Travel Delay 旅程延誤
Travel delay is normally covered on a named perils basis, for example adverse weather, natural disaster, terrorism, industrial action, hijack or mechanical failure of a conveyance. A policy might require at least six hours of delay and then pay a fixed benefit for each complete consecutive six-hour period; this is an example of policy terms, rather than a universal threshold.
Departure delay compares scheduled and actual departure times; arrival delay compares scheduled and actual arrival times. A policy may cover only one type. Even where both are covered, its terms require the claimant to choose one benefit rather than collect both. Separate, unconnected flight delays cannot be added together to satisfy the time threshold.
Some policies offer reasonable costs of necessary alternative transport instead of the fixed delay benefit, subject to a limit. Some also allow cancellation after an insured departure delay lasting a specified period, for example at least ten hours, with reimbursement of prepaid or legally payable expenses irrecoverable elsewhere; this option may appear under cancellation cover. A fixed delay benefit does not itself reimburse every hotel bill.
Cover is very likely to require purchase before a media announcement of a strike affecting the relevant common carrier. Delay caused by the insured's own default, such as failing to check in as required by the itinerary, is normally excluded. Evidence must establish the scheduled journey, cause and duration of delay; a flexible travel pass alone may not prove which service the insured had arranged to take.
Loss of Deposit or Cancellation of Trip 損失訂金或取消旅程
This cover addresses financial loss when an insured trip is cancelled before departure because of a named peril. Indemnity may include irrecoverable deposits or other prepaid expenses and payments that have become due and cannot be avoided, subject to a specified limit. A tour operator's operational cancellation, or the insured's change of mind, does not automatically constitute an insured event.
Common triggers include death, sickness or injury affecting the insured or a defined immediate family member, travelling companion or close business partner, preventing the trip from going ahead. A time condition may apply, for example within 90 days before planned departure. An unexpected riot, civil commotion or epidemic at the destination may also qualify, for example within one week before departure; these periods are illustrative and the policy controls.
Other examples include jury service, appearance in court under a witness summons or compulsory quarantine within a specified period before departure. Fire, flood or burglary damage to the insured's principal home in Hong Kong may qualify where it occurs within the specified period, for example one week before departure, and requires the insured to remain in Hong Kong on the departure date for police investigation. OTA cover depends on the relevant alert level and terms.
Insurance must be bought before the insured knows, or ought to know, of circumstances very likely to cause cancellation. Apply any pre-existing-condition exclusion to its wording, the medical facts and what was known when cover was bought; a relative's chronic illness alone does not decide every claim. The 2021 notes also describe a possible exclusion treating COVID-19-related infectious or epidemic disease as pre-existing from 12 March 2020.
Curtailment of Trip 旅程提早結束
The main distinction from cancellation is that the trip has already begun, the insured is outside the place of origin and a named peril makes early termination unavoidable. Cover may indemnify lost prepaid fares or accommodation expenses and additional costs of returning to the place of origin, rather than refund the value of the whole holiday, including services already enjoyed.
Common insured perils include death, sickness or injury affecting the insured or a defined immediate family member, travelling companion or close business partner, preventing continuation of the trip. Other examples include hijack, an unexpected epidemic, riot or civil commotion, natural disaster, fire, flood or burglary damage to the principal home in Hong Kong, and an OTA meeting the policy terms.
Rearrangement cover concerns necessary re-routing because of a named peril and may reimburse additional travel and accommodation expenses incurred after the trip begins and outside the place of origin. Changing airlines while following the same route does not automatically amount to re-routing. Payments under this section have an aggregate limit per insured person, and insurance must be bought before awareness of circumstances very likely to cause curtailment or re-routing.
Additional return expenses must satisfy the terms and be reasonable; air fares are normally based on economy class, so convenience alone does not justify an upgrade. Possible exclusions include bankruptcy, liquidation or default of travel agencies, tour operators or common carriers, and failure to notify them immediately when curtailment is necessary because of an immediate family member's or close business partner's death, sickness or injury; the COVID-19-related pre-existing-condition example above may also apply.
Outbound Travel Alert 外遊警示
The 2021 material used for this page records that the HKSAR Government's Security Bureau introduced the OTA System in October 2009, covering 88 countries popular with Hong Kong residents and excluding the Mainland of China, Taiwan and Macau. The system helps residents understand threats to personal safety by assessing their nature, level and duration.
The three levels are amber, red and black, indicating signs of threat, significant threat and severe threat respectively. Alerts may also arise from public health risks such as infectious diseases. The issuing authority is the Security Bureau, rather than the Insurance Authority or an individual insurer.
The standard OTA cover described in the material treats a black OTA issued by the Security Bureau for the planned destination as an insured peril under cancellation and curtailment cover, with or without a separate OTA section. Some plans also include a red OTA under travel delay cover; this does not mean that every policy pays cancellation claims following a red alert.
Where a black OTA has been issued before planned departure, some policies expressly require cancellation in return for a full refund of premiums paid. Refunding the premium and indemnifying irrecoverable travel costs are different matters, and claims remain subject to the applicable terms. Whether an event constitutes terrorism also depends on the policy definition; an explosion or an OTA alone does not establish this.
Practice
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