In the past, most travelers simply never considered travel insurance unless they were taking a very expensive trip. These days, however, travel insurance is finally getting a second look due to:

• volcano eruptions
• cruise ship wrecks
• flooding
• snowboard accidents
• and that’s just recently!

From impossible-to-predict disasters to natural disasters to medical emergencies and tragic accidents, travelers who don’t have travel insurance bemoan the fact and wish they’d purchased it. The travel industry has seen a healthy share of changes and developments in the last decade, but big, dramatic stories like the ones listed above are getting people to think about travel insurance.

Then, news of another airline consolidation or bankruptcy happens and travelers find themselves vying for the few remaining seats available on the last routes profitable to airlines and, well, you get the idea.

Rough Economy = Strict Cancellation Rules

In a rough economy, cruise lines, airlines, hotels, inns, bed and breakfasts, and tour operators have all tightened and published their cancellation policies, and many are quite restrictive, leaving travelers with stiff penalties and loads of unexpected out-of-pocket expenses if something happens.  Hey, they gotta make money somehow, right?

Just Getting Started?

If you are just beginning to realize what travel insurance can do for you, start with our Travel Insurance 101 guide for a good understanding of how it works, what ‘gotchas’ to avoid, and how to make the right travel insurance purchase without spending a lot of extra money.

Trust us, one long layover in New York City and we’ll make a travel insurance believer out of you. Don’t let that happen.

Air travel is no longer as fun as it once was and as the airlines have gotten stingier and stingier, travelers have had to find ways to be comfortable while traveling and still get everything through security.

The following are 5 absolute essentials no traveler should board an airplane without:

1. Essential medications – things to keep in your carry-on include all essential prescription medications. If you are separated from your bags for a significant amount of time, have what you need to stay healthy. This is especially true for people with diabetes and those who experience sudden attacks of asthma, for example.
2. Personal care items – nasal sprays, spare contact lenses, your own toothbrush and toothpaste can all make you feel more comfortable even if you are on a flight for a very long time. Think about what will keep you comfortable on a long layover and stick those in your carry-on.
3. A little food – in the past, the airlines were much more generous with food and drinks, but as they’ve tightened their belts, it leaves passengers responsible for their snack needs. These days, it’s super easy to get pre-packaged snacks or stick a piece of fruit in your bag.
4. A water bottle – empty it before security and fill it up after you get through. This way, you’ll stay hydrated on the flight even if the flight attendants can’t get to serving drinks.
5. Your credit card – cold hard cash no longer gets the respect it deserves. Everyone wants plastic. If you’re at 35,000 feet and just have to get something to drink or see how that movie turns out, you’ll need your plastic.

Of course, last – but not least – is your brand of entertainment. Flight time is forced down time, so bring what you need to get through – music, games, e-readers, magazines, whatever. For some people, flight time is nap time, and they may want to bring eye shades, a light blanket, noise-canceling headphones, even a sleep aid.

We’ve encountered a few variations of this question over the years in our comments: “Why doesn’t the travel insurance company ask pertinent medical questions before they sell me a policy?”

As a consumer, you have a right to purchase insurance of all kinds. It’s your responsibility to have the insurance you need to cover your situation. For example, your homeowners’ insurance provider doesn’t ask if a tree appears about to fall on your house. It’s your responsibility – as the homeowner – to get the right home insurance to protect your home and your belongings.

How Consumers Make these Travel Insurance Mistakes

The primary mistake travel insurance consumers make is failing to read their policy.

What happens is that most travel insurance consumers purchase a plan that has ‘trip cancellation’ and they think that it means cancelling a trip for any reason, at any time, and getting a full refund – no matter what.

Travel insurance is no different than other insurance products in that is has limitations and exclusions. Remember all the folks with flooded homes who moaned about their homeowners’ insurance failing them? Standard homeowners insurance does not cover flooding that occurs from outside the home. It was a surprise to all those homeowners, but not to anyone who had read their policies.

The next mistake travel insurance consumers make is failing to purchase the right coverage.

If you know you have a pre-existing medical condition, or if you’ve been to the doctor to be treated for a condition, then it’s your responsibility to be honest with the travel insurance company about the situation and purchase the coverage you may need on your trip.

