Very often when purchasing travel insurance travellers go on price, and sometimes on the reputation or brand of the company selling it.  However, which plan should you select?  There are comprehensive, visa-specific and non-comprehensive plans on the market.

Here are some guidelines based on a few factors to help you reach an appropriate choice:

• Destination
• Age
• Duration of your trip
• Sports
• Baggage

Destination

To a large extent the destination sets the risk level for the insurer and this affects the price.  If you are travelling to a country that is known for, say, kidnapping, you should choose a plan that covers this and covers it well.  Few policies include injury or death due to the acts of warfare or terrorists.

Some travel insurance policies are guided by the status of the destination country according to the British Foreign Office or US State Department web sites.  This is true even if the policy is issued in a third country and does not involve citizens of those lands.  If the destination is deemed a war zone then normal insurance will not apply.  (The insurers will reason that you have deliberately put yourself in harm’s way.)

If the place you may be travelling to is a tornado or earthquake zone then logically the policy you select should cover disruptions and damages, injury or death arising from those sorts of natural disaster.

Also related to the destination is visa-related health insurance.  Visitors from certain overseas lands that apply for an EU (Schengen) visa will have to offer proof of suitable insurance without which the visa will not be issued.  Medical cover for Schengen visa purposes is more expensive than regular cover.

Age

If you are over 85 years you will find it difficult to obtain suitable cover.  The age varies by company and can be lower, so shop around if this applies to you.  Senior cover starts from around 65 and goes up in steps from there.

If you cannot obtain cover then check out what your regular medical insurance scheme covers: you may still be okay to travel.

For younger folks there is student cover that applies to those taking gap years or extended holidays that will last a few months.  The maximum age for this varies from 29 through to 35 depending on the individual insurance company.

Duration of your trip

The longer the trip, the more pricey it will be, though the rate per day will likely reduce.  Here, one would want to shop around to find the best policy and the most appropriate company.  A less comprehensive policy will be cheaper, but read the small print and note the benefits and exclusions, so you know exactly what is covered.  You will find it gives greater peace of mind to have more extensive coverage.  The longer that you are travelling the more likely it is that some sort of medical emergency may befall you.

Sports

If you are going to be participating in dangerous sports such as bungee jumping, white-water rafting or paragliding, you will need to state this to the insurance company at the time of taking out the cover.  Such activities do not usually preclude cover but they affect risk and therefore the price and you will need to declare your intentions if you expect to obtain cover.

Some policies will not cover these activities at all and you’d be in a sticky situation if you’ve broken a leg while skiing to find that out afterwards.

Footnote: Baggage

Though this article is mainly concerned with medical insurance, you find that baggage insurance is frequently available as an option on the medical insurance, particularly if you are purchasing insurance online.

The amounts that are covered for lost luggage vary from one plan to another.  If you’re carrying expensive cameras and suchlike, you need to make certain that they are fully covered.  The best is if you are permitted to nominate specific items.  That way there is no uncertainty.

If you have expensive items you may find it better to include a travel option in your comprehensive insurance than to try include them in a travel policy.  All too often travel policies have a limit in value per claimed item, and it is low.  So your claim would be subjected to “averaging”, even though the total sum insured was correct.

I was once on a flight over Africa where there was a lengthy delay before take-off owing to thunderstorms over the airport.  We encountered a further huge storm en route to our destination, and despite diverting around it, we experienced severe turbulence.

Boisterous drunks on board quietened up before becoming quite ill, and in addition to the seat-belt lights being kept on the whole way, the cabin crew were ordered to their seats by the captain.

Initially it was quite fun, but the fun stopped after a short while.  It was definitely a white-knuckle roller-coaster ride.

Turbulence gives one the impression that the aircraft is flying out of control, but it is not.  The aircraft may feel as if it is going to come apart.  Again, it will not do that.

Pilots try to avoid turbulence, largely for the sake of the passengers.  Cargo planes regularly fly through turbulence that passenger planes avoid, and they do not fall out of the air.

As uncomfortable as it was, the plane was never in any danger.  Not even if it had been struck by lightning, which commercial aircraft are designed to be able to cope with.  Your plane will almost always be under control of the autopilot when going through turbulence.  The autopilot has a special setting for turbulence in which it makes fewer, and more gentle corrections.  This relies on the tendency for aircraft to self-correct from most random flight changes resulting from air movements.

As with anything else, turbulence varies in extent and intensity.  There is a four-point scale for it:

• Light.  You can feel it, but you can walk around okay and the seatbelt lights remain off.

• Moderate.  It is still possible to walk and the cabin crew continue their duties but the seatbelt lights are put on.

• Severe.  What I experienced in my tropical flight above.  It is unusual.  Cabin crew are commanded to their seats.

• Extreme.  This is very rare because of all of the precautions taken to avoid it.

So, what are the real dangers associated with turbulence?

1. Loss of altitude when you are close to the ground.  If you are close to the ground and you get pushed down, the plane could hit the ground.  Thunderstorms can cause this and aircraft will not take off when a storm cloud is over the airport.  The pilot may divert the flight to a different airport to ensure safety, or the plane may be put into a holding pattern in a safe part of the sky until the weather in the region of the landing field has improved.

2. Gusts near the ground.  One pilot I spoke to told of a landing at Schipol when the plane was hit by a gust of wind just as he lined up the plane with the runway in a side-wind.  The jet’s wings rotated several degrees in a second and it was all he could do to level the wings and slam it on the ground.  Fortunately it was a cargo flight, so there were no complaints.  Passenger flights are typically diverted to another city if there are strong side-winds at the destination.

Aircraft and airports are both equipped to detect wind shear conditions that could otherwise be of danger to the plane.

3. Injury.  Passengers who are not belted in can be thrown against the roof of the cabin.  Persons have in fact died or have been seriously injured, particularly when flying in “clear air” with the seatbelt lights off when unexpected turbulence has been encountered.  Loose objects such as the drinks trolley can be flung against you, causing injury; and luggage can shift in the overhead lockers and spring the lock, dropping items on you.  The best you can do to protect yourself against this is to keep your seatbelt on for the whole flight.

4. Structural failure.  Over the years a disturbing number of light planes, not equipped with weather radar and with only basic instruments (flying according to Visual Flight Rules) have come to a bad end through falling apart in bad weather.  Commercial operators are better equipped and will reroute or reschedule if the weather outlook is poor.  The planes are also, as the cost would suggest, stronger and more reliable than private aircraft.  And the pilots are much less inclined to take unnecessary risks.

All things said, turbulence can be extremely uncomfortable but it is very rarely a source of real danger.