Travel Insurance

What is Travel Insurance?

A travel insurance policy is a type of insurance that offers financial compensation to the policyholder in case anything goes wrong on the trip. A travel insurance plan covers vacations, business trips, and even educational trips.

The best travel insurance policy offers coverage against a range of emergencies, medical or non-medical, all offered in exchange for an affordable premium. Benefits include compensation for the theft of your money or passport, medical evaluation, delay in checked-in baggage, missed connections, etc.

In case of urgent emergencies, the policy also helps with medical evacuation and repatriation, financial emergency assistance, and so on. There is also travel insurance policy with COVID-19 coverage that requires minimal paperwork.

Right from your first flight to the stay and the return journey, you can ensure a safe and hassle-free trip with travel insurance plans.

Facts About Travel Insurance

*Final quote varies with country, duration of the trip, and other factors

Features of Travel Insurance Plan

When you go on a holiday, make sure you have the best travel insurance plan which provides the following features:

• COVID-19 Covers

  Many insurers have been providing this benefit because of the havoc COVID-19 brought upon everyone's travels. With so many safety restrictions and guidelines affecting our travel insurance plans, most insurers will help you with any of the following emergencies:

  • Trip Cancellation: You will be compensated by the policy if you, a traveler, or your immediate family member is diagnosed with the disease. In such a case, all your non-refundable and unused amounts like hotel booking, ticket costs will be taken care of.
  • Automatic Extension: In case of a lockdown in your destination country, your travel insurance plan will be automatically extended up to the mentioned period.
  • Accident and Sickness Medical Expenses: If you or anyone traveling with you is diagnosed with COVID-19 abroad, then your travel insurance plan will provide cover against any medical expenses required for the treatment.

• Baggage Covers

  With airlines misplacing baggage so often, it's only right that there is a safeguard you can turn to. Your travel insurance policy helps you in the following ways:

  • Covers Lost Baggage: We already know or heard of someone losing their baggage while traveling. Flights may misplace your luggage or worse it may be stolen. Luckily, with a travel insurance plan, you will get help with the costs of necessary personal expenses like clothing, medicines, and toiletries.
  • Covers Delayed Baggage: In case your baggage is delayed for some reason, the policy will pay for the cost of any necessary items that need to be purchased until you get your bag back.

• Medical Covers

  What is worse than falling sick while traveling? Especially during a holiday when you have got a budget to stick to. Here is how travel insurance will assist you in case of medical expenses:

  • Medical Emergencies: If you need medical assistance due to an accident or sudden illness, your travel insurance policy will deal with any financial requirements.
  • Medical Evacuation or Repatriation: If you're hospitalized abroad and need to be evacuated back to India, or if you are unfortunately in a fatal accident, the policy will take care of the costs required in repatriating your remains back to India.
  • Study Interruption: This one is especially for students abroad. If they can't complete their studies because of listed reasons, their unused tuition fee will be reimbursed.
  • Compassionate Visit: If you're hospitalized abroad and need someone from your family to come to help you, your travel insurance plan will provide a two-way ticket for them.

• Journey Covers

  The travel insurance policy will assist you with any emergencies that you may face while traveling. Some of these are briefly discussed below:

  • Travel Assistance: New city or new country; your travel insurance plan will provide you with every urgent assistance ranging from legal help to steps to get your duplicate passport.
  • Policy Extension: If for some reason your trip is extended and your flight is delayed for some days, then your policy will be extended for a fixed period.
  • Flight Delays: If your flight is delayed by more than 12 days due to certain reasons, the travel insurance policy will compensate for any additional costs that you had to furbish caused by this situation.

