Trip Cancellation, Curtailment and Delay
The cancellation, curtailment and delay module of business travel accident insurance reimburses cancellation charges, unused travel services and additional costs of return or onward travel when a business trip cannot be started, has to be cut short or is continued late because of an insured event – sickness, accident, death, natural event, civil unrest, strike or cancellation of the business appointment.
Function
The module protects against the financial consequences when a booked business trip does not take place as planned. On cancellation, the insurer pays the contractually owed cancellation charges for flights, hotels and events; cover starts with the booking and ends when the trip begins. On curtailment, the pro-rata cost of unused services and the additional cost of the early return are reimbursed; on delay or missed connection, the necessary expenses for rebooking, accommodation and meals, often only after a waiting period of a few hours. Under the ERV wording, insured triggers include serious illness, accident or death of the insured person, of a travel companion or close relative or of the deputy at the workplace, strikes, civil unrest, epidemics or natural events at the destination accompanied by an official travel warning, serious damage to property at home, failure of the means of transport and – a specific feature of business travel – cancellation of the appointment by the business partner.
Distinctions
Regularly excluded are events that had already occurred or were foreseeable at the time of booking, cancellations by the service provider itself, cancellations without medical indication, planned treatments and complications of known conditions, as well as war, terrorism and official orders unless expressly included. Unlike private cancellation insurance, the sum insured in a corporate contract is often limited per trip and per year, and the claim belongs to the employer as the party bearing the cost.
Practical Note
Since many business trips are booked at short notice and cancelled flexibly, the value of the module should be tied to the booking policy; flexible fares and credit card insurance can create duplication.