The travel insurance plan’s description of coverage details the list of limitations and exclusions and that is your agreement with the travel insurance company. Typical medically related exclusions include items like the following (these are copied from the current version of Worldwide Trip Protector Gold from Travel Insured International):

1) Pre-Existing Conditions, as defined in the Definitions section (except Emergency Evacuation and Repatriation of Remains), unless the policy is purchased within 30 days of the initial Trip deposit. The booking for the Trip must be the first and only booking for this travel period and destination, You are not disabled from travel at the time You pay the premium, and You must purchase this policy for the full non-refundable cost of Your Trip;
2) Suicide, attempted suicide or any intentionally self-inflicted Injury while sane or insane (in Missouri, sane only) committed by You, Traveling Companion, or Family Member whether insured or not;
3) War, invasion, acts of foreign enemies, hostilities between nations (whether declared or not), civil war (does not apply to Cancel for Work Reasons coverage);
4) Participation in any military maneuver or training exercise (does not apply to Cancel for Work Reasons coverage);
5) Piloting or learning to pilot or acting as a member of the crew of any aircraft;
6) Mental or emotional disorders, unless hospitalized;
7) Participation as a professional in athletics;
8) Being under the influence of drugs or intoxicants, unless prescribed by a Physician;
9) Commission or the attempt to commit a criminal act by You, Traveling Companion or Family Member whether insured or not;
10) Participating in bodily contact sports; skydiving; hang gliding; parachuting; any race, bungee cord jumping;
speed contest; spelunking or caving; (Does not apply while on Your Trip if You purchase Sports Coverage);
11) Participating in extreme skiing or mountaineering (mountaineering below 15,000 feet is covered while on Your Trip if You purchase Sports Coverage);
12) Dental treatment except as a result of Accidental Injury to sound natural teeth;
13) Pregnancy and childbirth (except for Complications of Pregnancy or as specifically provided under Part A);
14) Traveling for the purpose of securing medical treatment.

In addition, there may be coverage-specific exclusions like the following:

The following limitation applies to Trip Cancellation: All cancellations must be reported directly to the Travel Supplier within 72 hours of the event causing the need to cancel, unless the event prevents it, and then as soon as is reasonably possible. If the cancellation is not reported within the specified 72-hour period, the Company will not pay for additional charges which would not have been incurred had You notified the Travel Supplier in the specified period. If the event prevents You from reporting the cancellation, the 72-hour notice requirement does not apply; however, You must, if requested, provide proof that said event prevented You from reporting the cancellation within the specified period.

The travel insurance companies have done their part by making their policy available to you and, even better, giving you a free look period to review it, ask questions, and make changes or cancel your policy.

Now you have to do your part and read the policy to know that you’ve purchased what you need to cover your trip.

Related topics

7 Things that Confuse Travelers about Travel Insurance

4 Steps to 100% confidence in your travel insurance plan

These days, the world of traveling families is very different. Working parents don’t always have the time or money to take their kids on vacations and, in some cases, grandparents are stepping in to fill that role.

We decided it was time to look into the plans that are best suited for grandparents taking their grandchildren on vacation. We wanted a package plan in order to have the full range of benefits that grandparents and grandkids need. The following are the essentials:

• Trip cancellation/trip interruption
• Travel medical and emergency evacuations/repatriation
• Baggage loss and baggage delay
• 24/7 emergency assistance services

Travel Insurance Package Plans for Grandparents

When we thought about what grandparents might want in a travel insurance plan for a trip with the grandkids, we determined that covering the kids for free would help offset the cost (especially since the price of insurance will already be affected by the age of the grandparents). Also, we wanted the option to purchase a pre-existing condition waiver with the plan.