• Add-On Covers/Optional Covers

  Nowadays, you can easily personalize your travel insurance plans by selecting from a range of ‘extra benefits’ that are called option or add-on covers. These are to be purchased at some extra premium but go a long way to protect you from specific risks that are otherwise not offered by the usual plans:

  • Adventure Sports Cover: This add-on will let you freely enjoy winter sports, adventure activities, etc. when you are on a trip abroad. Any medical expenses caused due to these activities will be taken care of, as per the travel insurance policy schedule.
  • Emergency Cash Advance: If you, unfortunately, lose your baggage or are a victim of theft, this optional cover will provide some relief through emergency cash meant for your immediate necessary expenses while you're there.
  • Home Burglary/Fire Insurance: This add-on will protect your house from any loss caused by break-in, theft, or fire while you are outside the country.
  • Emergency Hotel Accommodation: If your trip is extended due to any urgent reason, this optional coverage will provide reimbursement for your additional accommodation expenses.
  • Maternity and Baby Cover: Most travel insurance policies don't provide any benefits to pregnant women traveling. This add-on is curated for traveling mothers-to-be so that they are protected since day one of their journeys.
  • Escort for Minor Child Cover: This add-on will provide coverage for expenses if you carry a minor or a baby along with your flight.

• Travel Insurance Portability

  This is a comparatively new feature that is now being offered by several travel insurance companies in India. This feature lets you switch to another insurance provider without losing any of the previous benefits that your existing travel insurance policy offered. The process requires certain steps:

  • Inform your insurer about the portability requirements
  • You must inform them in advance, which can be a month or as per the period specified

  However, please note that the premium may vary as per the new insurer's discretion. There are a variety of travel insurance plans available with different benefits and features. Don’t forget to compare the best travel insurance plans online before buying one.

Why Should You Buy Travel Insurance Online?

In this digital era, buying a travel insurance policy online comes with several benefits. Take a look at some of the reasons why you should buy travel insurance online:

• Cashless Treatment Facility

  If your trip is covered with travel insurance, being admitted to a network hospital can help you avail of cashless medical services across the globe.

• Fulfills Mandatory Requirement

  Several countries around the world have made it mandatory to possess valid travel insurance to apply for a visa for that country. So if you want to visit any such country, you can quickly lookup plans online and obtain a visa after buying one of the best travel insurance plans available in India.

• Easier to Compare Plans Online

  When buying travel insurance online, you can easily compare different plans offered by different insurers in one place in your budget.

• No Need for Insurance Agents

  You no longer need to rely on an insurance agent to buy travel insurance. You can find the best travel plan within your budget on your own after you compare travel insurance online.

• Minimal Documentation

  While purchasing a travel policy online, you do not need to fill several forms and submit multiple documents. All you need to do is fill up your details on the online form to buy the policy.

• Contactless Buying

  In this era of the COVID-19 pandemic where social distancing is the norm, you can buy a travel insurance policy online without coming in contact with any person.

• Instant Policy Purchase

  The process of buying travel insurance online is faster as the policy is issued almost instantly. You also don’t need to visit the insurer’s office to buy your policy. With so many alternatives available in the market, you can compare key features of different policies and buy them within a few minutes!

Types of Travel Insurance Plans in India

Different types of travel plans have been designed to cater to the needs of people of all ages be they a child, adult, student, or senior citizen. Let us take you through the different types of travel insurance plans available in India:

• Domestic Travel Insurance

  This type of insurance plan is meant for people traveling within the geographical borders of India. It financially protects individuals as well as families traveling within the Indian states from unforeseen travel emergencies. It provides coverage including medical cover, loss of baggage, and personal accident cover amongst others.

• International Travel Insurance

  This type of insurance plan covers individuals and families traveling overseas. It provides a wide range of coverage including medical expenses, dental expenses, financial cash assistance, flight delays, trip cancellation, loss of passport, personal liability, loss or delay of check-in baggage, and hijack distress allowance. Several insurers also offer home insurance to the traveler’s house back in India as a part of this insurance plan.

• Schengen Travel Insurance

  It is a customized overseas travel insurance online plan that covers people traveling to one or more than one Schengen country. It protects the insured travelers from any unforeseen emergencies that may lead to incurring financial losses. Some of the most common coverage provided under this type of trip/travel insurance includes medical cover, loss of passport, delay in check-in baggage arrival, loss of check-in baggage, personal liability, personal accident cover, and accidental death & dismemberment (common carrier).

