six travel mistakes to avoid

Cliffs of Moher (c) 2019 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

Inexperienced travelers frequently make foolish travel mistakes when planning a trip. I am highlighting six of the worst travel mistakes mentioned in a recent article in USA Today.

(1) Declining travel insurance for expensive international trips. Even if you have NOT made any non-refundable deposits, purchasing $500 of trip cancellation per person is inexpensive and offers important protections. Top of the list: primary medical coverage while out of the country. If you're a US-based senior citizen, Medicare does NOT cover you outside the U.S., but Travelex Basic or Select offers primary medical insurance. Because the coverage is primary, you won't have to bother getting your claim rejected by Medicare before the insurance company will pay you (which is the case if your policy provides only secondary medical coverage). Note: rely only on the insurance carrier's own employees for authoritative and detailed explanations of a policy's coverage.

(2) Taking selfies in hazardous places. For instance, there's a rope to keep you safe when visiting Ireland's Cliffs of Moher (pictured above), but that doesn't stop some foolhardy tourists from venturing to the very edge of the cliff, risking injury or death. Risking your life is not worth 5 minutes of YouTube fame.

(3) Failing to check passport and visa requirements well in advance of the trip. Ensure that your passport has empty pages and is valid for at least six months beyond the end of the trip (as countries typically require). Check whether the country to which you are traveling requires acquiring a visa before you travel. Not all countries offer visa on entry.

(4) Arriving the day your cruise (or tour) departs. It simply makes no sense to risk being left behind at the port, scrambling to figure out how to catch up with the rest of the cruise or tour (at your own expense). Plan to arrive the day before your cruise or tour begins.

(5) Overscheduling your days. While many tourists have the idea that "doing Paris" means checking off a dozen items on a to-do list, I'm a firm believer in "less is more." Don't plan on six museums in one day; you can't possibly enjoy all of them, and you'll be exhausted. There's no reason to visit Versailles and Giverny on the same day; you'll be short-changing both. And don't waste a full day in Paris visiting Disney, of all things. Don't "do" Paris. "Experience" Paris by doing what Parisians do. Spend a leisurely hour sitting at a sidewalk cafe on a picturesque street just watching the life of the city unfold before you.

(6) Booking tight flight connections. Think you can make that 50-minute connection in Paris, London, or Frankfurt? Think again. Navigating an unfamiliar airport in a jet-lagged condition, waiting in passport lines, possibly going through security a second time, and generally not knowing where to go is NOT the way you want to begin your trip. I would want at least a 2-hour connection in all of these international airports. Consider a VIP meet-at-the-gate escort where available to fast-track you through immigration and get you to your next gate stress-free.

copyright (c) 2019 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

Disney's inferior travel protection plan

Shame on Disney for offering a substandard travel insurance product. True story: A client booked a one-week Disney cruise in the Mediterranean for herself and her sons. Concierge cabins on these ships are few and far between, so when she saw some online availability, she booked it herself on Disney's website. And then she purchased the "Disney Cruise Line Vacation Protection Plan" which, per the Disney website, "covers your family for certain unexpected circumstances and emergencies - both during and before your vacation."

Travel protection is so important when you make non-refundable deposits with long cancellation deadlines. I worked with my client to make sure that her cruise and tours were all protected. When looking into Disney's "Vacation Protection Plan" for her cruise, she discovered that its coverage was limited to $10,000. Her cabin cost over $21,000. How can Disney, in good conscience, sell a "Vacation Protection Plan" that protects less than one-half of her vacation?

The Disney Cruise Line Vacation Protection Plan is inferior in other ways as well. Medical coverage is so important when traveling out of the country. Disney's travel insurance through Aon offers secondary medical coverage; claims must first be submitted to your regular health insurance plan, and Aon will reimburse the deductible and any refused claims up to $10,000. And what about service? My colleagues report client frustrations with Disney's insurance carrier when making claims.

