Does Travel Insurance Cover Terrorism?

At RoamRight, we are frequently asked this question. Unfortunately, acts of terrorism are frequent throughout the world, and travel agents want to know if their travelers are covered – and how.

As with all coverage, terrorism and other security-type coverage varies from provider to provider, and even plan to plan. So check the specific details of the plans you are selling to your travelers. When in doubt, call us directly at 1-800-699-3845 to review your specific coverage.

How does travel insurance define terrorism?

Generally speaking, RoamRight defines an act of terrorism as any incident that has been deemed a terrorist attack by the United States government (not the local or foreign government). Most likely, this would come from the Secretary of State or the President of the United States. Please note that this is not contingent upon travel alerts and warnings issued by the U.S. Department of State.

What happens if an attack occurs and my clients are afraid to travel?

Most RoamRight policies consider terrorism a trigger for trip cancellation coverage if a Terrorist Incident that occurs within 30 days of Your Scheduled Departure Date in a city listed on the itinerary of Your or Your Traveling Companion’s Trip.

For example, if one of your clients had a trip planned to Brussels, Belgium, in early April, they likely would have had coverage if they wanted to cancel their trip due to the suicide bombings that occurred at the airport on March 22nd.

Of course, for coverage to be available, they would need to have an active RoamRight policy in place when the event occurs. A policy purchased after the attack would not provide coverage as such an event is no longer considered unforeseen.

What if my clients are in a city where a terrorist attack occurs?

If your clients are traveling and are in an area when an attack occurs, rest assured knowing that RoamRight’s plans include political and security evacuation coverage. If your travelers are in danger, RoamRight will assist in transporting them to the nearest safe haven. Arrangements will be handled by our emergency response center, which is staffed with logistical experts and can quickly contact security professionals for further assistance. This type of coverage is available for natural disasters; civil, military or political unrests for which a formal written recommendation from the appropriate local government authorities, or the U.S. State Department, for your travelers to leave a country is issued; or your travelers being expelled or declared a persona non-grata by a country they are visiting on their trip.

There are more details in the policy than we’ll get into here. For complete coverage details, please refer to your plan’s description of coverage. However, one thing to note is that several countries are excluded from this type of coverage. Political and security evacuation coverage is not available for: Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Chechnya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Israel West Bank, Israel Gaza Strip, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Libya, North Korea, Sudan or Syria. (However, trip cancellation coverage as discussed above is still available for these countries except Afghanistan and Yemen.)

Where can I get more information?

If you’re a current RoamRight partner, we urge you to contact your sales or customer service representative to review the details of the particularly policies you offer. If you have questions about a specific situation, our claims department is also available for discussion.

If you’re considering becoming a RoamRight partner, our sales team would be happy to review policy details with you. Simply contact us and we’ll be in touch.