• Family Travel Insurance

  This type of insurance usually covers the policyholder, their spouse, and dependent children. The sum insured is mostly available on both individual and family floater basis. All insured members of a family can avail of covers including medical expenses, loss of passport, personal liability, loss or delay of check-in baggage, and many more.

• Senior Citizen Travel Insurance

  This type of insurance plan has been tailor-made, especially for elderly people. Most travel insurance companies in India cover travelers above the age of 60 years under such policies just like health insurance. It protects such travelers from unpredictable financial emergencies, including medical expenses, dental expenses, repatriation of mortal remains, loss or delay of check-in baggage, medical evacuation, etc. just like an international travel insurance plan.

• Student Travel Insurance

  It is a student-friendly insurance plan that has been customized for Indians traveling abroad to study. It comes with an extended validity of up to 2 years. Apart from the basic coverage of an overseas travel insurance plan, it also provides the students with covers including sponsor protection, study interruption, medical evacuation, bail bond, and two-way compassionate visits for the insured and the family member amongst others.

• Corporate Travel Insurance

  This type of insurance plan has been designed to cater to the needs of corporates traveling for business purposes. It usually has a validity of up to 1 year that allows the insured traveler to undertake several journeys. It includes covers such as flight delay, medical expenses, loss of baggage, missed connecting flight, etc.

• Group Travel Insurance

  It is usually opted by people organizing tour groups, industrial training, official tours, or pilgrimage tours. Many insurance providers offer such policies to people traveling within India as well as abroad. It usually provides personal accident and baggage cover. However, the exact extent of coverage depends on the insurer.

• Medical Travel Insurance

  It refers to the insurance plan that offers financial assistance in case a medical emergency occurs while traveling abroad and may lead to hospitalization. Such policies mostly cover hospitalization expenses, daycare expenses, dental expenses, medical evacuation expenses, and the cost of repatriation of mortal remains amongst others.

• Multi-Trip Travel Insurance

  This type of insurance plan is meant for people who undertake multiple overseas journeys in a year. It offers the same level of benefits on every trip without the need to buy travel insurance online before each journey.

• Single Trip Travel Insurance

  This type of insurance plan protects the insured traveler only for a single journey. Its validity begins with the start of the journey and ends with its culmination on returning home. This international travel insurance comes with a host of coverage that consists of medical cover as well as non-medical covers such as delay or loss of check-in baggage, personal liability, etc.

Other Types of Travel Insurance Plans:

• Baggage Insurance

  Baggage Insurance comes into the picture when you lose your baggage during your journey due to theft or any other mishap. The losses incurred due to such mishaps might put you in some really big troubles and ruin your trip. To get compensated for the damage or loss to your luggage while traveling, you can always rely on baggage insurance.

• Flight Insurance

  It is a custom-made travel insurance plan that covers an insured traveler from any unforeseen flight-related emergencies faced while traveling. It protects him from any adversity caused during the flight or due to the fault of the airline or their staff. It provides comprehensive coverage of both health insurance and baggage insurance, which includes flight delay, medical cover, accidental death & dismemberment cover, delay or loss of check-in baggage, flight cancellation, flight hijack, and missed connection flight.

Best Travel Insurance Plans in India by Top Insurance Companies

Take a look at some of the best travel insurance plans in India:

When, Where, and How to Choose Travel Insurance Policy?

Before you buy travel insurance plan, make sure you give it a lot of thought and weigh your options:

• Travel Frequency

  If you are a frequent traveler, you are better off with a multi-trip travel insurance plan that will be cheaper and save you the hassle of buying it again. Otherwise, you should go for a single-trip plan which covers you for the entire duration of your journey.

• Travel Destination

  Whether it is an international trip or a domestic trip, whether going to the US or a Schengen territory; these things will narrow down your requirements which will also cost you differently. Also, many countries need an international travel insurance plan to issue a visa so your sum insured and other requirements will vary significantly along with the premium.

• Trip Duration

  Your travel insurance policy will be calculated and issued according to the length of your stay. In most cases, people opt for a travel insurance policy with a duration slightly exceeding their total trip duration so that any sudden changes can be accommodated without costing you an extra premium.

