What happens if I miss my connecting flight? Will I be covered?

We’ve all been there. Sitting on the plane listening to the announcements about being behind schedule, landing 20 minutes late. Next your connecting gate is listed as Z-99, at least a 20 minute mad dash through the airport. Nothing like getting your relaxing vacation off to a good start.

Package plans include trip delay coverage

Travel insurance plans are available to cover travel delay. Most package plans that cover trip cancellation also cover travel delay. Basically, travel delay coverage will pay for expenses incurred because of a delayed trip.

Every policy is different, but in general covered travel delay reasons include:

• common carrier delay (including weather related)
• lost or stolen passport, travel documents, or money
• natural disaster
• injury or sickness of insured or travel companion

There are different delay times and coverage amounts

The different insurance companies have different rules regarding delay length and coverage amounts. In general, most companies cover for delays of 3-6 hours, but many have higher delay limits of 12-24 hours. This is the amount of time before the travel delay benefits kick in.

Travel insurance companies will also have different coverage amounts, both on a daily coverage basis and total amount covered. For example: $100 per day with a $1000 dollar maximum.

Stay in contact with your insurance company

It is also good to stay in contact with your insurance company. If you are experiencing a delay, call the company and let them know of the situation. They can advise you about your benefits and help you through the process.

Additional Resources

I made my own travel arrangements and did not go through a travel agent. Can I still insure my trip?

Yes. In fact, more and more travelers who do not use travel agents are buying their own travel insurance online. Sites like Expedia.com and Kayak.com have taken the control from travel agencies and given it to the actual traveler. The same goes for travel insurance.

Buying travel insurance direct is often the best way to go

Buying your own travel insurance online lets you make the choices in finding the best policy. If you don’t like a lot of choices, you can at least find the best prices.

You have more companies to choose from, so you can find the best policy for your individual trip

There are over 100+ travel insurance policies from several companies, all available for researching, quoting, and purchasing online. A travel agent might have 1 or 2 options; usually whichever insurer offered them the best commissions.

Use a comparison site to find the best prices (see How to Compare Quotes with a Travel Insurance Comparison Site)

Can I return my policy for a refund?

So you are planning your trip and researching travel insurance. After browsing a dozen plans, you think you’ve found the right one and are ready to buy. At the last minute though, you get that little hint of hesitation.

It’s natural to have a little anxiety; you want the right policy that will protect your trip, you don’t want to make any mistakes.

Free-look period allows travelers to check out the policy and return for a refund

Package plans from many different companies offer a free-look period. This means you can purchase the plan, get the actual policy and read through it, and return it for any reason for a full refund (minus a small admin fee, usually only 3-5 dollars)

The free-look refund only applies if you have not departed on your trip, and if you have not filed a claim.

The free-look period is usually 10-15 days

Buy the plan and read all the small print. Take your time because most companies offer the free-look period for 10-15 days. This allows plenty of time to look at all the details and make your final decisions.

Check out the free-look policy before buying

Most policies will clearly state the length of the free-look period. Also look for exceptions and fees, such as the small administrative fee stated earlier.

Related links
Look for “real time” travel insurance purchasing
2 Reasons to buy travel insurance when you book your trip

Company/Website: Travel Guard
Category: insurance company/administrator
Overall Rating: Good

About: Travel Guard is an AIU owned company marketing and administering travel insurance products.
Special Features: Wide product variety, MyTravelGuard custom policy
Full Review:

Travel Guard is the biggest player in travel insurance

Travel Guard is a pro in the business, insuring over 6 million travelers a year from around the world. Travel Guard is a subsidiary of AIU, which is more or less the biggest name in insurance.

Travelguard.com is not necessarily a great consumer website, but they make up for it by offering variety. In other words, finding a policy takes several steps, but they have a policy for every need. With a little patience you can find a travel insurance plan that’s right for your trip.

Travel Guard offers many products for different travel insurance needs

Arriving at the travelguard.com homepage, you see a basic welcome page and some content describing travel insurance in general. There is a quote form in the upper-left area (webpage sweet spot), but it is a little confusing.

They only ask for one thing, which is the type of policy you need. The problem is the drop-down list of 14 options. If you are a first time buyer, this is very confusing because you do not know exactly what you need yet. (see screenshot on right)

Selecting any of the different drop-down options take you to a quote page. You are then asked for some of the trip information, such as trip dates, trip cost, and ages of travelers. This is pretty basic.

