Trip Insurance
We like to think of insurance as an essential element of travel, providing peace of mind while traveling and protecting your investment. There are many reasons to cancel a planned trip, such as vacation retracted from employer, home becomes inhabitable, jury duty but the top reason travelers cancel is due to medical reasons. The travel insurance medical benefit is not just for you as the traveler, but also for any of your immediate family members who are not traveling with you should they become ill or have an injury that prevents you from traveling.
Travel insurance is purchased per person to cover the cost of your trip. Travel insurance policies can provide trip cancellation or interruption benefits that include sickness injury or death, inclement weather/natural disasters, financial default by travel suppliers, labor strikes and inability to travel for work related reasons.
why consider travel insurance?
Some of the plan highlights can include:
Primary coverage, no deductible
Pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver if purchase within 15 to 21 days of initial deposit (coverage applies to travelers and non-traveling family members)
Medical evacuation
3 hour missed connection benefit
5 hour trip delay benefit
12 hour baggage delay benefit
Kids 17 or under included at no additional cost
Coverage with Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR)
CFAR means that you can cancel for any reason. The policy must be purchased within 21 days of first trip deposit, must insure all non-refundable prepaid trip costs, and the trip must cancel at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled departure date. Cancel for any reason claims are reimbursed at 75% of the trip cost while canceled for a covered reason is reimbursed a 100% of the trip cost.
Timing - 14 Days
Additional benefits are offered with policies purchased within 14 days of initial deposit:
1. Preexisting Medical Waiver – if you or a family member has a preexisting condition, the insurance company would consider medical history as a reason not to provide coverage. If not purchased within 14 days the company would look back 60 days from the date of cancellation and any notable medical issues would not be covered under the medical policy. This could be as simple as a change in medication.
2. Financial Default – if a supplier has a total cessation or partial suspension of operations due to insolvency this would be a reason to cancel and is covered under the policy.
Coverage related to COVID-19
Understandably travelers have lots of questions about insurance related to COVID-19 – what’s covered, what’s not etc. The Travelex policy offers coverage if you, a traveling companion or a family member become ill with COVID-19 and the physician has placed you in quarantine or you are hospitalized. It does not cover cancellation due government rules or restrictions they may be enacted by the state.
Insurance Claim/Coverage FAQs
To be eligible for Trip Cancellation/Interruption coverage one of the following must occur while your coverage is in effect:
a) You or your Traveling Companion would need to be diagnosed by a physician as unfit for travel (which could include contracting Covid-19, and as a result being physically quarantined).
b)Your non-traveling Family Member has a Covid-19 diagnosis that is considered life-threatening or they require your immediate care. This must be certified by a physician.
c) Your Business Partner is diagnosed with Covid-19 and you must cancel or interrupt your trip to assume daily management of the business. This must be certified by a physician.
Covid-19 is being treated the same as any other illness and is subject to pre-existing medical condition exclusions. However, insured travelers who contract the virus while traveling are eligible for Trip Interruption and Emergency Medical/Evacuation coverage.
Coverage is available if the insured is quarantined in either a hospital, hotel or vacation rental (i.e. Airbnb) while on a trip. A doctor would have to order the quarantine and this order would have to be submitted at the time of a claim. In this instance, an insured is eligible for Trip Interruption, or Trip Delay (including if they are quarantined). As described in answer #1 there may be coverage for Trip Cancellation.
No. If your trip or flight to or from your destination is cancelled due to Covid-19 there would be no coverage under the Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption terms of your Travelex plan. We encourage you to contact your travel supplier to seek a refund or make alternate arrangements.
No. If an insured is unable to travel to their destination due to a government travel warning restrictions or ban, they would not be eligible for Trip Cancellation/Interruption coverage; however, the policy can be applied to another future trip.
Cancel for Business Reasons can provide coverage if you are required to work during your scheduled trip, if you are involuntarily terminated through no fault of your own, and other reasons.
If a business imposes a restriction of business travel due to the Covid-19, an insured is not eligible for Trip Cancellation/Interruption coverage under the terms of the Cancel for Business Reason.
An insured would only be eligible for Trip Cancellation/Interruption coverage if they become ill while the policy is in place and the sickness is so disabling as to prevent them from taking or continuing the trip. Fear of contracting the Covid-19 even with a certified physician notice, is not an eligible reason under the terms of the Trip Cancellation/Interruption coverage
Credit Card Coverage
Below is an overview of insurance benefits for specific cards. This information illustrates that purchasing insurance through a third-party insurance provides the best coverage.
Chase Sapphire Preferred & Chase Sapphire Reserve
Cancellation coverage $10K per person
No Trip Interruption
Travel Delay (6 hours – weather only)
Baggage Delay - $500 ($100 a day for 5 days
Lost Baggage - $3K
Medical $2500 with a $50 deductible (states life threatening)
Evacuation $100K
No preexisting coverage
Car Collison $75K
American Express Gold & Platinum
Cancellation $10K per trip
No Trip Interruption
Travel Delay (12 hours – weather only)
NO medical – this has been removed
Bank of America Premium
Cancellation $5K per trip
No Trip Interruption
Travel Delay - $500 weather no mechanical ($100 a day for 5 days)
Evacuation and transport, you can be eligible
Citi AAdvantage World Elite
Rewards Only
No Cancellation
No medical
Preferred Boarding
Free Bag