• Number of Travelers

  You can buy an individual travel insurance policy if you're traveling alone, or make it into a family floater travel insurance if your loved ones are going too. The insurer should be informed about the total number of travelers accordingly.

• Claim Procedure

  When buying travel insurance policy, read about the insurer, their claim-settlement ratio as well as any claim limits they have set with various benefits. Each policy has a certain limit up to which they will pay for your claims.

Hence, don’t forget to compare different plans to buy the best travel insurance plan online at Policybazaar.com for your next trip!

In the case of adversity during your trip, your travel insurance company will help you out. Thus, you must opt for a travel insurance policy that provides you with maximum coverage against the risks that you may encounter while traveling.

If you are wondering How to Buy Best Travel Insurance then it is better if you buy the insurance policy online as it is a faster, more convenient, and hassle-free process. You can do this on Policybazaar.com where you can compare several plans and filter them according to your requirements.

Exclusions of Travel Insurance Plans

Most travel insurance policies do not cover any claims arising out of the following reasons:

• Liquor, Drugs - Any claims arising due to dependency on intoxicants, including alcohol or drugs, will not be covered by your insurer. Even treatment expenses for injuries or illnesses caused while you were under the influence of alcohol will not be covered under a travel insurance policy.
• War, Civil War, or Terrorism -The travel insurer will not cover any claims arising due to war-like situations including a civil war in the country that you are visiting. It also does not cover any claims arising due to terrorist attacks in the destination country or city.
• HIV AIDS - Treatment expenses for HIV AIDS are usually not covered by most insurers in India.
• Alternative treatment - Most travel insurance plans in India do not cover alternative treatment expenses including Ayurveda and homeopathy.
• Cosmetic Treatment -Any claims arising out of your cosmetic surgery will not be covered by your insurer.
• Adventure Sports -Many insurers do not cover any claims arising out of your participation in adventure sports activities including scuba diving, mountaineering, bike race, etc.
• Suicide or Self-Inflicted Injury - Any claims arising out of an injury or treatment related to a self-inflicted injury, including suicide or attempt to suicide, would not be covered by your insurer.
• Pre-existing Diseases - Even the top insurance companies in India do not cover pre-existing diseases under travel plans.
• Loss of Passport When Left Unattended -An insurance provider will not cover the expenses incurred on obtaining a new or duplicate passport if you lose your original passport abroad because of leaving it unattended.
• Loss of Baggage Shipped Separately -An international travel insurance policy will not cover baggage loss if your luggage is shipped separately and is not accompanied by you.
• Traveling Against Medical Advice - If you are traveling outstation or abroad against the medical advice of the doctor, then any medical treatment expenses incurred while traveling will not be covered by the insurer.

How to Calculate Travel Insurance Premium Online?

Every traveler should opt for a policy that provides maximum coverage for the least possible premium. To find out the premium payable for a particular travel insurance plan by a provider, you would have to use a travel insurance premium calculator. A premium calculator is an online tool that gives you an estimate of the premium cost for a particular insurance plan. These are a few parameters that affect travel insurance premiums:

• Age - The higher the age of the traveler, the more will be the premium.
• Destination - If you are traveling to a high-risk country, your chances of facing adversities are more.
• Trip Duration -Longer your trip duration, the higher will be your travel insurance premium.
• Number of Travelers - The premium of a policy covering one person will be lower than the premium of a policy covering the entire family.
• Add-On Covers -If you opt for add-on covers under your policy, your premium amount will increase.

Make sure to use this calculator before you buy the best travel insurance online.

Tips to Lower Your Travel Insurance Premium

Travel insurance can come in extremely handy if you encounter an emergency during your trip. You can use the tips given below to lower your travel insurance premium:

• Buy Early - Buying a travel insurance policy well in advance can help lower your premium. If you buy the policy early, you are considered a responsible person and are charged a lower premium.
• Customize Your Policy - Try to customize your travel policy as per your requirements so that you only have to pay for the coverage that you need.
• Multi-Travel insurance for Frequent Flyers - If you need to travel multiple times a year, it is more affordable to buy a multi-travel insurance policy with a year-long validity than buying an individual policy for each trip.
• Opt for Family/ Group Travel Plans - If you are traveling with your family or in a group, you must opt for family travel insurance or group travel insurance respectively as they are more cost-effective.

