Berkshire Hathaway announced that it will begin offering a new kind of travel insurance. Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, which is part of Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, has named this new insurance product AirCare.
This is the first product in its new travel-insurance line, which was created for travel agencies, travelers, tour operators and travel suppliers. Right now, individuals can purchase AirCare online.
AirCare, which offers flight protection coverage up to one hour before flight departure, costs $25 per trip.
Travelers who purchase the flight-protection plan will receive:
- $1,000 for tarmac delays of more than two hours.
- $1,000 for lost or stolen luggage.
- $500 if a flight delay causes a traveler to miss a connecting flight.
- $500 for luggage delayed more than 12 hours.
- $50 for a flight delay of more than two-hours.
AirCare also includes travel-assistance through MyAssist, a global-assistance and concierge service.
Berkshire Hathaway points to the timeliness of this type of insurance. The company mentions data from FlightAware, which states that nearly 90,000 flights in the U.S. have been canceled in the last six months. Many of the cancellations were due to the harsh winter storms.
“According to masFlight, a data company specializing in airline operations, weather disruptions in January alone resulted in 300,000 flight delays. Thirty million U.S. passengers were impacted by delayed or cancelled flights, costing $2.5 billion in lost productivity and additional incurred expenses for items such as hotel rooms and meals,†says Berkshire Hathaway in a written statement.