Travel Insurance – Unusual Mishaps
January 20, 2012 | 
Author Just in case you aren’t lucky to have one of those helpful friends to recount some of their personal holiday travel insurance stories, we’ve compiled a list of a few of the more unusual ones.
Bag Overboard!
A man was on a three day trip aboard a small pleasure boat in Thailand. As they were on the return journey, everybody’s luggage was up on deck ready to disembark. Unexpectedly, the seas became extremely rough and the boat was in danger of capsizing. Some quick thinking by the local Thai captain and crew averted a disaster, but not before the entire boatload of luggage had slid overboard with one final terrifying lean! The gentleman in question had thousands of pounds of video equipment in his bag, as well as an engagement ring he planned to present to his girlfriend on the last night of their holiday. But while his bag went to a watery grave, his story had a happy ending. His travel insurance paid for everything including a new ring, and they lived happily ever after, with a great tale to tell! (Some of his new friends from the trip however, who hadn’t purchased holiday insurance, did not fare so well.)
Stop Police!
A hapless tourist on the trip of a lifetime to Israel, was minding his own business crossing the road. Out of nowhere a police car moving at over 80 km/hr came careering over the crossing and struck him. Horrified onlookers watched as he was thrown ten feet into the air before landing on a traffic island. Miraculously his injuries were not life threatening, but he was in hospital for weeks. The local Israeli police were extremely quick in assisting with the police report (surprise surprise!), and his travel insurance paid for a private room, all his medical expenses and his travelling expenses back to the US. Two years later, when the man was fully recovered he returned to Jerusalem to continue his tour of the city – by bus!
Hands in the Air
Two young friends were backpacking through South America on a gap year holiday. Before they left, all their uni friends had clubbed together to buy them some cheap travel insurance. The boys had announced publicly that they had thought it was an unnecessary expense – but luckily their mates disagreed. Half way into their three month holiday, the boys were crossing the border from Belize. They got a taxi from the border at Guatemala to take them to their next town. As the taxi crawled along the heavily potholed road, two masked gunmen leapt from the roadside brandishing their weapons and firing shots in the air. They demanded the driver steer the taxi into a ditch, and made off with the boys’ bags. After a few hours of pushing, the boys and driver managed to extricate the car and drove straight to the police station. Due to the foresight of their friends’ the boys’ considerable expense to replace everything was covered by their travel insurance – and they lived to hear the immortal words – “We told you so!”
Once bitten, twice shy, three times….?
This is a combination of several stories, but a classic example that animals really will bite the hand that feeds them! While in rural India, a girl was patting a gorgeous little puppy that suddenly turned on her and bit her finger and wrist. Although it wasn’t a bad wound, when four days later it was revealed that the puppy had bitten several other people and then had died – she immediately took herself to the nearest big city hospital for a rabies shot. After several anxious days she was given the all clear, and her travel insurance paid for her travel and medical expenses including antibiotics.
In Thailand a man stopped to pet a local man’s pet monkey on a leash. The man handed over the monkey for a cuddle, and as it nestled into the tourist’s arms it suddenly turned vicious and took a large chunk out of his face! Rabies shots, antibiotics and some minor surgery later, the man returned the UK to lodge a rather large claim on his travel insurance.
On a “walk with the lions” tour in Zimbabwe, an elderly woman could not help reaching out to stroke the head of a young lion cub – although she had been told not to. The cub reared its head and caught her arm with its teeth. Twelve stitches and an overnight stay in hospital later, the woman was so shaken she cut short her travel plans. Luckily her travel insurance paid for her hospital and flight expenses, and she returned home to continue her safari at the city zoo!
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Product Design of a Travel Agency
Role of a travel agency is to perform as an intermediary between the producers and consumers of tourism services. Suppliers in tourism industry such as airlines, tourist transport operators, tour operators, hotels etc work with travel agency for distribution of their services. Tourists also avail the services of travel agency for buying the services of the major suppliers. This does not mean that the travel agencies follow the strategies of the principal suppliers for marketing purposes. They have to chalk out their own strategy for promoting themselves.
Travel agencies make effort to add value to the products/services of the major suppliers. They go for their own market research to set the target market. They have to decide on discounts or service charges and finalise their product mix as well as sales and promotional strategies.
Understanding the Market
A travel agency has to take decision which market segment to target. The prospective market needs to be properly segmented. This segmentation could be done on the basis of the motive of travel or their budget. Timing of the travel decisions or services required by the customers could also be the base of segmentation. A customer could require services like tour packages, travel consultancy, ticket booking, handle travel documents (visa, passports etc), airport transfers, hotel bookings etc.
Product Design
Travel agency business is more or less confined to sole proprietorship or partnership firms. Majority of businesses are of small level. A travel agency has to decide on the target market, determine on customer requirements and generate ideas to develop the product. One also has to do the business analysis considering costs, estimate future sales, and profit potential.
A travel agency could have product oriented or market oriented approach in the business. It could emphasise on products and services of tourism supply, disregarding customer needs. However, in a multi-player market, this approach will not work. A market oriented approach would always be better for an agency. It must look at the customer needs and accordingly design its products. Market survey has to be conducted to understand the customer needs and get information about the practices of other agencies. Only when a manager knows about market needs, he can take a decision on the product design of the company. For example, services provided to walk-in customers could be different than those offered to repeat customers.
Tripods, Monopods, and Air Travel
The rules and regulations of air travel have changed dramatically in the past ten years and even if you are a seasonal traveler, you might find yourself in a bit of predicament due to the latest safety regulations. If you are also a photographer, then your main task when traveling by plane is to pack and transport your equipment without getting it damaged or stolen.
Keep in mind that even though there are national regulations that are strictly followed by all airline companies, the specific carrier can impose its own rules that place further restrictions on how much carry-on baggage you can take with you on the plane or what objects can be placed in that baggage. The tripods are usually permitted in the carry-on bags, while monopods might or might not be permitted, depending on which company you use. It is always advisable to call the airline help desk and ask about their rules before you start packing.
Another factor to take into account is the possibility to have your tripod or monopod lost or damaged when it is packed in your checked-in baggage. Keep in mind that thefts do occur even when flying from one developed country to another and typically the airlines will cover your losses only up to a specified amount. If you are forced to carry expensive equipment in your check-in baggage, consider insuring it – check with the airline what insurance plans and baggage delay and loss protection they offer.
If you are allowed to take tripods and monopods in your carry-on bags, make sure that when folded they are within the allowed dimensions; some airports might allow you to take a bag that is slightly bigger or slightly heavier than the allowed maximum dimensions and weight, but it is wiser to stay within the limits if you want to avoid paying extra charges.
Most air carriers permit taking one carry-on bag plus your personal bag, but yet again make sure that you are informed about the particular airline’s rules. When packing your check-in baggage, together with your tripod or monopod, tag your bag on the outside and the inside as well and taking a photo of your baggage will help you easily track your bags at the claims desk if they happen to get lost.