Our Blog

I was getting ready to fly to Las Vegas for the weekend with some good friends to celebrate my upcoming wedding! As we prepared for our much needed vacation, we went over our travelling checklist together:

1. Party Clothes
2. Toiletries
3. Sandals
4. Baseball hats

Going down the list, I noticed my buddies had something different from what I had…

25. All Inclusive Worldwide Package Plan

I was smart enough to purchase emergency medical travel insurance, however, I decided not to upgrade my coverage to the ALL INCLUSIVE TRAVEL INSURANCE when my broker had asked me about it. Besides, it cost $100.00 more, which quite frankly, I could not afford after all the money I spent on this trip. Plus, “do I REALLY need additional coverage for things like trip cancellation/interruption and baggage loss?” I thought.
THIS BROUGHT UP A HUGE DEBATE between my buddies and myself.
Jack (my best friend) knowing how I always misplaced things, reminded me of an incident back in May when I went on a trip and spent one whole day searching for my birth certificate. I never did find it and had to pay $35.00 for a replacement.
Jack showed me his Travelance policy. Under the baggage loss feature it said: “if your driver’s license or birth certificate is lost or stolen while on Your Covered Trip, [the Company] will reimburse You up to an aggregate total of $50 for the cost of replacing one or both of these items”.
I could see his point, replacing lost or stolen government-issued identification such as a driver’s license or birth certificate can be costly, but I still didn’t see how a package plan was right for me.
Then, my friend Adrian told me that while he was travelling with his parents and making his way through a busy downtown district, he carelessly left his passport in his back pocket and someone must have stolen it right from underneath him.
Adrian explained that under the baggage loss feature of his Travelance plan it says: “if Your passport and/or travel visa is lost or stolen while travelling outside Your country of permanent residence on Your Covered Trip [the Company] will pay:

1. The Reasonable and Customary cost to reimburse You for the replacement of Your passport and/or travel visa and/or required entry documents; and
2. Up to a maximum of $500 if you incur travel and accommodation expenses while waiting to receive the replacement passport and/or travel visa.

This got me thinking about that extra $100.00…
Then, Danny sealed the deal for me by telling me about a time when he was travelling alone. His bags had “decided to make a stop-over halfway across the world from their original destination”. Yeah, those were his exact words – what a comedian! Although Danny was not laughing at the time that it happened. He was out of pocket $250 (for clothes and toiletries) because he didn’t think of buying travel insurance until he really needed it.
Again…this would have been a quick fix with the proper coverage…
Under his new Travelance plan’s baggage loss benefit, “if Your checked baggage is misdirected or delayed more than 12 hours by the Common Carrier while on Your Covered Trip, [the Company] will pay up to an aggregate total of $400 for:

1. The purchase or rental of essential items of personal clothing and necessary toiletries while on Your Covered Trip; and
2. The rental of sporting equipment if the purpose of Your Covered Trip was to participate in a sporting event and Your sporting equipment was included in the delayed checked baggage; and
3. The rental of a wheelchair for use during Your Covered Trip

For Danny baggage protection is a must have now! He pulled up this interesting stat on his smartphone:
“Nearly 1.8 million pieces of luggage were lost, stolen, or damaged by major U.S. airlines in 2012—and that’s just on domestic flights. While it sounds staggering, mishandling 3.09 bags per 1,000 passengers actually represents an 8 percent decline since 2011.” – source
As you can imagine, the debate with my buddies was really them convincing me that I needed to add a little extra to get a whole lot more. I now see what the broker was talking about and realize that the extra $100.00 for a package plan will help me enjoy my trip more, knowing that I’m covered for all these unexpected losses with my travel insurance coverage from TRAVELANCE.
MY LIST IS NOW COMPLETE…BON VOYAGE!!!!!
Note: The BAGGAGE LOSS benefit is only one of many under the ALL INCLUSIVE WORLDWIDE PLAN. Take a look at the other benefits it provided my friends with (see plan and/or link below).

Plan Description

The All Inclusive Worldwide Plan provides coverage for cancellation, interruption, trip delay, emergency medical, baggage & personal effects, baggage delay, personal money loss, passport loss, air flight accident and travel accident. Please see the policy for complete details of benefits, exclusions, limitations, terms and conditions.

**Please see policy wording for details on benefits, eligibility restrictions, exclusions, terms and conditions.
To find out more, speak with your insurance broker or call Travelance today at 1-855-566-8555.