There are a few things that business people worry about when travelling and these include becoming seriously ill, missing a flight or experiencing delayed flights – and losing their belongings. In particular, people say they fear losing business equipment, documents, and clothing that will be of use for meetings, conferences and presentations.
In case your baggage was lost by the airline, they have the responsibility to indemnify you for your losses, but baggage being lost can happen throughout the trip. So, how should a business traveller manage the risk of losing their baggage?
There are various of ways to be a smarter business traveller.
Tips for keeping baggage safe while travelling
Back up before you go. Due to technological advancements, presentations, documents and other files can be easily backed-up. Remember to upload copies of important files to the cloud, or put them on a memory stick and carry that separately or e-mail them to yourself and your colleagues. This will ensure that you can access them no matter where, and no matter what happens.
Buy insurance: For those that cannot be contained by the “cloud”, it’s recommended that the smart business traveller ensures every trip is covered by business travel insurance.
Travel insurance is defined to provide coverage to a variety of risks that can occur during a trip in a foreign country – and this can involve risks of illnesses and injury, delays or cancellations of trips and even loss of luggage.
As a business traveller, it’s a good idea to invest in an insurance policy that will assist you in case mishaps transpire.
Check the small print: So, what are the important things that you have to know about the Baggage & Personal Effects Insurance, which is part of your insurance?
The purpose of this cover is to ensure you are indemnified in case your luggage is stolen or lost (or destroyed). Thus, in case it happens, you can reimburse a certain amount to be utilised to replaced the items you lost.
Second, there are limits of the amount of indemnification. If you’re buying clothes, for example, these come with a reasonable limit (pay-out limitation is normally done per item). It’s highly recommended to take note of these amounts to ensure that you won’t incur excesses when replacing the lost items.
In case you have valuable items in your luggage, such as jewellery, watches, and gadgets (laptops, cell phones, and tablets), do review the limits, as the amount may not be able to cover the actual costs of these high-value items.
Third, official receipts of purchased items should be kept as an evidence for claims. There are instances that this might be requested by insurers as the basis of the pay-out, thus, it will come in handy to keep them.
Business trips are usually a combination of work and pleasure. But it can feel like 100% work when you lose your baggage with all your necessities in it. But through your Baggage & Personal Effects Insurance, there is no need to worry as all that’s lost can be replaced with ease.