In searching around we came up with the following plans that meet these criteria:

• Travel Select by Travelex
• TraveLite by Travelex
• Classic by Allianz
• Worldwide Trip Protector by Travel Insured
• Gold by Travel Guard

Travel Insurance Price Quote Example

To get an idea of the costs, we decided to run sample vacation details through our travel insurance comparison engine and see what the costs for travel insurance would be. We used these trip details:

• Spring break trip to Costa Rica
• One week of travel March 18-25
• No trip cancellation, but we wanted trip interruption in case they had to get back home quickly
• Pre-existing condition waiver available
• 4 travelers from Kansas, ages: 78, 76, 14, and 12

Using the trip details listed above, we found many plans to fit the needs of these travelers:

Each plan, of course, has varying degrees of coverage, so it’s important to review them carefully before choosing. After you choose, remember that you have a free review period in which to study the plan, ask questions, and make changes.

It’s important to remember that to get the pre-existing condition waiver, you have to purchase the trip insurance within a certain number of days of making your initial trip deposit. See our pre-existing condition coverage review to fully understand how that works.

Related topics

• Prepare for a Personal Medical Emergency with a Travel Medical Portfolio
• Finding Medical Care on the Road and in a Hurry

Travel insurance is a relatively new insurance product and when travelers see advertising for travel insurance that says it covers trip cancellation and evacuation and baggage, they believe it will cover accidents of all kinds.

The truth is that travel insurance is just like any other insurance product – you gotta read the policy.

You already know the kinds of things you can’t do and expect your homeowner’s or automobile policy to pay up, and now it’s time to start understanding what travel insurance covers – and what it doesn’t. We’ll review some of the top travel scenarios that cause traveler confusion and explain how it works.

1. “I bought a travel insurance policy that covers trip cancellation, and I had to cancel my trip; now why won’t the travel insurance company reimburse me?”

The reason for your cancellation is the key here. You must understand the covered reasons for trip cancellation according to your policy. For example, one policy may reimburse your pre-paid trip costs if you have to cancel because you lost your job; but the policy may also stipulate that you have to have been employed at the same company for a defined number of years. Another policy may let you cancel due to an illness in the family, but you must be sure that the family member is covered. For example, if you are cancelling because your sister-in-law is ill and you have to help take care of the kids – does your travel insurance policy consider a sister-in-law a family member? See your description of coverage and look for the definition of ‘family member’ to find out. See our full review of trip cancellation coverage to understand how this travel insurance coverage works.

2. “I have travel medical coverage with my travel insurance policy, and I got ill while on vacation. Now, why won’t the travel insurance company says it was a pre-existing condition and they won’t reimburse my expenses. Why?”

A travel insurance company, just like a health insurance company, has to consider pre-existing conditions and pre-existing medical conditions are excluded by default from every travel insurance policy. A pre-existing condition is “any injury, illness, disease or other medical condition that occurs prior to the travel plan’s effective date and for which you had symptoms and sought diagnosis, medical treatment, and/or new prescription medications or a change in your current prescription.” If you have seen a doctor for any treatment during the look-back period (which is the 60 to 180 days prior to your travel insurance purchase), and you get sick on your trip, that illness must be completely unrelated to your previous doctor’s visit to be covered. See our full review of pre-existing medical condition coverage if you suspect that may be a factor on your trip and consider purchasing the pre-existing condition waiver.

3. “I got a little drunk at a party and fell off a chair and broke my ankle. Now, my travel insurance company is refusing to pay the medical bills. I don’t understand.”

In every travel insurance policy, there is a list of exclusions and in each of those lists, travel insurance companies limit their losses if you get drunk or take drugs. Check the list of exclusions in your policy and you will find text similar to the following: “We will not pay for any loss under the plan caused by or resulting from: being under the influence of drugs or intoxicants.” If it’s drugs that got you into trouble, you’re really out of luck because travel insurance also excludes any criminal acts that you commit and criminality is determined by the local laws, not the laws back home. See our full review of travel medical coverage to understand what is and isn’t covered when you’re on a trip.

4. “I was on vacation in Costa Rica and we had the opportunity to bungee jump. Unfortunately,  I hit the bridge on the rebound and broke my collar bone and wrist. My travel insurance company is refusing to reimburse my medical bills. Why?”

When you’re on vacation, it’s understandable that you want to try all the activities you can. After all, when will you get the change to bungee jump again after you get home? Still, the reason you are being denied coverage is right in your policy, under the list of exclusions. Almost all travel insurance plans specifically refuse to cover activities like mountain climbing, rock-climbing, bungee jumping, sky diving, hang gliding, para gliding, and even para-sailing (a popular activity at all-inclusive resorts). Check your list of exclusions before you sign up for that once-in-a-lifetime activity and consider purchasing a travel insurance policy that covers adventure activities.