The next screen will give you a quote for the appropriate product, depending on your initial selection.

Browse through all their products to see what’s right for you

Another option is to browse all products. In the top navigation bar, you will see a travel insurance button. Selecting this will open a drop-down menu, and on the far right is an “All Products” button.

They do have two steps until you can see all products; First is an intro screen where you simply need to click “Continue”, or “Non-US resident” if it applies.

Second, you need to select a state of residence. I would prefer to skip these two steps and just see the policies. They can always gather that information later, and I think visitors can get lost on their way to “All Products”.

After selecting your state of residence, you will see a list of all Travel Guard products. Here they do a good job by describing the different policies and who they are for.

You can click “Buy Now” to continue with a quote and purchase the policy, or click “more info” to read more. I recommend you read more information, read the overview, and even the actual policy.

My Travel Guard offers custom travel insurance

This is a product unique to Travel Guard. My Travel Guard allows travelers to pick and choose their exact coverage. You can vary amounts of coverage and types of coverage. The plan begins with basic travel medical and evacuation protection, and there are several add-ons to choose from. You can read previous coverage about My Travel Guard here.

Summary: Overall, travelguard.com gets the job done, but it takes a little patience. They have many products, so they most likely have the right one for your trip. You just need to find it.

Get a quote at travelguard.com.

As winter approaches, many of you will head to the slopes to do some skiing, snowboarding, or cross-country. Here in New England, Vermonters are getting ready for a great season and everyone is hoping for some early snow.

Does travel insurance cover skiing accidents?

It depends. I know you hate hearing that because it means searching the small print of a dozen insurance policies.

You can use a comparison site that lists policies side-by-side, and can see the coverage provided by each. Look for something called “hazardous sports coverage”.
The problem with this, however, is the different wording of each policy. A general term like “hazardous sports” is not specific enough. Does that mean jumping out of a helicopter on top of a mountain to ski down, or just hitting the green bunny slopes for some casual skiing.

What is the best way to find out what’s covered…quickly?

Here is how you look through all the policies and find out what skiing coverage they offer, without going crazy:

1. Go to the product page You can do this through a comparison site (see How to Compare Quotes with a Travel Insurance Comparison Site)
2. View the certificate You should see a button to click and read the certificate, or actual policy wording
3. Do a search for “ski” Whether you are viewing the policy online, or need to download the PDF, you can search the document for and word. On a Mac, hold Command+F, type in “ski”, and it will search the page for that word and highlight it.

This should take you to the “exclusions” portion of the insurance policy. You should see a section about professional sports, motorsports, sky-diving, etc.

Read within this section to see if skiing is excluded. Some some policies state that all skiing is excluded. Others state that recreational skiing is fine, as long as you are skiing within official boundaries.

The specifics are important here, so check out a few policies. If you are buying the policy specifically for a skiing trip, take the time to read several policies.

If something is not totally clear, call the company and ask specific questions.

I get email updates from Airfarewatchdog.com with great last minute deals for flights. Sometimes the specials are only available for trip that weekend, just a day or two away.
This can be a lot of fun, and a great way to do some traveling on the cheap. Some of these spontaneous travelers wonder if they can buy travel insurance at the last minute too.

The answer is Yes, you can get insurance. But do you need to?

Let’s take a quick look at the benefits of travel insurance and how they would relate to a last minute journey. First of all, the very popular “package” plans feature benefits for canceled trips due to sickness of you or a traveling partner.

If you are buying a last minute, discounted plane ticket for a flight in a day or two, you might choose to skip the trip cancellation coverage. With a departure 2 days from now, there is little that will stop you from going (but as always with insurance, it depends on your feelings about the risk involved)

How about medical emergencies while traveling?

This depends on where the trip takes you. If the trip is domestic, many US health insurance plans cover you anywhere in the US.

For example: You live in Boston, and find a last minute deal on a flight to Florida. Instead of fun in the sun, you end up in the ER. Your insurance from Boston should get you the care you need in Florida.

What if the trip take you overseas? That’s another story, because the US insurance that protects you here will not cover you abroad. The question to ask yourself is, again, what amount of risk can you take? Even a trip of a few days can cause big problems, and big debt, if something happens that puts you in the hospital.

Related Links

Reading a travel forum recently, I came across someone asking about travel insurance. Specifically, where to find a policy and more importantly, one that will cover pre-existing medical conditions.

