If you’re a first time traveler, trying to figure out the ins and outs of how travel insurance works can be intimidating. There are so many small details that can set your anxiety off. What if something happens? What if I’m not really covered for something I think I am? What if I don’t understand everything about the policy? Even seasoned travelers can run into trouble sometimes.
Travelers may find themselves worrying over this situation: someone in their family dies and suddenly they have to postpone a trip and change their flight plans. So they worry that their insurance coverage will not cover the flight change they need because of a death in the family.
Don’t worry because this is exactly the kind of thing travel insurance is meant to cover. The short answer is: Yes, travel insurance will cover a flight change because of a death in the family. In fact, many companies not only cover flight changes, they cover flight cancellation. If your family member dies and you suddenly have to postpone or cancel a flight entirely, the insurance company pays the costs and fees. So, if you just change the flight, they cover or reimburse you for the fees of the flight change. In the event that you actually cancel the flight, most policies will also reimburse you for the cost of the tickets since most airlines refuse to refund plane tickets.
This applies to all kinds of insurance. It is most commonly applied to single trip travel insurance because these trips are more often interrupted due to family emergencies. These policies are only meant to cover a single, short trip so it’s a very good idea to get travel insurance in case a death in the family does occur. This way, you don’t have to pay for flight changes or worse, absorb the cost of the entire plane ticket.
For annual travel insurance, you may not actually need it. Annual travel insurance is meant to cover multiple trips taken over a year. Since this kind of travel insurance is most commonly used for business trips, the company will have arranged for some kind of insurance policy when it comes to emergency plan changes. Most annual travel insurance plans do cover flight changes which result from a family death.
Long stay travel insurance usually includes clauses that cover emergency flight change. Long stay travel insurance is actually intended for people who travel extensively or who plan to take a long holiday or vacation, anywhere from 3 to 18 months. These policies actually are quite flexible when it comes to return dates so there may not be an issue at all with flight change or ticket cancellation fees.
The bottom line is, the death of a family member and the sudden change or cancellation of plans is exactly the kind of thing travel insurance is intended for.
