Why is travel insurance important?
I believe it is especially needed in winter, when delays are often unavoidable, and the airlines do NOT give you a room or even a food voucher if the reason for the delay is an act of God.
Before I begin my story, let me say that I am NOT an insurance agent. As a travel agent I am licensed to sell travel insurance by the state of Ohio to clients, but if someone has a specific question about their policy, or even about which plan would best suit their needs, I often refer them to the experts at the company. The one I most often recommend to clients is the one I buy for myself, Arch Roam Right Pro Plus. In most cases, there isn’t enough difference in the cost of the basic plan to even consider it.
Last winter, my large group of over 50 active boomers from the Cincinnati Ski Club were assigned to two separate United air itineraries to and from Aspen, CO. You can fly into Denver and drive 4.5 hours west, or you can fly into Vail and drive a couple of hours west. We flew directly into Aspen, which is THE most dangerous airport to navigate, requiring specially trained pilots to handle the mountainous navigation and winds. I didn’t learn this until our flight attendant shared it with me while we were waiting for take-off the day after my ski injury. That certainly was not something I needed to hear at that particular moment, while I was hurting, it was snowing like mad, and we were hoping for enough visibility to fly home. But let’s not start the story at the end!
First, I will report that many skiers didn’t get to ski on their own equipment that first day. United had not put everyone’s gear on their respective flights, and much of it was scattered across the country.
Insurance lesson #1: if your baggage is delayed more than 12 hours, the insurance will give you up to $400 reimbursement to rent those skis and boots or whatever you need to get through the day. The biggest issue our friends had was that United kept promising it would be there any time. Some waited patiently that next morning, without success. Had they admitted to them it was stuck in Chicago and wouldn’t be there until the evening, they might have gone to ski rentals the first day! There were quite a few disappointed skiers. IF you pressure the airline, perhaps you will have success in asking for compensation on errors such as this, but good luck. I am not sure anyone in our group had success.
Lesson #2 My good friend (far left) Cheryl has the next example for you. She bought the Delta insurance when purchasing her flight, as she joined the group later. On the third day she fell and shattered her collarbone and decided to fly home for the surgery instead of having it done in Aspen. When inquiring for her with Delta about the insurance plan, they said it offered no medical assistance. Cheryl’s own medical coverage is a VERY high deductible. On top of this, she is out of work for several weeks. So her injury was a tough lesson, and very expensive. Had she taken out a travel protection plan, all her deductibles, extra travel expenses (the new flight home cost $$) and medical expenses that her health plan doesn’t cover would be reimbursed by making a claim (up to $100,000 for many companies). Wouldn’t that have been nice? It could have taken a LOT of the sting out of a bad accident.
Insurance Lesson # 2: Whatever amount you decide to cover in non-refundable dollars for your trip, you will get 150% of the trip cost back for trip interruption. (Minus the % of days of trip already taken)
And last, but not least, here is my story. At least I was doing what I love: pushing myself and improving my ability to be a better tree and mogul skier. All the good stuff is outside your comfort zone, right? The other great news is that I did it on the very last day, in the afternoon. I was not tired…to the contrary. I was following a great skier, watching and learning and feeling awesome. I have to add that choosing the foods I do to nourish this senior body is EVERYTHING! I have never felt so strong on the mountain…seriously. And if you don’t mind me sharing a cool accomplishment of that morning, I was the fastest lady and third fastest skier overall from our club in the gates. We ran them twice, and it was my first attempt EVER to run gates. That made me really proud.
This is silly me tree hugging a few days before my fall. As I mentioned, I was following someone through the trees and moguls. Just a few minutes before, we noticed as we rode the lift that a woman had gone down and was walking back up the slope to retrieve her ski pole she dropped. I had heard some debates about this during the week…to wrap your hand into the pole strap or NOT. The man I was skiing with believes you ALWAYS should. I learned later from my orthopedic hand surgeon that you should NOT!
My fall was an immediate face plant in reaction to my ski tips finding some unexpected deep and as yet untracked snow. At least one tip was totally stuck, and I fell quickly forward and released from my bindings, yet my ski pole went forward and down to find the hard pack underneath. OUCH! The ER doc called it “Gamekeepers Thumb”. X-rays showed bone fragments in the second joint. He also suspected a hairline fracture in the wrist. Bummer. I got up slowly, assessing the rest of the body quickly, and knew that the hand was not good. I couldn’t grip the pole, so tucked it under my arm to ski across the mountain to my pain control…a nice glass of red. A bag of ice from the handsome bar tender and a gondola ride down awaited.
The service at the clinic at the bottom of the gondola was amazing and the night was fun, as we all brought all our leftovers to the party. Our condo got the infirmary award, of course! Ha. The folks in the second group home the next morning on United didn’t make it home for two days due to the snowstorm, so they sure wished we hadn’t eaten up all their food that night! And while I can think of worse places to be delayed, I know now that many folks had to miss work.
Insurance lesson #3: If your travel is delayed more than 6 hours, you will get up to $200 a day.
As for me, after we had cursed the lucky skiers with the noon flight home, our flight at 7 am that Saturday morning was the ONLY flight in and out of Aspen that day. We sat on the runway for over an hour and through not one but TWO De-icings, waiting for the window of visibility of one mile. Most airports require half a mile or less. With maybe 5 minutes to spare before our crew was to time-out, we took off. I don’t think I have ever been on a rougher flight…by the time we landed in Denver, I was a hot mess in the back row of that aircraft…but I was headed home and I didn’t care. My blue cast was waiting for me a few days later. A year later I am fully recovered, ready to go again with the ski club...to Vail this time!
Insurance lesson #4: I kept all receipts for my treatments both in Aspen and here at home. Any expense (even my deductibles!) not covered by my medical insurance plan was reimbursed 100%.
I love happy travelers, so I ALWAYS suggest travel insurance. Protect yourself on your next vacation.
Peace, Bobbie
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