No South African should travel abroad without appropriate travel insurance

The failed Christmas Day terror attack on a US passenger jet came close to claiming hundreds of lives. Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, an al-Qaeda operative, is alleged to have attempted to bring down the plane which was flying from Amsterdam to Detroit.

America has increased the number of people on its "no-fly lists" and extra security checks have been ordered on all passengers coming into the US from 14 countries designated either as state sponsors of terrorism or "of interest", according to Sky News. All air passengers bound for America will face increased random screening under new rules, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has confirmed, and changes to the systems of watchlists, meant to monitor suspects trying to fly into the US, have also been made. BAA has announced that full-body scanners are to be introduced at London's Heathrow Airport as soon as is practical, and Dutch officials say they'll begin using full body scanners to screen passengers boarding flights to the USA.

Unfortunately, there is no surety that these measures will be effective, and the heightened risk of terror attacks on flights is an unavoidable reality.

George Novis, the MD of Travel Insurance Consultants (TIC) says, “It is vital that travellers are properly insured when they travel abroad. TIC is the only insurance company in South Africa offering full limits of cover for war and terrorism in respect of medical expenses and emergency services such as evacuation and repatriation as well as accidental death and disability cover. TIC also has a daily inconvenience benefit for any policyholder who is held hostage in a terrorist attack, which is a unique benefit of TIC’s policies. No South African should travel abroad without appropriate travel insurance. In today’s high risk travel environment, it’s more important than ever that travellers are properly insured.”