How does that compare with the competition? Travelex is our preferred partner for travel protection. Here are the top five reasons why Travel Select by Travelex is a much better value than Disney:

1. You can protect the entire cost of the cruise.
2. Kids are covered for free when sailing with adults (up to $10,000 per kid), so the Travelex plan will cost less than the Disney plan
3. You get $50,000 in medical protection per person (vs. $10,000 total).
4. You get medical evacuation coverage of up to $500,000 per person (vs. $30,000).
5. Travelex provides primary medical coverage, saving you the hassle of submitting claims to your regular medical insurance.

copyright (c) 2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

do I need car rental insurance?

our rental car during our last trip to France

What are your options for insuring a rental car when traveling? Here's my take on the choices you have.

(1) Rental agency's own CDW protection. This is something I do not recommend (unless you have no other options), as this product is overpriced and a real profit center for the car rental company. If you do opt-in to all of these coverages, the daily fees can come close to doubling the cost of your car rental. Because CDW's are so high profit, agents are incentivized to push this this product, and you may feel pressured by them to purchase this coverage.

(2) Credit card coverage. Know before you go, and call your credit card company if you're not sure what coverage is offered. Some cards offer no car rental insurance. Of those that do, most credit cards offer only secondary coverage while a few provide primary coverage. What's the difference?

Secondary coverage means your own car insurance policy will pay the bill (and likely jack up your premium because you made a claim). In other words, secondary coverage will only reimburse your deductible. However, if your card provides primary coverage, you've got a great product. Just be aware of the limits of the card's policies; typically it will not cover a rental greater than 30 days, etc.

If you do rely on your credit card's coverage, make sure you use one card for every facet of the rental. If you have rented a car as part of a tour package, you must use that card to purchase the entire tour.

(3) Add-on to "regular" travel insurance. It's always a good idea to purchase at least a zero-band insurance policy, especially if you're traveling outside the United States. Zero-band insurance means you're not purchasing any cancellation insurance — but you are getting medical coverage, medical evacuation, as well as protection for trip delays and baggage loss/delay. While I can't speak for all companies, Travelex sells a $49 "Transportation Pak" add-on that provides you with primary car rental coverage for the duration of your covered trip.

Two notes about how valuable the medical component can be. (a) If you're on a cruise and have to visit the ship's doctor, you'll rack up a big bill. With a Travelex policy, the doctor's visit will be covered with a single $50 deductible. (b) If you're on Medicare, you don't have any medical coverage outside the country ... unless you have this kind of supplemental protection.

Please be aware that only Travelex (or whatever company you choose) can provide authoritative answers to your "what if" questions about what's covered by its policies.

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

lost night in paradise | who pays?

beautiful lagoon waters (c) 2017 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

Who pays when something goes wrong on your vacation? One of the travel blogs that I regularly follow, Ben Schlappig's One Mile at a Time, relayed the sad story of a missed night during a couple's honeymoon. Their flight from Moorea to Bora Bora had a stop at Huahine. There it suffered a mechanical breakdown and was unable to continue to their final destination. Ten hours later, Air Tahiti sent a replacement plane, but due to high winds in Bora Bora, the plane was unable to make the flight until the next morning.

So they missed their first night in Bora Bora at a (very) expensive resort, and they lost the amount they had paid for their first night at the resort.


Question: how could they have protected against this?

Answer: travel insurance

Problem: travel insurance policies are not created equal


We work almost exclusively with Travelex, Brownell's preferred travel protection partner for many years. I spoke with a telephone representative of Travelex this morning, and I asked her about the particular situation I read about on Ben's blog. She told me the following.

