumers can purchase to cover such activities, Morrow said.
“Knowing what you’re doing ahead of time should inform your insurance decisions,” she said.
Specific countries are off-limits
Another potential surprise for consumers: Travel to specific countries may not be covered by an insurance policy, Morrow said.
This may be due to government travel advisories that warn against visiting a country, federal sanctions against certain nations or because an insurer lists specific excluded countries in a consumer’s policy, she said.
Some, such as Afghanistan and North Korea, may seem straightforward, while others are less so, according to French.
For example, certain medical and evacuation benefits available via the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card don’t apply for travel to Vietnam, according to a website outlining the card’s benefits.
“That’s definitely a rising country lots of people are traveling to,” French said. “North Korea, I get it. But Vietnam?”
The U.S. State Department website’s travel advisory for Vietnam is currently at Level 1, the lowest level for safety and security risks.
Other travel insurance policies can help
Aside from buying more tailored policies that cover them during specific activities and circumstances, consumers can also purchase more blanket coverage.
For example, cancel-for-any-reason coverage lets consumers cancel a trip — for, yes, any reason — and recoup their money.
However, these policies are most beneficial for consumers before they depart on their trip, not for those who’ve already departed, experts said.
That’s because policyholders generally must notify the insurer at least 24 to 48 hours before their trip starts in order to qualify for benefits. Even then, consumers can generally recoup perhaps 50% to 75% of the total trip cost instead of the whole thing, said Valdez.
Such policies also generally carry a higher price tag.
Another optional add-on is interruption-for-any-reason coverage, Valdez said.
Consider one hypothetical example from Seven Corners, a travel insurer. Let’s say you’re in the middle of a multicity European vacation and are next heading to Paris. You learn there has been an outbreak of bed bugs in many Parisian hotels, and you want to cut the trip short instead of risking it. Bed bugs aren’t covered in most plans, but interruption-for-any-reason coverage could help consumers recoup some of the unused trip expenses, according to Seven Corners.
