While Travelling #4 – Problems during Travel?? Emergency Contacts

We all plan a family vacation – to have memorable moments and to have a great family time. Definitely, we expect it to be smooth without any hurdles.

But, in unforeseen circumstances – what to do if we face any problems during travel? How to avoid it? Whom should we contact?

1.Medical Emergency

• Always make it a practice to meet your doctor – before you go to vacation
  • Take precautionary vaccines (if necessary) and also collect medicines for common ailments
  • Keep the prescription during your entire travel – as the immigration team at airports might ask
• In certain destination countries, in order to purchase antibiotics – you will need that country’s local doctor prescription
  • Have your passport & visa handy
• In Medical Emergencies : Visiting hospital
  • Before travelling, research about the best hospitals near your hotel stay and see if they have a tie up with your Travel Insurance Partner
  • Speak with your Travel Insurance partner and keep them informed for a Direct Pay or Cashless Pay facility. Also, make it a point to inform them via email as a record
    • Verify the document check-list and make sure you receive all the documents from the hospital

2. Loss of Passport & Visa

Point of Contact : Your Nationality’s Embassy in the Country where you lost the Passport or Visa

• The Embassy is very quick in addressing and solving this issue
  • Carry Passport size photos
  • Always during travel, have scanned copies or physical photocopies of your Passport, Visa, Insurance Policy and Flight Tickets. This helps them

3. Loss of Credit Card, Debit Card & Forex Cards

Point of Contact : Card Issuer (Bank or Third Party)

• As a practice, always have maximum two cards for Travel – keep the remaining cards at your home
• Store the Emergency Helpline number of the Card Issuer in your phone or paper
  • Contact and ask them to block your card immediately
• As mentioned in my While Travelling #1, always have 50% of your expected expenses in Cash
  • In case you have very less cash, contact your Travel Insurance partner to issue you emergency cash

4. Loss of Phone

• As a best practice, install ‘Find my Device’ by Google (in Android phone) or ‘Find My’ by Apple (in iPhone)
  • You can access your phone from website through the following modes:
    • Android – Find My Device
    • iPhone – Find My
  • This becomes easy to track and you can even make the phone ring (even if it is in silent mode)
  • Mention Emergency Contact in the phone – which come handy if any good-hearted person wants to help and return your phone
  • If your phone is stolen, you can erase the device from the above links
    • If the phone is very critical, file a report with the local police

5. Loss or Delay of Baggage & Flight Delay

Point of Contact : Flight Operator & Travel Insurance Partner

• If there is a loss or delay of Baggage, report it to the Flight Operator in the Airport or Baggage Claim Desk
  • After filling the form, you can ask them to give you an allowance and if they provide, make sure you have the purchase receipts for it to be claimed
  • Get a written confirmation on the issue from the Flight Operator and inform your Travel Insurance Partner – to claim the allowance as mentioned in the policy
• If there is a Flight Delay more than a stipulated time and if you are in an emergency, the Flight Operator will arrange an alternate flight for you or you can ask for a refund + penalty
  • Get a written confirmation on the issue from the Flight Operator and inform your Travel Insurance Partner – to claim the allowance as mentioned in the policy
  • Know your rights in India
  • Know your rights in European Union & USA

6. Dispute on Hotel Booking

Point of Contact : Hotel Management or Third Party Operator who helped with the booking

• Book your hotel based on large number of reviews and ratings. This will give you an idea about the Hotel Management
• As a practice, if you have booked your room via Hotel Website or Third Party Websites – make sure you send an email to the Hotel’s Email ID to get a confirmation. This prevents the scenario of landing at the hotel and realizing that there was a booking issue

If you have faced any further scenarios and would like to share or ask for solutions, please feel free to comment below! If you find it useful, share it with your friends and family!