3 Reasons To Get Insurance Before You Fly this Christmas

Holidays are so much more relaxing when you know you're fully covered if anything unexpected happens.

29 Oct 2019 — By Michael Lamb / HK Living / Travel

For many of us in Hong Kong, Christmas break is a great opportunity to get out of town for a bit. It’s undeniable that there’s something of an exodus from our city around Christmas each year – the cost of a flight increases dramatically, hotel prices spike all-around South-East Asia, and the airport becomes is extremely busy. If you’re going away, then it’s likely that you need this break and are going to want to make the most of it.

Having the right travel insurance cover will give you the peace of mind to fully relax and enjoy the ride.

Flight delays can be more than annoying

One of the major risks of travelling anywhere (especially in Hong Kong where our airport is the major transport hub), is that of your flight being delayed or cancelled.

The problem of heightened activity at an airport, as will be the case over the Christmas break, is that delays compound delays which in turn cause cancellations. This can mean that for a popular destination like Phuket flights are delayed leaving Hong Kong. Gates remain occupied, and inbound flights can’t land. Flights now start to get cancelled.

You’re now stuck with the loss of your ticket price, and are going to have to scramble to re-book on a new flight so you don’t completely lose out on your non-refundable hotel deposit.

This is a very real scenario and doesn’t involve the risk of any black rainstorms or typhoon warnings being raised in Hong Kong.

Travel Insurance policies can provide coverage which will protect you against the loss of prepaid deposits and the costs associated with tickets for cancellation or delay of travel.

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Getting sick is a pain

Getting sick in your home is bad enough, but getting sick while you’re on holiday is even worse! Who wants to be dealing with the hassle of going to the doctor or hospital while you’re on vacation? This can be really, really stressful for life-threatening and emergency situations especially if your medical insurance policy doesn’t cover you outside of Hong Kong.

Let’s say you’re on a ski trip, or snowboarding, in Colorado. You’re going down that blue bowl and can’t make a turn and run into a tree. At full speed. If you’re lucky you’ve only broken your arm. You’ll still likely need costly (this is America after all) emergency medical treatment.

Travel insurance plans can include unlimited global medical protection at a fraction of the cost of an annual health insurance plan. With no deductibles or copays, and full cover for emergency evacuation and repatriation benefits, making sure you are protected on your journey is always a smart move.

Some places are just risky

No matter where you go in the world, or what city you go to, there will always be places with criminal elements, and activities that carry a risk.

If you have an accident on a moped in Bali you will have a criminal liability to any third parties whose persons or property you’ve damaged. Even at a 5-star hotel you run the risk of being robbed.

Let’s say that the housekeeping staff at a name-brand 5-star hotel decide to pry your room-safe out of the closet and take it (along with all your valuables and passports) away in one of your suitcases. It’s such an unlikely situation that most people won’t even consider it until it happens to them. But it does happen.

This exact situation happened to me on vacation in Cancun, Mexico recently.

Travel insurance can protect you against your public liability obligations in the event of an accident where you are at fault, but will also insure your personal possessions against theft, fire, and robbery – it won’t replace the emotional value you may have lost but will make sure you’re compensated financially.

Travel Insurance Simplified

Travel Insurance can be an often-overlooked component of any vacation – especially if you’re travelling with children, because there are more pressing concerns. But having protection from a travel insurance plan can be invaluable in a worst-case scenario. No matter what that scenario is. With a range of travel insurance products available in Hong Kong from a variety of different insurers you have a plethora of options available. Our team at CCW can help you find the policy that’s right for you.