Trip Interruption coverage would have been activated by a delay of a Common Carrier caused by a mechanical breakdown, weather delay, or strike. Such a policy benefit would have covered their unused travel arrangements resulting from this delay up to 100% of the amount of cancellation protection and Trip Interruption purchased (for a Travel Basic policy) or 150% of the interruption protection purchased (for a Travel Select or Travel Max policy). [language revised 12:08 p.m. as suggested by Laura Heidt]


What about the travel insurance from your credit card? The devil's in the details, so I checked out those details. American Express Platinum does not include a travel interruption component. Citi Prestige offers travel interruption coverage if you miss "more than half of [your] Trip because of missed connections, delayed departures, etc." Citi Sapphire Reserve states that interruption coverage does not apply from "Common Carrier caused delays, unless they are as a result of an organized strike that affects public transportation." Visa Signature provides neither Trip Cancellation nor Trip Interruption coverage.

link for Travelex travel protection

Let me stress that you should rely only on the representations of your travel insurance carrier for their authoritative answers to what would or would not be covered by your policy.

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

travel insurance | four helpful tips

Our rep from Travelex visited the Brownell office earlier this week to do some training on travel insurance for newer travel consultants. I read the summary of her presentation and wanted to pass along these tips:

1. Pre-existing waivers. Travelex provides a waiver of pre-existing conditions if you purchase their Travel Select policy or better within 21 days of your initial period. You must be fit to travel at the time of purchase. If you miss that 21 day waiver period, the policy would look back 60 days from the date of purchase in your medical history.
2. Zero-band policies are very inexpensive. They include no trip cancellation insurance but provide medical insurance while you are away, including medical evacuation.
3. Keep your receipts. If something happens while on your trip (a medical situation or a delay or interruption in your travels), keep the receipts of all out-of-pocket expenses. Only expenses with proof of purchase can be reimbursed.
4. Your policy can be transferred to another trip within one year of the travel date (in the event you cancel the trip for which you initially purchased the policy).

Do you need travel insurance? We were told that 40% of of the time, on average, travelers file claims. Click here to learn more about Travelex travel insurance and get a quote.

travel insurance (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2013 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

when do you need travel insurance?

Denver Airport Under Snow — photograph by Ashley Niblock in Wikipedia Commons

Q: When do you need travel insurance?
A: You never know in advance.

And that's precisely the point! Travel insurance provides valuable protection in the event of the unexpected. Here are a few scenarios that my clients have recently dealt with.

1. A child came down with an ear infection and the family was unable to fly.
2. A flight was cancelled because of bad weather, and the couple lost the first day of their vacation.
3. A family missed a connecting flight because their first flight was delayed.
4. A woman fell down the subway stairs in Barcelona and required surgery.

Trip cancellation for medical reasons is the first reason to purchase travel insurance. If your infant comes down with an ear infection the day before the flight, his pediatrician will advise you not to fly. What happens if you're within the cancel deadline? But if you have trip cancellation insurance, you can breathe easy. You'll get your non-refundable deposits back if you have to cancel for qualifying medical reasons.

Cancellation protection also applies if there is a death or serious illness in your immediate family, requiring you to stay home or return home early.

Trip interruption or delays are also covered. If a scheduled common carrier cancels a flight, or if a delayed flight prevents you from making your connection, travel insurance can protect you from cancellation penalties that aren't your fault. If you are hit with added the expense of spending a night elsewhere, travel trip delay or interruption insurance can also help.

When my client fell down the stairs and broke her leg, her medical expenses were covered (minus a $50 deductible). She didn't have to hassle with her health insurance company back home for reimbursement. Travelex paid it all - and was even available to help with special arrangements!

If you become seriously ill in a remote destination and require hospitalization, trip insurance also provides for medical evacuation as part of the standard package. And if you want to be evacuated to your hospital of choice, anywhere in the world, there's even a policy (MedJet Assist) that provides for this.

Q: When is the best time to purchase travel insurance?
A: Before you get sick, injured, or face weather delays.
Q: And how can I possibly know when that will happen?
A: That's precisely the point.

