Trip Cancellation Insurance (2024)

FAQs

What is a covered reason for trip cancellation? ›

Here are some examples: The unexpected death, sickness or injury of you, a travelling companion, or a family member. You need to attend the birth of a family member's child. Travel carrier cannot get you to your destination due to a natural disaster or severe weather.

Some examples of covered reasons could be: Sickness, injury, death, or quarantine of a member of your travel party. A delay that causes you to miss or interrupt any part of your covered trip due to weather, mechanical reasons, or travel advisory.

When booking travel, particularly expensive trips consisting of nonrefundable reservations, it makes sense to consider trip cancellation insurance since it can protect your deposit if your plans do not materialize due to unforeseen events.

You can usually claim back the cost of your tickets to travel, plus accommodation for the time you should have been on holiday. So, if you were unable to travel at all, you can claim back the entire cost of your portion of the holiday, less the excess on your policy, up to a certain amount.

The most common reasons for a denied claim include: There's insufficient documentation or evidence to support a claim. These include a lack of receipts, proof of payments or proof of the incident that you're making the claim for, such as a cancellation, necessary medical care or anything else that cost you money.

Your credit card's trip cancellation insurance may reimburse you for prepaid flights and hotel stays booked with your credit card. Trip interruption insurance (for trips that end earlier than planned) may cover expenses like the cost of a last-minute flight home.

A “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) travel insurance add-on upgrades your travel insurance policy to reimburse you for cancellations outside of the company's list of covered reasons, such as weather or simply not wanting to travel.

Can You Cancel Travel Insurance? Yes, travel insurance can be canceled at any time and for any reason. However in order to receive a refund, the cancellation must occur within a policy's Money Back Guarantee period. To cancel a policy, a traveler can contact their provider directly.

Sickness, Injury or Death:

An injury, illness or death of you, your traveling companion, your traveling or non-traveling family member, your business partner or your destination host. This is the most common reason for trip cancellation.

What is the difference between trip cancellation and trip insurance? ›

In short, trip cancellation coverage provides coverage for the money you would lose, while trip interruption coverage provides payment for the additional money for covered reasons you would have to spend to return home or resume your trip.

Cost: Travel insurance will add to the overall cost of your trip. Some may choose to forgo it to save money, especially on shorter or less expensive trips. Exclusions and Limitations: Policies may have various exclusions and limitations, so it's essential to read the fine print.

In some cases, you can make changes to your itinerary with no fee. Every major U.S. airline (except Southwest Airlines) typically charges penalty fees to change or cancel an economy fare flight. The fees can vary from as low as $25 on a domestic flight to more than $400 on an international flight.

If you know you can't make a scheduled flight, it's better to cancel your flight rather than be a no-show. If you cancel, you might receive a partial or whole credit for the fare purchased, to be applied to a future flight.

Our analysis found that AIG, Seven Corners and WorldTrips offer the best “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) travel insurance. A travel insurance policy with CFAR partially reimburses your insured trip costs if you cancel for reasons not listed in the policy.

The unexpected death, illness, or injury of you and/or a traveling companion that deems you unfit to travel, by order of a licensed physician. The hospitalization or death of a non-traveling family member.

Comprehensive travel insurance typically covers canceled flights that delay your trip for at least 3–12 hours. If your flight is delayed more than 12 hours, you may even qualify for trip cancellation coverage, depending on your plan.

The reason may be stated there, and if not, you can always contact the airline directly by phone or live chat to confirm. Passengers can also use an airline's online system to check for cancellations and the associated cause. If you have a login, use it to look up your flight and see what's going on.

CFAR coverage typically reimburses up to 75% of your nonrefundable trip costs when you cancel a trip. But you have to cancel at least 48 hours before your scheduled departure if you hope to file a successful CFAR claim.