Let’s be honest, when it comes to travel spend, you'd rather put your hard earned dollars towards holiday accommodation, poolside piña coladas and silly souvenirs – not travel insurance. But when your holiday doesn’t go to plan, you'll be glad you got cover.
Still need some convincing? We reveal some lesser-known things you might not realise you’re protected against, aside from medical emergencies and lost luggage.
The following list is based on the International Comprehensive and International Essential NRMA Travel Insurance policies. As always, conditions apply – so always give the product disclosure statement a good read before you buy travel insurance.
1. Something happens to a loved one back home
If you're abroad and need to return to Australia due to the sudden serious injury, sickness or death of a relative or your business partner, your travel insurance will cover your reasonable costs to get home in the same class as you originally booked.
Plus, if you then want to head back overseas, you’ll be covered for the transport costs of resuming your journey. That’s as long as you’ve taken out at least 23 days of insurance, have used under half of the period when you receive the news, and you resume your trip before your cover was due to expire.
2. You’re facing travel delays over six hours
If your pre-booked transport is temporarily delayed for over six hours due to something outside your control, you’ll get up to $200 for accommodation costs. So although you might be stuck, you can still enjoy your holiday in comfort. You’ll also be reimbursed again for each 24-hour period that the delay continues beyond the six hour.
3. You’ll miss a special event like a wedding
Your travel insurance may just save the day if something outside your control (a cancelled plane, train, etc.) means you’re going to miss a special event like a wedding, funeral, sporting event, prepaid conference, or even a 25th or 50th wedding anniversary. It’ll cover you for the cost of taking public transport to get to the occasion on time.
4. Cover for loss of income if you’re injured
If you suffer an injury on holiday and lose income because you can’t return to your normal job in Australia, you can get up to $1,500 per month on the International Comprehensive plan with NRMA Travel Insurance for your monthly net of income tax wage for up to six months. So even if your holiday goes pear-shaped, you can still get by back home.
5. When you need to amend or cancel your trip
If you need to cancel your journey because of something outside your control and can’t rearrange your plans before leaving home, you’ll be covered for things that you’ve already paid for in advance, haven’t used and aren’t refundable. This even includes lost frequent flyer points if you need to cancel a plane ticket.
So when you’re weighing up what to pack, don’t forget to add travel insurance to the list: the one necessity that will see you through. Because even though you’re taking a holiday – life's foibles never takes time off.
