A family vacation is a big deal. Some families only get the chance to go on a vacation once a year. And when you do finally get to go, you want to make sure your experience is good, even if something goes wrong.
“Of course no one wants anything to go wrong, but if it does, travel insurance is there,” says Rhonda Sloan, global head of marketing for American International Group (AIG). “It protects the trip, the family and their investment.”
Here are five scenarios that show why you need it.
- At the end of a vacation, travelers get really eager to get home and to their own beds. And if you have little kids, that feeling is intensified. So how about this all-too-familiar situation? You arrive to the airport on time for their flight, just as they should. Surprise! Their flight has been cancelled and you’re on the next flight in the morning. To avoid a dreadful night in the airport, their travel insurance can cover a night in a hotel. Sure it’s another night away from home but at least you won’t have to sleep with neck pillows outside terminal 4 at LAX.
- Your toddler has an ear infection but you’ve got to get to their family reunion. The flight goes smoothly except when you get to baggage claim and your kid’s suitcase never shows up. Guess what was in there? The antibiotics for the ear infection. Neither parent will fess up as to who put it in a checked bag instead of a carry-on, but that’s beside the point right now! You need to get that medication and fast. Travel insurance to the rescue. You can call your travel insurance provider for help getting a new prescription from a trusted pharmacy in the destination. “If you lose your prescription medication or even your glasses, your travel insurance provider will tell you where to go. They’ll send you to a vetted doctor, hospital, dentist – whatever you need,” says Sloan.
- You just land at SFO for a family member’s destination wedding up in Napa Valley. You’re waiting at baggage claim and…luggage never comes. Luckily you packed all their toiletries in carry-ons so you’re covered for that but all of the formal clothes you brought for the wedding (including your daughter’s flower girl dress) were in checked baggage. But you don’t need to freak out! Your travel insurance provider will help find your luggage. And if they can’t, you will get reimbursed for the cost of the missing stuff and the cost of buying new clothes that you need for their trip.
- Some of the best family vacation destinations include plenty of sun and sand. But those destinations can also be prone to unpredictable weather that can easily throw a vacation off course or even cancel it entirely. This is the classic reason to add travel insurance to a vacation package. If the trip is totally done for, it’s covered. If the trip is cut short and you need to get evacuated from the resort, that’s covered, too. You really can’t argue with that.
- Kids are clumsy. Even adults can be clumsy! Let’s say you are sightseeing around Puerto Vallarta, making your way to the Los Muertos pier. Your spouse trips on some of the city’s iconic cobblestone and falls. Hard. The kids laugh at their dorky dad but he thinks it’s pretty serious and that he should see a doctor. He doesn’t speak any Spanish, so how will he find a doctor that he can communicate with? Your travel insurance provider will tell you where to go to find a trusted doctor or hospital so you know they’ll get good care.
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Of course you don’t want to experience any of these things. But if you do, and you’ve wisely added travel insurance to your trip, you’ll be taken care of. “The value of travel insurance is that it’s there if you need it,” says Sloan.
