More benefits than its name might imply are provided by trip cancellation insurance. These policies are by no means a travel expenditure reimbursement coverage that just offers trip cancellation protection. The cost of trip cancellation insurance is rather low when you look at what it covers.
Furthermore, the peace of mind that trip cancellation solutions provide is among their most important advantages. Your finances will be much relieved to know that you may recover costs in the event that you are unable to go.
Insurance to Cover the Cost of Your Trip
When you plan a vacation, you often believe that you will be healthy enough to go. However, unforeseen circumstances might arise and make it impossible for you to continue the adventure.
Trip cancellation insurance protects you in the case of an unexpected illness or accident. It could also protect you in case a family member, business partner, or vacation companion becomes sick or gets into an accident. Even if the person you are going with is ultimately unable to attend, your trip cancellation insurance coverage will still pay.
There are a number of other possible reasons to postpone your vacation, including jury duty, terrorist activity where you will be travelling, and other safety concerns, such a malaria epidemic.
Any of these situations qualify as a trip cancellation and are all covered by policies.
Benefits of Coverage
Travel cancellation insurance policies protect you if you need to cancel your trip and cannot go. If this happens and you need to cancel for one of the covered reasons, you can get the costs back for your trip.
Below is a list of the expenses and amounts you may recover with your trip cancellation insurance. Benefit amounts may vary, depending on the plan you choose:
- Up to $50,000 for trip cancellation
- Up to $1,000 for travel delay
- Up to $2,000 for lost baggage
- Medical Expenses and Repatriation
- Medical Evacuation and Repatriation
- Cancel For Any Reason upgrade!
When to Buy Travel Cancellation Coverage
If you have bought more costly vacations well in advance of your departure, we usually suggest Trip Cancellation products. The optimum time to get flight cancellation insurance is ideally when you make your first travel payment. The greatest risk factors are the expense of the trip and the amount of time before departure, so purchasing coverage makes sense.
Purchasing the coverage for a cheap trip that departs in a few days would not be wise. You get more value for your insurance and enjoy longer coverage if you purchase the plan early.
When Am I Covered for the Cost of My Trip?
The majority of trip cancellation insurance policies will pay your travel expenditures back as long as they are covered under the policy. You may submit a claim and ask for a reimbursement of your non-reimbursable costs if you have to cancel your trip for any reason.
The list of items that are and are not covered may vary according on the provider. These are a few of the more common reasons for cancelling a vacation for which you may still be entitled for a refund. As long as you have the cost of your tickets when purchasing coverage, most policies offer flight cancellation.
Covered Reasons for Trip Cancellation
- Mandatory evacuation at your destination due to a hurricane or other natural disasters
- Primary residence or destination accommodations uninhabitable due to natural or man-made disaster
- Sickness, injury, or death of you, your traveling companion, family member, or business partner
- Death or hospitalization of your destination host
- Adverse weather, natural disasters, or terrorist attacks, causing complete cessation of travel services
- Strike causing complete cessation of your common carrier’s services (for at least 12 consecutive hours)
- You or your travel companion are hijacked, quarantined, required to serve on a jury, subpoenaed, or required to appear as a witness in a legal action
- Your job termination or layoff (must have been employed there for 3 consecutive years)
- Terrorist attack within 30 days of your departure
- Government authorities prohibit the activities you planned to do at your destination
- Your job transfer requires the relocation of your principal residence
- You or your traveling companion are a victim of a felonious assault within 10 days of departure
- Vandalism or burglary of your principal residence within 10 days of departure
- Traffic accident en route to departure
- You, your traveling companion, or family member, who are military personnel, are called to emergency duty for a natural disaster (not war), or military duty within 30 days of departure
- You are active military personnel and have your leave revoked or are redeployed
- You are unable to participate in scheduled hunting, fishing, or sports expedition due to a delay or your sports equipment for 12 hours or more