One of the barriers to travelling at the moment – beyond quarantines and national lockdowns – is insurance to guard against the costs of catching Covid-19 while on a trip, which many policies exclude.
Two initiatives have been launched this week to fill that gap in cover, for independent business travellers at least.
Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines have expanded their existing Travel Care and Travel Care Plus offerings to cover for various scenarios where travel is affected by Covid.
The Travel Care option includes a compensation payment if the passenger has to go into quarantine at the destination due to a Covid-19 infection. It also includes travel cancellation and trip interruption insurance. Travel Care Plus additionally covers medical costs plus any emergency medical repatriation.
The insurance, underwritten by AIG Europe, is available to residents of Germany, Austria and Switzerland who book via direct sales channels.
Skyscanner, meanwhile, has joined up with insurtech company Cover Genius to offer those booking through the platform cover for medical costs, repatriation expenses, trip cancellation costs and airline insolvency.
The cover will initially be offered to travellers who book directly via Skyscanner in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and UK as part of a phased roll-out in Europe, before becoming available in up to 50 countries worldwide.
Tiago Godinho, commercial director at Skyscanner comments, “In today’s uncertain and changing travel landscape, the most important thing we can do is to give travellers the confidence they need to plan and book a flight, knowing that they are covered whatever happens.
“This first-of-its-kind package offers a high level of cover, going as far as reimbursing travellers if they fail a temperature check at their destination, ensuring complete peace of mind for anyone wishing to travel right now.”
Peter Smith, head of travel partnerships, EMEA at Cover Genius, told BTN Europe, “Business travellers have as much to lose as leisure travellers in these uncertain times and must take such financial and personal risks into account when traveling for business.
“Corporate travel and administration teams are certainly watching the travel space as closely as personal travellers are and would greatly benefit from Covid-safe travel products that protect their company and team from Covid-related travel uncertainties as they begin to travel again and conduct business across borders.”