Yes, most travel insurance plans cover unexpected overseas medical expenses, including outpatient visits, hospitalisation, and emergency medical evacuation. However, the coverage scope and claim limits vary by insurer and plan. It is recommended to review the policy details carefully before departure.
Technically speaking you can purchase more than one travel insurance policy. However, when making a claim, insurers may apply the “no double compensation” principle, meaning they will either pay once only or split the compensation proportionally between policies. It is recommended to choose a plan that suits your coverage needs to avoid overlapping insurance.
It is generally recommended to purchase travel insurance as soon as your trip is confirmed, such as after booking your flight or accommodation. Buying insurance early ensures you are covered for unexpected events that may occur before departure, including trip cancellations, flight delays, and other unforeseen circumstances.
Most travel insurance policies become effective immediately upon successful purchase or at a specified time stated in the policy. However, certain benefits — such as trip cancellation coverage — are only valid after the policy is purchased and before the trip begins. Always check the policy terms for exact coverage start times.
Most of the insurers now include COVID-19 coverage in their travel insurance plans. This may cover expenses such as trip cancellation due to infection and medical costs incurred overseas. However, coverage details and limitations vary by insurer, so it’s important to read the policy carefully.
Skiing is considered a high-risk activity, and not all travel insurance plans automatically cover skiing accidents. However, if the activity is for leisure and non-professional purposes, many insurers do offer relevant coverage. If you plan to go skiing, make sure to check whether your policy includes skiing-related coverage, and review the terms and exclusions carefully before purchasing.
Travel insurance covers leisure and non-professional sports activities including skiing and other winter sports, diving, parachuting, bungee jumping, hiking, marathon for leisure and all water sports. “Leisure and non-professional” means the insured is not participating in these activities in a professional capacity or receiving any income or remuneration from them. For diving in particular, diving to a depth greater than 45 metres below sea level is not covered.
Most travel insurance plans cover flight delays or cancellations caused by adverse weather, strikes, or airport closure. Coverage may include additional accommodation, transportation costs, and re-routing expenses.
Flight delays usually need to reach 5-10 hours (depending on the insurer) to be eligible for a claim. When submitting a claim, you will need to provide supporting documents, such as a delay certificate from the airline and your boarding pass.
In general travel insurance does not cover damage to rental vehicles or third-party liability. The most common coverage is rental car excess protection, which reimburses the excess fee if the vehicle is damaged in an accident. Most plans also include personal accident and medical coverage for injuries resulting from driving accidents, such as outpatient or hospitalization expenses.
The free travel insurance offered by credit card usually only becomes effective if the trip is paid for using the card, and the coverage is relatively basic, such as accidental death or limited medical expenses. In contrast, standalone travel insurance offers more comprehensive protection, including coverage for lost travel documents, emergency medical evacuation, and high-risk activities like skiing or diving.
Travel insurance does not cover losses arising directly or indirectly from war (whether declared or not), invasion, acts of foreign enemies, civil war, rebellion, revolution, riot, civil commotion, military or usurped power, or duties performed for military or law enforcement forces. As these situations fall under the policy’s ‘war risk’ and ‘known risk’ exclusions, related flight cancellations or delays are not covered (including where airspace closures result from any of the above).
The above situation is not covered under Trip Cancellation Benefit.
Trip Cancellation Benefit covers the loss of the prepaid and unused portion of the travel ticket, accommodation, tour package or admission tickets to travel event (e.g. theme park, museum, concert, musical or sport-related ornamental performance) which is forfeited and irrecoverable if the following event occurs:
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within 90 days prior to the scheduled departure date of the journey:
- death, serious bodily injury or serious sickness of the insured person, immediate family member, close business partner, foreign domestic helper or travel companion; or
- duty of the insured person to comply with a witness summons, jury service or compulsory quarantine (provided that the notice or order of such witness summons, jury service or compulsory quarantine is served on the insured person after (a) the issue date of the Certificate of Insurance (for Single-trip Cover), or (b) (i) the issue date of the policy or (ii) the date when any travel arrangement for the journey are confirmed by or for the benefit of the insured person, whichever is later (for Annual Cover); or
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within 7 days prior to the scheduled date of departure of the Journey:
- adverse weather condition, natural disaster, infectious disease, unanticipated outbreak of industrial action involving the arranged public conveyance, closure of airport, act of terrorist, riot or civil commotion at the planned destination of the journey; or
- severe damage to the insured person or travel companion's principal home in Hong Kong arising from fire, flood, burglary or natural disaster; or
- death of the insured person's pet which is covered by Blue Cross' designated pet insurance; or
- Security Bureau of The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region issued Outbound Travel Alert for the planned destination (payable according to Outbound Travel Alert Extension); or
If the OTA is issued to the destination by HKSAR and the travel arrangement has to cancel within 7 days before the scheduled date of departure of the journey, the benefit shall be payable according to the OTA Extension of the “Trip Cancellation Benefit”. However, the above arrangement is not applicable to designated countries and territories stipulated in the “Excluded Countries and Territories List”.
Travel insurance will reimburse the loss of personal money (include banknotes, cash or traveller cheques) which is owned and carried by the insured person due to theft, robbery or burglary during the journey. <br>Losses or shortages of personal money caused by errors or omissions of any third party, or any loss arising from the insured person leaving personal money unattended in a public place, are not covered.</br>
