The main thing is for sure: some tour operators offer special corona insurance. Insurers have also revised some of their policies. It has not necessarily become clearer.
Berlin (dpa / tmn) – It is not so much the questions about the next travel destination that vacationers are concerned with. These days, it is often about cancellation options and insurance coverage.
Examples: Can I cancel my package tour free of charge if I or a family member get Covid-19? Will my travel cancellation insurance cover the cancellation costs if I have to be quarantined at home shortly before departure? Who pays if my vacation stay is extended due to quarantine? And does the travel health insurance take effect if I have to go to the hospital because of a corona infection?
Organizers put on special Covid insurance
In order to offer holidaymakers more planning security, numerous insurers have adjusted their service catalogs over the course of the year. The protection ranges from Covid-19 supplementary policies to extending the insurance conditions of existing contracts. The requirements for a travel cancellation and also for the use of travel health and travel interruption insurance have been revised. If you want to be sufficiently insured, you have to compare the specific offers that insurance companies and organizers jointly offer.
With some tour operators, the new corona insurance is included in the travel package free of charge. For example, the “Covid protect” insurance coverage offered by Tui and some of its subsidiaries such as Airtours, Ltur and Gebeco is currently a compulsory part of the holiday – so it is automatically integrated into the booking. This currently applies to every holiday with a departure by the end of April 2021.
The insurance covers the outpatient or inpatient treatment costs in the event of Covid 19 illness during the vacation. The overnight costs for a possible quarantine in the country of travel will be reimbursed as well as rebooking fees or the cost of a new flight ticket.
Risk of quarantine just before vacation
But: Anyone who has to cancel their trip because they are in quarantine at the time of departure is not insured – a relevant point due to the high number of infections in Germany. Insurance protection in the event of quarantine if there is a suspicion of infection, both before the start of the journey and at the destination – this is offered, for example, by a corona travel cancellation and travel interruption insurance from Hanse Merkur. According to the provider, the additional protection can be taken out as a supplement to an already existing travel cancellation insurance.
Tour operators such as Olimar offer additional Corona protection when booking travel cancellation insurance.
Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and Swiss have agreed two insurance packages with AIG Europe. “Travel care” and “Travel care Plus” can be booked on the airlines’ websites, for example. The range of services includes a compensation payment for a quarantine at the destination and travel cancellation and travel interruption insurance due to a Covid 19 disease. The Plus version also covers treatment costs and an emergency medical repatriation.
That’s what consumer advocates advise
Independent experts advise checking carefully which risks are actually covered. The new corona insurances from the travel providers are not all-round carefree packages, says Robert Bartel from the Brandenburg consumer center. They should rather be seen as a supplement to the existing insurance coverage. Good international travel health insurance, for example, is advisable anyway. The annual policy usually doesn’t cost a lot of money.
However, the Stiftung Warentest (“Finanztest” magazine (1/2021) makes it clear: “In our view, travel cancellation insurance is not a must – not even in times of the Corona.” A policy could at best be worthwhile for families with children and seniors, because with Consumers should then definitely check whether the pandemic is insured – this is not the case with all providers.
The corresponding protection was therefore only fully included in 16 of 50 tested tariffs. Among the others, 18 completely ruled out a pandemic as a reason for resignation, according to “Finanztest”. For the providers who pay in the event of a pandemic, the details are again important: Some pay the cancellation costs when a positive corona test is presented, others demand a doctor’s certificate or even the appearance of symptoms.
There is also the question of whether you need travel cancellation insurance. Because in the Corona crisis, a free cancellation is in some cases also possible without cancellation insurance. However, it can happen that package holidaymakers encounter a lack of understanding on the part of the organizers when they wish to withdraw: Because fear alone is not a reason for cancellation. If, on the other hand, there is a travel warning, the vacation can in any case be canceled free of charge, even without insurance.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201207-99-605425 / 3
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