The H1N1 flu outbreak has sent some travelers and agents back to the fine print of their travel insurance policies, and they're finding the policies generally do not cover passengers who cancel or delay a trip just because they're afraid of contracting a disease.
Passengers have some protection in such circumstances if they bought coverage that allows them to cancel a trip for "any reason," but not all insurers offer that.
Similarly, some travel operators have optional programs that allow travelers to cancel for any reason.
Such policies could provide a cash payout of a portion of a trip's cost, or a voucher for use on another trip.
In the case of Travel Insured, for example, the cancel-for-any-reason option offers a 75% reimbursement of the trip cost if the customer cancels more than two days before departure.
In the CSA equivalent, there is coverage for up to 70% of the trip cost, with the final payout determined by supplier cancellation fees at the time the passenger bails. Travelex covers up to 80% of the trip cost under its cancel-for-any-reason terms.
Access America offers something different: a Cancel Anytime plan meant to allow for cancellations due to unforeseen circumstances, though not for canceling on a whim.
A government travel warning issued after the purchase of insurance would fit the category of a covered unforeseen event, said Beth Godlin, the company's executive vice president/chief sales and marketing officer.
Some insurers have an exclusion for pandemics/epidemics. That exclusion typically would translate into no coverage for developments related to the relevant disease if the insurance was issued after the disease was deemed a pandemic or epidemic.
Generally speaking, the terms of cancel-for-any-reason plans would override the exclusions, and customers would be covered if they wanted to cancel.
For clients who prefer to book a different date or destination than cancel, insurers seem willing to shift the coverage for the original trip to the newly booked trip.
If a traveler actually contracted swine flu before or during a trip, each insurer's terms for medical care would kick in, providing for reimbursement for the canceled trip or the ongoing portions of a trip that are delayed and for medical care for the traveler away from home.
Quarantine is another wrinkle. Bill Dismore, executive vice president of iTravel-Insured, said his firm -- which does not offer a cancel-for-any-reason option -- covers for quarantines if the insurance was purchased before a government quarantine was established.
The definition of quarantine varies by insurer. Travelex pays if the passenger is quarantined by a physician and prevented from traveling but does not pay for government quarantines.
Travel Guard also said some of its policies cover the traveler if the trip is interrupted or delayed because the traveler is quarantined due to a disease outbreak.