Baggage, Personal Money, Travel Documents and Personal Liability 行李、個人金錢、旅行證件及個人責任

Baggage and Personal Effects 行李及個人財物

This section indemnifies loss of or damage to baggage or personal effects owned by the insured person, caused by an insured peril during the insured trip. Payment is subject both to the applicable limit per article, pair or set and to the overall limit per insured person. Whether articles form a set depends on the wording and their functions; separate purchases or invoices do not necessarily produce separate limits.

Indemnity reflects the actual loss. Without a new-for-old provision, wear and tear and depreciation are deducted; some policies offer new-for-old cover, possibly only for articles not older than one year. Repairs that improve an old article may also require a contribution for betterment. Once a common carrier has properly repaired the same damage, the insured cannot obtain double indemnity for it.

Commonly excluded property includes foodstuffs, animals, plants, antiques, jewellery, mobile phones, spectacles, consumables, money and documents. Other exclusions may cover confiscation ordered by a government or public authority, baggage sent in advance, baggage left unattended in a public place, damage to fragile articles and mysterious disappearance. A policy may also exclude losses not reported to the police within a specified period, such as 24 hours.

The insured must take reasonable care of property. Whether baggage was unattended depends on the actual arrangements and whether the insured acted reasonably; entrusting it to someone may produce a different result from making no arrangements for its care. A subsequent failure by that person does not necessarily mean that the insured failed to exercise ordinary and proper care.

Baggage Delay 行李延誤

Baggage delay cover concerns temporary deprivation of baggage after arrival at the destination because of delay or misdirection in delivery. The stated delay threshold must be met, for example at least 6 hours or more than 6 hours. These expressions have different requirements, and 6 hours is not a universal policy threshold.

Within a per-person limit, a policy may reimburse the cost of recovering baggage or the resulting purchases of essential toiletries or clothing. Alternatively, it may pay a specified amount once the time franchise is met. Wording restricted to toiletries and clothing does not automatically extend to other urgently needed articles. Expenditure need not necessarily occur after the delay threshold has expired; check whether the policy expressly requires this.

This cover normally operates on a named perils basis. Check whether the wording requires delay or misdirection by a common carrier; a sufficiently long delay involving a hotel or another third party does not by itself establish cover. The airline’s eventual return of the baggage does not necessarily establish that the original cause met the wording.

Common exclusions include delay without certification from the airline or tour operator, and delay caused by detention or confiscation by customs or other law enforcement officials. Where the same loss falls under both baggage and personal effects cover and baggage delay cover, the relevant provision permits a claim under only one section.

Personal Money 個人金錢

Personal money cover generally pays for money lost through theft, robbery or burglary, subject to a per-person limit. The definition of money may include cash, bank notes, cheques, travellers’ cheques and money orders. An article’s ability to make payments does not by itself make it insured money.

Plastic money may be excluded, including credit cards and Hong Kong’s Octopus cards. Some policies have extensions for monetary loss from unauthorised use after a credit card is lost during the trip, or replacement costs following accidental loss of travel documents and travel tickets. The existence and scope of these extensions require separate checking.

Common claims requirements include reporting a money loss to the police within 24 hours of the loss. Lost travellers’ cheques may also require immediate notification to the issuer’s local branch or agent; a police report alone may not satisfy every requirement. Mysterious disappearance may also be excluded.

The cause of loss and the care taken of the property also matter. For example, discovering missing cash after leaving a wallet behind does not by itself establish an insured theft. The evidence, insured cause and any applicable care-of-property wording must be considered.

Loss of Travel Documents 損失旅行證件

This section generally pays the replacement costs of passports, travel tickets or other travel documents lost through theft, robbery, burglary or another insured peril during the insured trip and outside the place of origin. It may also pay travel and accommodation costs incurred in arranging replacement, subject to the cover limit.

Common wording requires a police report within 24 hours of discovering the loss and requires the insured to obtain the police report. The clock starts on discovery, which should be distinguished from the common personal money requirement measured from the loss. Mysterious disappearance and replacement of documents or visas no longer needed to complete the trip may be excluded.

Recoverable expenditure must fall within the replacement cover. Payment for an ordinary replacement document does not guarantee payment for an additional express temporary document obtained to meet an urgent personal need. Additional application costs must be assessed separately under the wording.

Personal Liability 個人責任

Personal liability cover indemnifies the insured person’s legal liability for accidental bodily injury to a third party, or accidental loss of or damage to a third party’s property, occurring during the insured trip, subject to a limit. An accident alone does not establish legal liability, and this section does not cover the insured’s own property loss.

Cover may also include relevant legal costs and expenses, such as defence costs incurred with the insurer’s written consent and costs awarded against the insured. Whether these are paid in addition to the liability limit or within it depends on the policy wording.

Common exclusions include employers’ liability or employees’ compensation; liability involving property owned by, in the care, custody or control of, or held in trust by the insured; liability arising from ownership, possession or use of conveyances, firearms or animals; and liability to an immediate family member as defined by the policy. The contractual liability exclusion concerns additional legal liability assumed under an agreement that would not otherwise have attached.

A third-party claim should be notified to the insurer as the policy requires. Where prior written consent is required, the insured should obtain it before admitting liability, entering an agreement or paying a settlement; otherwise the claim may be affected. An insurer’s discretionary ex gratia payment does not establish that the insured was entitled to that payment.