One of the main reasons people buy travel insurance is for trip cancellation coverage. You’ve planned a great trip, but then life gets in the way and you can’t go. It could be a child with an ear infection, an aging parent that needs to be hospitalized, a crisis at work, or a myriad of other events. Trip cancellation protects your pre-paid nonrefundable travel expenses if you must cancel your trip for a covered reason. This can be a large amount of money as many people take advantage of travel discounts by purchasing nonrefundable tickets.
Just what is a covered reason? Every travel insurance plan clearly lists covered reasons for trip cancellation. Many plans include the following.
- Sickness, injury or death of you, travelling companion or family member
- Cessation of services of a common carrier due to an unannounced strike, mechanical breakdown or bad weather
- Your residence, destination or workplace made uninhabitable by fire, flood or natural disaster.
- Work, including permanent transfer, involuntary termination, or vacation cancelled
- Being hijacked, quarantined or called to jury duty
- Cancellation due to terrorist incident
- Documented theft of passports or visas
- Revocation of previously granted military leave
- Bankruptcy or default of your travel supplier
If you want to have the ability to cancel your trip for any reason, and still be covered, you should look for a policy that offers this benefit. You generally have to purchase this type of policy within 2 weeks of your initial deposit. All of the plans in the Best category on TripInsurance.com include this benefit.
Do you have a medical condition that might cause you to cancel a trip? Make sure you have a travel insurance policy that includes a preexisting medical condition waiver, and again buy the policy within 14 days of your initial trip deposit.
Buying trip insurance isn’t difficult. Just make sure you know what coverage you’re going to get. Compare travel insurance plans and READ the policy before you purchase. ASK questions if you are unclear of coverage for a certain circumstance.