The best time to purchase travel insurance is as soon as you put down a non-refundable deposit, or purchase air travel. You'll be covered for anything that occurs after the policy becomes effective. Read the fine print in the policy because you should always rely on that wording, not on what an insurance salesperson or travel consultant says.

Brownell Travel works almost exclusively with Travelex travel insurance. We have found them to provide comprehensive policies at all price points and have years of positive experience working with them.


Travelex travel insurance (search here on Google)
copyright (c) 2012 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

why you need travel insurance

A snow plough clears the taxi ways after heavy snowfall at Heathrow Airport, London, Saturday Dec. 18, 2010. (AP / PA, Steve Parsons)

The phone rang early on Saturday morning. My friend Lauren was calling on behalf of her friend John. He was ticketed on a British Airways flight to London Heathrow that afternoon — and onto India the next morning. John's flight to London had been cancelled. BA's phone lines were tied up, and he couldn't get through. In fact, Heathrow was closed down entirely because of heavy snow, and thousands similarly distressed travelers were all trying to contact their airlines.

Was there anything I could do to help? As I don't book air, I referred John to a colleague who did. When you can't get through to the airlines, a good travel agent can see availability, provide advice, and make bookings directly from her system.

But then I asked, "Does he have travel insurance?" "No," he said. "I took a gamble and lost."

Here are the facts of life about booking tours and cruises — or anything else with a long cancellation deadline. You need to read the fine print and know the cancellation deadlines and penalties. Cruise lines and tour companies will always offer travel insurance. There are usually less expensive options (often offering better protection) when you buy directly from insurance companies such as Travelex. A travel consultant can help you compare the options, evaluate the coverage you need, and save you money.

Like so many travelers, John planned his vacation on the internet. He declined the offer of travel insurance, and now he was stuck in rainy northern California, two days before his tour was to begin, unable to get to India because of a bad winter storm in Europe. Not only was he going to miss out on the dream vacation he had been planning for so long, he was looking at a 100% loss of his travel investment. While travel insurance can't guarantee good weather, it can protect you from being on the losing side of an expensive gamble.


travel insurance (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2010 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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travel insurance | is Consumer Reports right?

Consumer Reports researched travel insurance in its May issue. CR's conclusion? It is rarely needed. "Many people don't realize it," said Editor at Large Greg Daugherty, "but travel insurance often duplicates coverage they already have through their credit cards, homeowners insurance, life insurance, and other policies."

You should definitely do your due diligence. What will your health and auto insurance cover if you are out of the country? What coverage does your credit card offer? Duplicating coverage is an unnecessary expense. Consider, however, that the number one reason to purchase travel insurance is for trip cancellation, interruption, or delays. According to a travel industry spokesperson,

The article ignores a very important fact: the vast majority (70%) of travel insurance claims are for trip cancellation, interruption and travel delay. Covered reasons for these benefits include: sickness, injury or death of a traveler or a non-traveling family member; or for non-medical reasons such as adverse weather; or damage or destruction of a home, etc. While we agree it is important to see if coverage is provided by other policies, for the vast majority of the above claim types, consumers will find there is very little coverage, other than travel insurance, that would reimburse their loss.

Here are scenarios in which you should seriously consider trip insurance.

• You are going on a cruise. Cruises are pre-paid, and cancellation penalties get higher as your cruise approaches. Heavily discounted, promotional cruise rates are often totally pre-paid and non-refundable. Check to see if your cruise company offers some sort of "peace of mind" insurance that refunds your deposits if you cancel for whatever reason.
• You are taking a packaged tour. Tour packages, likewise, involve deposits and full pre-payments. If you have to cancel for health reasons or for a personal or family emergency ... trip insurance can protect you.
• You are staying in a resort during high season. Resorts often require deposits and can have rather lengthy cancellation deadlines. Again, trip insurance can save you thousands of dollars.

A company to consider: Travelex. Why? With their Travel Plus or TravelLite policies, multiple children under the age of 16 are covered at no additional cost when accompanied by a covered adult family member.

If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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