5. “We purchased travel insurance for our cruise, and a mechanical failure caused our connecting flight to be delayed two hours and we missed our cruise departure. Now, the travel insurance company is refusing to reimburse our costs. I thought travel insurance was supposed to cover these things!”

As with any coverage, it’s important to read the fine print. Missed connection coverage requires that the traveler allow enough time in their planned itinerary to reach the flight or cruise departure. If you have a tight connection time and are landing a short time before your cruise departure, the travel insurance company may claim that you didn’t allow enough time for travel. Also, missed connection coverage, just like travel delay coverage, often requires that you are delayed a minimum number of hours (usually at least three). In this case, it’s likely that the flight delay wasn’t enough to meet the minimum number of hours. That combined with your compressed travel times is enough for the travel insurance company to deny your claim. Read our full review of missed connection coverage to understand how this coverage works.

6. “I was on a business trip in Egypt when the civil uprisings grew violent and I wanted to leave. Unfortunately, my return flight wasn’t for another week but it appears they may close the local airport anyway. I just want to get out of here!”

In the event that an emergency situation occurs, and you are in imminent danger while traveling in a foreign country, the right coverage on your travel insurance policy will help you and any insured dependents be evacuated to a place of safety. Not all travel insurance policies have security or political evacuations in their coverage; in fact, most specifically exclude coverage for war, civil uprisings, military action, and other similar dangers. If you are traveling to a country where the political situation is tense, it’s important to review your policy and be sure that you have the coverage you need for the situations that could arise on your trip. See our review of security and political evacuation coverage and consider contacting your travel insurance assistance services hotline if you have questions about your safety on your trip.

7. “I was on vacation in Hawaii with my daughter when we discovered that our hotel room had been ransacked while we were on the beach. Our camera, money, cards, and smart phones were stolen. Now the travel insurance company is saying they don’t cover those things and I don’t understand.”

While baggage coverage from a travel insurance company, unlike the baggage protection you get with the airlines, covers your belongings even after you leave the airport, this coverage is like any other coverage in that it has limitations. In all travel insurance plans that include coverage for baggage and personal belongings is a list items that it will not cover. These items typically include jewelry, cameras, sports equipment, electronics, laptops, cash, and bank cards. If you read your travel insurance policy you’ll notice that there are items that are specifically excluded: money, credit cards, eye glasses, documents,, and more, and there are items that are subject to special limitations. These include jewelry, watches, electronic equipment, cameras, and more. Items that are subject to special limitations are covered only up to the limit defined in the policy and that limit is separate from the policy limit or the per-item limit. Read our full review of baggage coverage to better understand your travel insurance plan.

News of death – especially deaths that occur on vacations – are sensational. Like the 26-year old U.S. tourist who died on a Bahama cruise or the three skiers recently killed in a Washington avalanche.

Whether a traveler is traveling solo, with friends, or with family, it’s important to remember that if a death occurs on any trip, your body isn’t automatically shipped back home for burial. In fact, it’s stored in the local morgue and local laws govern how long it can wait before being collected. Transporting a body can take a lot of money and coordination to properly prepare and ship it back home.

One travel insurance coverage no traveler should leave home without is repatriation. Often lumped together with medical evacuation coverage, repatriation is a fancy word arranging for and transporting a covered person’s body to his or her home or to a nearby funeral or cremation facility. Having this benefit with your travel insurance plan means your family won’t have to pay for the unexpected costs related to collecting and shipping your body home for burial.

Each country has their own laws and regulations governing how a body can be transported. Many require a good deal of paperwork – paperwork and coordination that must occur in the local language.

Even if you are traveling with family members, they won’t have to navigate the complications of transporting your body home. With repatriation coverage included in your travel insurance plan, you’ll have assistance services representatives to coordinate and manage this responsibility. Similar to life insurance that leaves those depending on you a little safer financially should you die, repatriation insurance ensures that they’ll have the help they need to coordinate your body’s return home if you die on a trip.