What is Travel Insurance?

A travel insurance policy is a financial product that can provide financial assistance when you are held up with unexpected scenarios during your travel domestically or internationally. It can cover a range of risks while travelling. For instance, risks can be related to a medical emergency, lost passport or luggage, theft, flight cancellation, etc.

There are different types of travel insurance plans based on the type and purpose of travel. You can decide on the travel insurance option based on your affordability, travel frequency, purpose, and trip duration.

At Tata AIG, we also offer a COVID-19 cover for our international travel insurance to help you handle a financial crisis that emerges if you, test positive just before or during your travel. You can utilise the sum insured to pay for the hospitalisation and medical expenses, get the reimbursement for trip cancellation or curtailment, etc.

With technological advancement, we have tried to incorporate all the facilities on our official website to make purchasing and claiming travel insurance easy, comfortable, and cost-efficient.

When you purchase the right travel insurance plan, you can benefit for the following reasons:

1. Avail of financial support during an emergency or unexpected situations during travel.
2. Preserve the savings by providing financial assistance to handle the situation.
3. Avail of benefits simply and quickly online.
4. Keep yourself emotionally stable. 5.Benefit from a cost-effective method to manage uncertainties.

Different travel insurance plans are introduced to provide financial assistance based on the specific probable risks.

1. International Travel Insurance - Secures your travel to a foreign destination. When travelling to any part of the world, it can provide the necessary financial support when there is a delay or cancellation of your flights, medical emergency or evacuation, an issue with lost baggage, etc.

It would help if you decided on the sum assured based on the destination and the general cost of living to maximise the benefits of travel insurance. For instance, if you fall sick and need emergency hospitalisation, the sum insured should help you manage the costs prevailing in that country.

2. Domestic Travel Insurance - It is an exclusive travel insurance plan that takes care of any unexpected expenses incurred when you travel across India. If you want to get a reimbursement on cancelled or lost tickets, pay for a medical emergency, etc., you can utilise the benefits of the Domestic Travel Insurance. And, if you are a frequent traveller, you can purchase a multi-trip travel insurance policy to avoid purchasing it every time you plan a trip.

3. Student Travel Insurance - It is an exclusive travel insurance policy for people looking forward to pursuing higher education abroad. Student travel insurance can reimburse the tuition fees if you have discontinued the education due to a medical emergency, arrange for a compassionate visit of a family member to help you when you are sick, etc.

4. Senior Citizen Travel Insurance - Senior citizens need to make extra efforts to plan for and handle probable risks due to their age. The Senior Citizen Travel Insurance can help you manage medical emergencies, repatriation of remains, etc., during your travels.

The different features of travelling insurance safeguard your financial position while helping you secure from difficult scenarios during travel.

1. COVID-19 cover
With the increasing medical emergencies and related financial stresses, we have introduced the COVID-19 cover.

a. It can compensate for the medical and hospitalisation expenses when you get affected due to COVID-19 outside the Republic of India.

b. Compensation of unused portion of your travel plans if your trip gets cancelled or curtailed when you, your immediate family member, or your travel companion gets tested positive for COVID-19.

c. The travel insurance plan can get automatically extended upto 7 days for your trip if a lockdown is imposed in the destination country and there are no means to travel back.

2. Baggage cover
Securing personal belongings wherever you travel can be an arduous task, and missing it all can be extremely stressful.

a. A travel insurance plan can help cover the cost of any personal belongings for your requirement when there is a delay in your baggage arrival.

b. It can also reimburse the cost of the items when your baggage is completely lost.

3. Journey cover
A cancelled or delayed travel plan can create havoc.

a.If you have lost your passport, you can get our assistance to purchase a new one with the international travel insurance plan.

b. It can assist with emergency travel requirements, cash transfers, etc., during unexpected scenarios.

c. Our flight cancellation cover can reimburse the cost associated with unexpected cancellation of flight travel due to bad weather, natural disasters, employee strike, etc. In addition, it can compensate for the losses incurred towards a flight delay as well.

d. It can cover the expenses related to trip cancellation, being unexpectedly involved in an accident, etc. The policy also provides a distress allowance when your flight gets hijacked.

4.Medical cover
Medical emergencies and related expenses can affect your emotional and financial balance to a great extent.

a. A travel insurance plan can help you manage unexpected medical expenses and other hospitalisation charges when you fall ill or meet with an accident & require to be hospitalized during your travel.

b. We can even help you evacuate to the nearest hospital for immediate medical attention during your trip.

c. if you have fallen ill critically during your travel and have a valid student travel insurance policy, we can even arrange for a compassionate visit of your family member to take care of you.

d. The travel insurance cover will also help your family manage the expenses related to the repatriation of the remains in case of your accidental death.

Travel insurance covers a range of risks in different categories such as the medical, journey and baggage based on the type of plan chosen. Therefore, read through the policy document carefully to understand what is covered in your travel insurance plan.

In general, the journey, medical and baggage covers can cover the following risks.

