Travel Insurance and Teens

Unlike the old days, in the modern times there are many an occasions when your teenager child may need to travel without the parents. Inter-school or inter-college competitions, trekking on the hills, education summits, youth conferences or simply discovering the world could be some of the examples when the parents may not accompany teenager children.

Children travelling alone are very common these days. Travelling alone to explore the world not only makes them confident, they come to know about various cultures, try different foods and make new friends. A confident teenager can face the world better than a one who is dependent only on parents and had never ventured out alone.

However, even when physically the parents are not around their teenage children, they would definitely wish to protect the teenager children in every possible manner especially when they are travelling alone or with their friends.

Travel Insurance plays a very important role and deciding on such kind of trips requires good amount of researching on the internet or with the help of the travel agents.

While there may not be any doubt that you have covered your children in your family travel policy, yet the need of separate travel insurance for your teenager children is equally important as he or she is travelling alone. A child travel insurance plan can cover your children to travel independently.

What should you know when a teenager is travelling without parents

When ever he or she is travelling alone, each airline will apply different rules as the airlines become more responsible. Therefore, when you are about to take the travel insurance policy for your child, you also need to check the rules with the concerned airlines that your child may use. Following are some of the things that you need to know in case your teenager child is travelling alone.

• Children above five years and above can only travel alone. However, you must check the minimum age criteria with the country your child is travelling to.


• Airlines provides specific services for children between 5 to 15 years. You must ask your children to check this with the airline he or she is travelling.


• Handover the passport and other travel document to your child before travelling

What should a travel insurance policy include when the teenager is travelling?

Having a general travel policy may not be sufficient for the travelling teenager. Therefore, you must check policies which cover sport and other high risk adventurous activities like, para-gliding, mountaineering and go karting etc. Insurance policies for teenagers travelling independently may differ from company to company. Therefore, while choosing the travel policy, you need to be extra cautious that you get the deal that suits the travelling needs of the teenager.

While you should always look for coverage against the features mentioned above, you should not miss out the standard features of a travel policy, like -

So what exactly are the advantages of travel insurance? Let’s take a look.

• Overseas healthcare expenses:

  You can very well imagine what the medical bill would look like if the teenager had to get medical help/ treatment in a foreign country! Ensure that the travel policy takes care that. So if she/ he runs a medical expense, it will be covered.



• Extension of your trip:

  If a medical condition forces him or her to extend the trip, the travel insurance plan should pay for the hotel or hospital expenses.



• Loss of passport:

  A loss of passport can land the traveller in a very serious problem while travelling. The general travel policy should compensate for the loss of passport. Not only the teenager gets quick and efficient assistance at such a time, the insurer should also assist him / her in getting the temporary documents required to travel back safely.



• Flight delays and cancellations:

  While travelling, if she / he were to face such a situation, the insurance policy should pay for the financial losses and also ensures that he/ she gets on to the next flight available.



• Loss of baggage:

  A good travel insurance plan, can get compensation for the lost or delayed luggage and helps buy the needed stuffs.

Conclusion

With the world opening up, the teenagers must go and explore the world and make themselves accustomed with various cultures in and around the country and the world. This makes them confident global citizens when they become adult. While exploring the whole world might sound like a great idea, one must protect oneself with an adequate and right travel policy while travelling. It is highly recommended that the teenagers travel only after buying a good and comprehensive travel insurance plan suiting their travel and adventure needs.