Travel Bargain or Travel Scam? How To Know The Difference

March 15th, 2010


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Congratulations! You have been selected to win an exciting luxury vacation to…

Where have you heard that one before? Although there are many genuine travel offers, there are also many travel scams that defraud innocent travelers out of millions of dollars each month. Travel is a big ticket item and most people would like to save some money or even travel for free. Unfortunately, it opens the door to some unscrupulous individuals and companies who try to take advantage of this.

Travel packages turn out to be very different from what was originally offered or what the “winner” expected. Sometimes, the company just takes the money and runs! So if you get a phone call or email offering a free or extremely low-priced vacation , keep these tips in mind:

The Most Common Travel Scams

- Emails, phone calls, or snail mail advising that you have been selected to “win” a free vacation, free airfare, or a hotel stay, especially when you haven’t entered anything.

- Ads for great travel deals or discounts with the condition that you agree to a time share presentation. You will be subjected to a high pressure sales pitch that is really not worth your time – unless of course you really are interested in buying a timeshare!

- Travel clubs that charge a fee for their great travel discounts and offers. There are of course may legitimate travel clubs but there are just as many that are not. Do your research well to make sure it is worth it.

- Contests which do not post or provide rules or requirements or even any details about the company running it. A legitimate contest will provide rules to participants and if it does not, it is probably just a ploy to get information on you.

How to Spot the Red Flags

- Does the price seem too good to be true? If so, it probably is.

- Are you pressured to make a decision on the spot?

- Did you get the call after business hours. Legitimate businesses normally operate between regular business hours.

- Did they require you to pay before you receive any details about the trip, or ask you to pay for more information.

- Are you told you can’t leave for two months? This should be cause for concern because the deadline for disputing a credit card charge is 60 days.

- Is the supplier simply identified as “a major airline,” or a “popular hotel” without getting into specifics?

- If you have won a free vacation, you should not be asked to pay hundreds of dollars in order to “claim” your prize.

How to protect yourself from Travel Scams

- Determine the complete cost of the trip in dollars, including all service charges, taxes, processing fees, etc.

- Pay by credit card, if you don’t get what you paid for, you may be able to dispute the charges with your credit card company.

- Don’t be pressured into buying anything, legitimate businesses don’t pressure you to make a purchase.

- Get a receipt in writing. If you make reservations online, print out the itinerary and receipt.

- Find out the exact names of the hotels, airports, airlines, and restaurants that your package includes; if they tell you a “major hotel chain” or “major airline” ask for specifics.

- Always ask for a copy of the cancellation and refund policies.

- If you are told that you’ve won a free vacation, ask if you have to pay any money in order to get it.

- Be aware of what “subject to availability” means may not get the accommodations you want when you want them.

- Be aware that if you have been “specially selected to receive our Super Duper Travel Deal offer” doesn’t mean you’ll get it free, it means you’ll be offered an opportunity to pay for a travel deal!

And last but not least, be skeptical. Read or listen to carefully what is being said, not what you want to hear. We would all like to win that all expenses paid dream vacation to Hawaii, but like everything else, you get what you pay for if you don’t pay attention first.

Jolana Klobouk is a former travel agent who has traveled extensively for work and vacations with her family. She is currently the editor of http://www.best-family-beach-vacations.com and http://www.FlyFromCanada.com Visit them for more great travel information.

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Medication Changes and Travel Insurance – Pre-Existing Medical Conditions Coverage

March 14th, 2010


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Medication changes or adjustments can cause a stable medical condition to be classified as a pre-existing medical condition under many travel insurance companies plans. Now, I don’t mean to say that all travel insurance plans throughout the world work exactly like I’m going to explain it. I only work with 6 trip cancellation travel insurance companies mainly because I don’t think it’s possible to know the details of scores of different plans.