Claim Procedure for Travel Insurance Policies

Buying the best travel insurance is not your only responsibility as a traveler. You should also be aware of the procedure to file a timely insurance claim. Follow the steps given below to register a travel insurance claim if required:

• Inform the insurer or the assistance provider of the insurer via phone or email about your claim
• Ask about the various documents that you need to submit in support of your claim.
• Send all the required documents to the insurer via email, fax, or post
• Once you have submitted the documents, your claim will be verified against the coverage provided by your travel insurance policy

How to Renew a Travel Insurance Policy?

Travel insurance plans in India can be renewed either online or offline, depending on your preference. Let’s have a glance at both here!

• Offline

  If you are one of those people who don’t want to go ahead with the online method or are not gadget-friendly, offline renewal can be the best bet for you:

  1. Approach the Insurance Company: Once the renewal date approaches, get in touch with your insurer. They will guide you through the travel insurance renewal process.

  2. Review the Existing Cover: This is the best time to review your coverage. If you want to add something, you can do it now.

  3. Fill the Application: Once you have decided the additions you want to make, if any, fill an application form and submit it along with the physical copies of the documents required. Documents list may vary from provider to provider.

  4. Review and Pay: After carefully reviewing terms and conditions, pay the premium required. Remember to address the cheque in the name of the insurer, not the broker or agent.

  The insurer will deliver the policy document to your mailing address within a stipulated period.

• Online

  For those who want to renew their policy online, most travel insurance plans in India require the following steps:

  1. Open the Desired Website: You can visit Policybazaar.com or the insurer’s website to do this. Go through the available insurance policies once and add the additional covers if any.

  2. Pay the Premium: After finalizing pay through options such as net banking, credit or debit card, etc.

  3. Get the Policy Soft Copy: On successful payment of your premium, the insurance provider will send the soft copy of the policy to your registered email id. You can download it from there and keep it for future use.

  In case you are planning to switch the insurer or the policy, you are advised to shop around, compare travel insurance policies by different insurers before buying.

Decoding Travel Insurance Terms

Here are some terms simplified for you to better understand travel insurance wordings:

• Sum Insured

  In case of any unfortunate event (for which you are covered), your insurer will give you a certain amount. It is also the maximum amount that you will be paid. You are entitled to this amount which is the maximum coverage under your travel insurance plan.

• Reimbursement

  If you’re in an emergency and have no time to wait for your insurer, then you can pay the expenses out of your pocket first and later get reimbursed by your insurer. You will be compensated for all your costs as per the limits of your travel insurance policy.

• Single-Trip Plans

  If you’re not a frequent traveler, you’re more likely to have a single-trip travel plan. This type of plan provides coverage for only one trip up to the decided date.

• Multi-Trip Plans

  These are made for people who travel frequently. Multi-trip travel insurance plans cover all the trips under the predetermined period (usually 1 year) and don’t need to be purchased every time.

• Family Floater Plans

  As the name says, family floaters travel insurance are plans designed for families. They offer many benefits that extend to every member of the family as per the policy terms. This can be usually bought for the insured’s spouse, dependent children, and often older parents.

• Sub-limits

  These are additional limitations under any coverage offered by your travel insurance policy. Sub-limits apply to some insurable losses and exceeding them will require you to pay the difference. For example, hospital room rent, ambulance charges, etc. have a fixed limit, exceeding which you will need to pay the additional amount.

• Deductible

  In some cases, you are required to pay some of the initial expenses in case of an insured event. This is to be paid out of your pocket and will not be reimbursed. This amount is known as the deductible for that cover. The remaining expenses will be borne or reimbursed by your travel insurer.

• Cashless Settlement

  In many scenarios, while traveling, your insurer will directly pay for you in case you incur a loss or damage. This is referred to as cashless settlement through which many travel insurance companies in India settle claims abroad. This is most common during medical emergencies.