By Taylor Rains
Eurowings’ New Corona Insurance Free to Customers Through Sept. 27
The coronavirus continues to plague the airline industry into the fall travel season, and carriers are looking at all options to get people flying. One tool that has become popular among many airlines is COVID-19 insurance, and as of Monday, Eurowings has become the latest airline to offer travel protection.
What Does COVID-19 Insurance Include and Who Does It Cover?
The Eurowings Corona insurance is offered for free to any person who books an international roundtrip flight in any fare class on the Eurowings website or mobile app through Sept. 27, 2020. The purpose of the coverage, provided by the airline’s insurance partner HanseMerkur, is to give customers peace of mind during their travels. The protection covers three main components:
- Trip cancellation: if a guest tests positive for COVID-19 and can no longer fly, or fails a temperature check before boarding, for example
- Foreign-health costs: expenses covered for guests who have a COVID-related hospital visit or health emergency once they have completed their flight and entered another country
- Travel interruption: expenses covered for an extended stay caused by COVID-19, such as changes in border restrictions or illness
The corona insurance also gives customers flexible rebooking options, including the ability to change the date, time and destination up to seven days before departure. Furthermore, the airline offers a return flight guarantee, meaning Eurowings will fly guests back to Germany free-of-charge should travel plans be disrupted due to a COVID-related reason. Reasons include an imposed lockdown at the destination, an official travel warning issued at the destination or the destination being deemed an official risk area by the Robert Koch Institute.
To be eligible for the return flight, the passenger must not show symptoms of COVID-19 or test positive for the virus, and the airline is able to fly to the affected country. Covered costs only include the flight – expenses for hotel accommodations and transportation to the airport is not included.
The insurance is available for free until the end of September but can be added upon request for a small fee afterward. Eurowings CEO Jens Bischof said in a statement, “People want to fly and travel but want more security for uncertain times. We provide this in the form of a new corona insurance policy.”
Coronavirus insurance has become a popular tool to get people flying again. Emirates was the first airline to offer free medical and quarantine expense coverage should a passenger test positive for COVID-19 during their travels. The Dubai-based carrier offers up to EUR 150,000 in medical expenses and up to EUR 100 per day in quarantine costs, valid for 14 days.
In addition to Emirates, many other airlines have also come up with corona insurance policies, such as Etihad Airways, AirAsia, Air Canada and Virgin Atlantic. For example, AirAsia provides a daily hospital allowance if a passenger is hospitalized due to the virus, which covers RM6,000 ($1452.61) for international visits and RM1,500 for domestic ($361.49) visits. Meanwhile, Air Canada’s policy provides Canadian residents on any international flight up to CAD 200,000 ($150,254) for COVID-related medical expenses and CAD 150 per day, per person, for quarantine-related costs.