1. Baggage

a. Baggage loss

b. Baggage delay

2. Journey

a. Loss of passport

b. Emergency cash transfers and advance

c. Flight delay

d. Hijack

e. Personal liability

f. Accomodation expenses due to a flight or rail delay

g. Trip curtailment and cancellation

h. Bounced hotel or airline bookings

i. Missed Departures or any connection flights

3. Medical

a. Accident and sickness medical expenses

b. Dental expenses

c. Accidental death and dismemberment

d. Medical evacuation

e. Repatriation

A travel insurance plan will have certain exclusions. Therefore, educating yourself on the exclusions is important to avoid unnecessary claim rejections. Here are the most important exclusions based on the different categories.

1. Baggage Exclusions

a. Claim for loss of baggage is not applicable if you have shipped the luggage separately and not part of your travel. b. It is also not applicable if the travel is to a geographic location not included in the travel insurance. c. To claim the loss, you should have reported the incident and the luggage to the relevant authorities before making a claim.

2. Journey Exclusions

a. Participating in adventure sports and getting involved in illegal activities are not covered under travel insurance plans. b. Engaging in manual labour and work that can be harmful to your health.

3. Medical Exclusions

a. When you have planned your trip against your doctor's advice. b. You are suffering from self-inflicted injuries. c. Suffering from an issue due to pre-existing illness. d. The claim is made against pregnancy, birth control or any surgical procedure. e. The medical condition is due to sexually transmitted diseases, mental disorders, consumption of alcohol or drugs.

While choosing your travel insurance from Tata AIG, you must consider many factors to make the right choice. Here are a few pointers to help you best in this regard.

1. Destination - Whether domestic or international, you can decide on the options based on your destination. If it is an international trip, you can decide on the plan based on the country.

2. Travel frequency - Decide on choosing our single trip or multi-trip plan based on your travel frequency.

3. Duration of trip - It is always best recommended to choose a plan based on the trip duration and slightly longer to accommodate any delay in your return plans and associated risks.

4. Travel companions - It is also important to purchase a travel insurance plan and include every member to cover any related expenses. It is extremely necessary when you are travelling with older parents.

As a travel insurance plan covers the most crucial risks associated with your travel, you must consider certain aspects before making a wise decision. Therefore, compare travel insurance plans, evaluate and choose the best based on your needs.

1. Claim limit - Every policy has a defined claim limit under every category. Check the extent of this claim limit to ensure maximum protection. For example, you can check if the sum insured will suffice for any medical expenses based on the general costs in the destination hospitals.

2. Claim process - You should make sure you check the claim processes to utilise the opportunity to the best. We offer online claim processes that are simple, easy to understand and do not consume much time. Understand the relevant documents to submit during the claim process under a particular category to make sure you complete them successfully.

3. Claim Settlement Ratio - When you are stuck in a destination without any support, and if it is only your travel insurance plan that can help you financially recover, then the claim processing efficiency has to be the best.

4. Inclusions and exclusions - Before buying the term insurance plans, read through the inclusions and exclusions in the policy so that you can maximise the benefits and avoid unnecessary rejections.

5. Customer service support- When you make a claim for the first time or first in a category and are unsure of the process or sceptical about the inclusions, you will need a good customer service team to help you out. The service team must be kind and smart enough to handle your requests effectively. At Tata AIG, we offer 24x7, dedicated customer support to help you with all your queries.

Making a claim is the most important benefit of availing of travel insurance. Therefore, it has to be simple, less time-consuming, and cost-effective. There are offline and online methods to make a travel insurance claim. The following steps need to be followed to file a travel insurance claim with Tata AIG.

1. To file a claim, you will first need to contact the Claim Help Centre (details mentioned below).

• For cashless claims:

	Contact Number(s)	E-mail
In America	+1-833-440-1575 (Toll-free within the US and Canada)	tata.aig@europ-assistance.in
Anywhere outside America	+91 – 022 68227600 (Call back facility available)	ea.tataclaims@europ-assistance.in

• For reimbursement claims:

You can call on the registered number 1800-266-7780 (tollfree) or on 022-66939500 or 1800 22 9966 (only for senior citizen policyholders) or mail at general.claims@tataaig.com.

2. After you have registered your claim, the Claim Service Centre will inform you regarding the documents that you need to submit so that the claim settlement process can be initiated. The documents are required as per the extent and nature of the claim.

3. Finally, you have to send the documents to the following address so that the claim settlement process can be initiated:

Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited

A-501, 5th Floor, Building No. 4, Infinity Park, Gen. A. K. Vaidya Marg, Dindoshi, Malad (E), Mumbai, India - 400 097.

The customer service executive will always be available to handle your queries regarding the claim request.

Travelling is a great way to explore the world better and understand your inner self. However, a tragic event on your journey or a health condition can affect your financial status and emotional stability. Therefore, you must secure your travel and ensure that you get the right financial assistance in any part of the world.

Purchasing a travel insurance plan to help you handle such risks is certainly a smart decision! At Tata AIG we offer different travel insurance solutions that can be customised based on your requirements to ensure maximum protection. Research what travel insurance covers, compare travel insurance, and understand the claim procedure before making a purchase! State insured, be protected and enjoy your travel!