15 Jan 2014
Posted by Miriam O'Neill 
Buy your travel insurance now, not the night before you travel
Many of you, particularly those with families, are likely to be making plans for your 2014 annual holiday this month. Bearing this in mind, we’d like to take the opportunity to advise you to take out travel insurance now rather than the week or night before you travel.
Every year we see major seasonality when it comes to our travel insurance policies. This suggest that quite a few of our customers are unnecessarily forfeiting cancellation cover in the lead up to their trip.
In fact, close to 60% of our travel insurance policies were purchased between May and August last year.
Countless events such as a bereavement, an illness, an accident or an involuntary redundancy can derail your holiday well in advance of travel so it’s always best to buy your travel insurance immediately after booking your trip. After medical emergencies which account for roughly 40%, cancellations are the second most common travel insurance claim type we receive each year. This is followed in order of frequency, by claims relating to baggage, delays, curtailments and cash.
To illustrate the point let’s imagine the following scenario:
“Take a family of two adults and two children who booked return flights to Orlando, Florida at a cost of €2,904.68*. They are due to travel in July however booked their tickets this month to avoid higher prices. They have taken relatively modest holidays in Ireland over the past three years to allow them to save for this one off family holiday.
Fast-forward two months to March when the mother of the family gets notification of involuntary redundancy and to great disappointment their trip is no longer financially feasible.
When booking they had discussed the importance of travel insurance given the high cost of medical care in the states however had not yet gotten around to purchasing it meaning they are now €2,900 unnecessarily out of pocket.
A very unfortunate outcome for this fictitious family who could have taken out our Essential Travel Insurance cover for the whole family for just €53.19** and recouped the full cost of their flights given their circumstances.”
Notes:
1.*Airfares cited in the above illustration were sourced from skyscanner.ie @ 09.55am on 14/01/14 and are based on 2 adults and 2 children flying economy class return from Dublin to Orlando International Airport (with a change over at Toronto Pearson International on both legs of the journey) departing on 07/07/14 and returning 21/07/14.
2.**The AA Travel Insurance quote listed above is for illustration purchases only and is based on an AA single trip ‘ESSENTIAL’ Travel Insurance policy for the above family and travel dates. It includes a 20% private medical insurance discount and was accurate as at 13/01/14.
To get an AA Travel Insurance quote click here.