This is a very common question. Even travel insurance novices have heard that pre-existing conditions are one of the most common reasons for a claim being denied.

Imagine you’re enjoying your trip aboard a cruise ship, enjoying the ports of call, sightseeing, and relaxation. Out of nowhere, an old condition acts up and puts you in the hospital. You need to cut the trip short, receive medical treatment in a foreign country, and eventually be flown home on a special medical evacuation flight.

Sounds expensive right? It is, and if the expenses are not covered by your travel insurance policy, there is a serious bill to pay. You have travel insurance, but will it cover the expense, even though it was from a pre-existing condition?

Some policies will cover pre-existing conditions

The key is to do some research and ask some questions first. Check out one of the comparison sites (listed at end of post) and see how the different products stack up against each other.

To cover pre-existing conditions, a travel insurance policy must be purchased at the right time

You will see some that have pre-ex coverage, but only if the policy was purchased within a certain time frame. Usually, this time frame is within a couple weeks of the initial trip deposit date.

In other words, once you started planning and paying for the trip, buy your travel insurance and get covered

Once you have compared some policies online, call the company and ask specific questions. Have them go over the actual policy wording with you so you understand what is covered, and what is not.

Be honest about pre-existing conditions. If a claim is made, the insurance company will research your medical history. The best policy is to be honest upfront, and avoid a bad situation later

Google launched Co-op this week, a custom search engine anyone can make. I designed an engine to focus on Travel Insurance, with the goal of narrowing the results and making searching easier.

As you can see, it is just like a regular Google search, with filtered results. This website is meant to be a starting point for travelers looking for insurance, and this custom Google search makes TravelInsuranceReview.net even better.

Travel Guard has begun offering a custom travel insurance product called My Travel Guard. Travelers can pick and choose the coverage they need for their trip.

Travelers start with a base plan which covers:

• trip cancellation, interruption, or delay
• emergency medical expenses, medical evacuation
• lost, stolen, or damaged baggage/travel documents
• luggage delay

These benefits cover all the basics of travel insurance. Travelers going on a short, simple vacation might be happy with this. The major concerns are losing pre-paid deposits when you cancel, high medical expenses in case of an accident or illness, and losing your bags.

But for those travelers who have special concerns, My Travel Guard offers several add-on benefits. For an additional premium, you can add the following customizable benefits:

• medical expense upgrade with primary coverage
• “hospital of choice” coverage, allowing the insured choice of hospital
• coverage for terrorism, financial default, and pre-existing conditions
• baggage upgrade
• adventure sports coverage
• rental car collision insurance
• “at your service” concierge style benefits
• flight insurance for common carrier accidents

This allows a lot of flexibility for travelers who might not want to spend as much on their policy. You can strip down the benefits to the bare essentials while knowing the major coverage is there.

As you can see in the screenshot above, it is simple to check off the coverage you want. Click “update” to see the adjusted premium. You can also click each add-on term (in red) to open a small window, explaining the coverage.

Click here to get a quote for My Travel Guard

Related Links
Go to Travel Guard homepage
About TravelInsuranceReview.net

So you have decided to live and work abroad as an expatriot. The lure of life in a new and exciting country has finally pushed you into it.

There are special insurance plans designed for expats living abroad. You have a different set of needs. Insurance products designed for short term travelers aren’t the best for you. Let’s take a look at all the angles:

First of all, package plans are out because you do not need cancellation coverage

As an expat living abroad, you would not need the trip cancellation coverage that is included in package plans. In fact, most package plans are only available for shorter periods of time (30 days for example).

This is a good thing, since much of the cost of a package plan results from the cancellation coverage. Travel medical plan premiums are lower that package plan premiums.

As an expat, you need international medical insurance to cover you in a foreign country

InsureMyTrip.com compares several travel medical insurance plans. These plans are for trips of a week or less, and up to a few years, depending on the insurance company. They often include emergency medical, emergency dental, and medical evacuation.

These plans also include some variables, such as deductible amount, hazardous sports coverage, or home country coverage.

Some companies offer even longer term plans with US style health benefits available worldwide 

Specialty Risk International (see disclosure on about page) offers Reside and Reside Prime plans. These policies include comprehensive worldwide coverage, a choice of deductibles, coverage for families and individuals, and up to $5,000,000 in lifetime benefits.