Also, before I go further into this subject I just need to say that what’s commonly known as travel insurance really has two different categories:

- travel health / medical insurance

- trip cancellation / interruption travel insurance

While nearly everybody thinks that these kinds of plans are the same, in reality they’re not for a few different reasons. So, with the purpose of trying to help you avoid likely claim problems with “travel health / medical insurance plans”, here is what we say:

“Pre-existing conditions are not covered. A pre-existing condition is defined as any injury, illness, sickness, disease, or other physical, medical, mental or nervous condition, disorder or ailment that, with reasonable medical certainty, existed at the time of application or at any time during the three years prior to the effective date of the insurance, whether or not previously manifested or symptomatic, diagnosed, treated, or disclosed prior to the effective date, including any subsequent, chronic or recurring complications or consequences related thereto or arising therefrom.”

I won’t bore you with all the other differences between these types of plans, since I am only addressing changes of medications and pre-existing medical conditions.

Back to the trip cancellation travel insurance plans. Typically, these plans have a Lookback Period of 60 – 180 days prior to the date the travel insurance is purchased. If the person’s medical condition has been diagnosed, treated, received advisement on, had symptoms of or changes or adjustments in their prescribed medication during that Lookback Period then most companies will define that medical condition as a pre-existing medical condition.

Having a pre-existing medical condition doesn’t mean you can’t get travel insurance. It just means that order to get coverage for that pre-existing condition with a trip cancellation travel insurance plan, you have to purchase the insurance within the specified deadline to receive the waiver of the pre-existing medical conditions exclusion. Here are the four rules that you need to follow:

- With a few exceptions, you have to insure at least your trip’s full prepaid, non-refundable cost (you can’t round it down). If you don’t know your final trip cost, estimate it high to be safe. You can always lower to the correct trip cost prior to your departure date. If it drops you to a lower trip cost range, you’ll get a partial refund. and

- The person (including non-traveling family members) with the medical condition has to be medically stable when you get your insurance and

- You must get your travel insurance in the first 14 or 21 days after your first trip payment date or no later than 24 Hours after you make your final Trip payment and

- You have to cover your trip’s full length.

Steve Dasseos is the CEO of TripInsuranceStore.com, the world’s most informative travel insurance comparison website. You can compare reputable travel insurance plans, get person-to-person service & advice. Contact Steve here.

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AXA’s Independent Travel Insurance

March 9th, 2010


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Insurance provider, AXA has launched an independent travel insurance, despite the present financial turmoil’s that are due to the credit crunch.

In spite of the increasing economic gloom, the holiday season is approaching and millions of Brits will be preparing to travel abroad over the summer months. But AXA warns that increasing numbers of people arranging their own holidays may be leaving themselves exposed despite taking out travel insurance.

Over the last few years the number of Independent Travelers has overtaken the number of Package Holiday Travelers. Internet access and low-cost airlines have helped escalate this trend – in 2006 over 16 million Independent Travelers headed overseas for holidays between April and September.

However, insurance provision has not kept pace with the changing profile of the British holidaymaker and Independent Travelers, can find that there are gaps in their insurance cover, which AXA are addressing with their Independent Travelers cover, available with AXA travel insurance from their website, axa.co.uk/travelinsurance.

The new product is an optional extension which costs as little as an additional £10 for annual European cover. It covers travelers for a number of areas such as problems with flight cancellations or delays, missed connections or the customer being denied boarding.

With a package holiday, the tour operator or travel agent is legally required to make suitable alternative arrangements for such eventualities, but the independent traveller must make and pay for their own arrangements.

Edward Dutton, AXA’s Personal Insurance Director said: “We are aware from our own claims area that Independent Travellers have run into problems with their travel insurance and a recent report from Defaqto underlined the need for insurers to offer cover that helps customers when things go wrong – the things that would normally be picked up by a tour operator or travel agent if it were a package holiday.

Dutton continued: “We believe that the rise of the Independent Traveller is something that all insurers should be addressing; as the Ombudsman pointed out in his latest report – ‘There is clearly a mismatch in what insurers intend to offer and the cover that consumers believe they are buying.’”

The additional cover offered by this optional extension includes, delayed departure compensation for delays exceeding 5 hours occurring at the departure point of any connecting flights or booked public transportation on both the outbound and return journeys.

Ruth is an author of several articles pertaining to Travel Insurance She is known for her expertise on the subject and on other Business and Finance related articles.

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