Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, Australians are being urged to rethink their travel plans with the government warning of three more countries at risk of attacks and escalation. Jordan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia have all been upgraded to Level 3, “Reconsider your need to travel”, amid growing security concerns. The updated advice comes as the US issues a rare worldwide caution for Americans living in the Middle East or planning to travel there. For more, we’re joined by Peter Carter, aviation lawyer. Good to have you with us. So how serious does the situation have to be for a country to upgrade to Level 3?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Good morning, Shervo. Well, there has to be some escalation of the violent attacks there. So it’s a sensible warning given the recent history of attacks by Iran on those three nations. The risk is, though, that warning could quickly escalate to Level 4.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
We know that a couple of US soldiers were killed in the region. The US is issuing a worldwide caution for Americans living or planning to travel to the Middle East. How serious is that?

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Well, it’s coming from one of the parties that are dropping the bombs, so I think we should exercise a lot of caution over that warning, and travellers should be particularly careful about their travel arrangements.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Take us through that for a second. So if an Australian has all the warnings, understands it’s a Level 3 zone, what does their insurance cover if they need to get out of there or they need to detour?

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, usually they’ll be okay if it remains at Level 3, but if it does escalate to Level 4, most policies have an exclusion for all benefits under the policy for a “Do Not Travel” warning, which is Level 4. So that’s the risk they face.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
And what about if it’s not your final destination? Because a lot of the stopovers, if you’re going from Australia to Europe, for example—Qatar, Dubai—you might have to stop there. And what if your flight is cancelled or you have to stay there for a period of time? Who covers that?

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Well, the airline will always get you to your destination eventually or refund that portion of your travel, but they won’t accept responsibility for anything more than that. So if you’ve got hotel bookings further down the road in Europe after the stopover in Dubai, or you’ve got a river cruise booked, those losses will fall to you. And if it’s in a “Do Not Travel” zone, there won’t be any insurance cover.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, and don’t even get me started on your luggage. Peter, appreciate your time.