Considering risk, travel insurance as areas reopen
With much of the world “reopening,” to varying degrees, you’re probably thinking about what the post-virus travel environment will look like. Although my crystal ball is definitely low-res, I can see a few possible items of interest for your immediate consideration.
1. Where travel is “safe.” Logic says that some “safe reopenings” are safer than others, and the folks at eTurboNews published a list of high-risk and lowrisk countries and areas. Low-risk areas in the U.S. include the states of Alaska, Hawaii and Montana, along with American Samoa and Guam. Other popular tourist destinations in the low-risk group include Hong Kong, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
The group of high-risk places contains an unfortunate number of highly popular destinations. In the U..S, it includes Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, Washington, D.C., and metro areas in Georgia. The Canadian listing includes Ontario and Quebec, although, currently, the border remains closed in all provinces. Key European high-risk spots include Ireland, major cities in Russia, Sweden, Turkey and the U.K. And high-risk areas in Latin America include major Mexican tourist centers, along with Lima, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Santiago.
Be sure to check with the State Department for updated virus information when planning your trip.
2. Travel insurance morphs. Several important travel insurance provisions are in a state of flux. Until the COVID-19 epidemic, most trip-cancellation policies did not list “epidemic” or “pandemic” as a “covered reason” for cancellation. Now, however, some insurers are starting to include those terms as covered reasons. On the other hand, for many insurers, COVID-19 became a “named event” in January, so a future problem related to COVID-19 would be a “foreseen” event and therefore excluded from conventional cancellation coverage.
Over the years, I’ve advocated a cancel for any reason, or CFAR, policy as the best option for cancellation insurance. But because of a high percentage of claims, insurers are backing away from CFAR. Quotewright, a major online travel insurance agency, says only two of the many insurers it represents still offer CFAR at all. Where available, the premium for this optional coverage now adds at least 40% to the cost of a policy, and, at best, covers only 75% of the cancellation loss.
Coverages and benefits related to other possible virus-related events, too, are moving targets. One troublesome factor is that some policies are starting to count credit toward future travel as “recovery” from a supplier and cover only the fees that might be involved. Read the fine print very carefully for any policy you’re considering.
3. Best airlines — same old, same old. In this period of dramatic upheaval in the entire travel scene, it’s oddly comforting to find something that continues with little or no change. This instance is another listing showing which U.S. airlines rank best among travelers. And the latest J. D. Power customer satisfaction scores constitute a clear case of “round up the usual suspects.” JetBlue and Southwest come out on top, with scores of 833 to 839 for short-haul trips and 823826 for long hauls, and Alaska comes close for short hauls at 828. Over the last few years, these three always seem to come up on top: People seem to like JetBlue’s more generous legroom, Southwest’s generous baggage and cancellation policies, and Alaska’s excellent personal service. Among the Big Three giants, Delta tops American and United by comfortable margins — again, a pattern that seems now to be firmly established. And for long-haul flights, where customer treatment matters most, the usual bottom-feeders Frontier and Spirit retain their dubious distinctions.
A: I’m not surprised that Southwest Airlines offered a quick refund. That’s the kind of customer service people expect from the airline. But converting your EarlyBird purchase into a voucher is something of a gray area.
First, let’s talk about the refundability of your ticket. When an airline cancels a flight, federal regulations say it owes you a quick refund. It may offer you a voucher, which you are free to accept if you want. But if you don’t want it, you get your money back.
You paid extra for the EarlyBird option, which gives you automatic checkin before Southwest’s traditional 24-hour checkin. EarlyBird gives you the benefit of an earlier boarding position, which means you can select your preferred available seat and have earlier access to overhead bin storage.