Do you buy travel insurance?

Parent Cafe
1

I never know what to do. When I book travel there is always an option to buy travel insurance. What do you do? Any alternatives?

I’ve had a couple of friends recently who had terrible accidents while in Canada of all places! One was a car accident so they said that their auto insurance covered the accident even though it was a rental car. The other person was in the middle of a tour. I think they had purchased the insurance

So I guess I’m feeling a bit apprehensive lol!

2

I never have. I think it’s a waste of money.

3

I did for a hiking trip I took in October. It seemed like a good idea for that kind of trip & the coverage it offered for the cost. $90?

4

I do not buy the trip insurance from the airlines, I buy private insurance that will allow me to cancel everything (flights/connection/tours/hotels) if someone else needs me (elders - illness/death). If I am just flying to spend time visiting DD at home I usually forego the insurance and if I cancel, just get credit for the next trip

5

We used to pick and choose which trips we insured. In 2016, we booked a European cycling vacation, and we definitely wanted to have coverage for that in case we were injured. In addition, we had an ill parent and wanted to be able to get home if needed. We had a few trips over the months following, so we opted for an annual travel insurance plan. It covers any trip over 100 miles from home. Fortunately, we have never needed to file a claim, but we have been renewing the annual travel insurance every year since. Works for us.

6

It depends. I get limited travel insurance through my credit card. If I’m just going on a short domestic trip…I don’t buy additional insurance. But for something more pricey…yes…I would consider it. We went on a $20,000 trip in 2011, and we did get travel insurance for that one. But a $200 trip to visit relatives? No.

7

I did for my daughter’s recent trip here to Asia. She was covered by our United Explorer credit card but not her boyfriend. The tickets are pricey even though it was a good deal, they were traveling in winter. But the biggest reason is that we have elderly parents in the states whose situations could squash a well planned trip. Went to Aardvark and it was under $100.

8

I don’t mostly because besides airline tickets all other bookings have more liberal cancellation policies. We plan big trip this year and I opened a credit card that as part of it’s perks has free insurance for trip cancellations or interruptions up to 10k.

9

Another good reason for travel insurance for out of country trips is repatriation. My sister and friends were travellng and one had a PE and died on a snorkel excursion. Getting her home was facilitated by that insurance policy.

10

Big expensive complicated trips - yes. Normally with Travel Safe because of the cancel for any reason option.

Cheap uncomplicated trips - no.

11

" Normally with Travel Safe because of the cancel for any reason option."

It pays to read the fine print of anything you buy and know what you’re buying. Most travel insurance isn’t very comprehensive and doesn’t allow one to cancel for any reason so is therefore of very limited use.

We don’t buy travel insurance. Might consider it if we had health issues that put travel plans at risk, though.

12

Repatriation is the reason I would buy any type of travel insurance. If you end up in a coma, you want to be able to get medical transport home. I can’t remember who sells that, though. If anyone has any good recommendations, I would love to know. I didn’t do it the last time I went abroad but I would like to be careful about it in the future.

13

TravelGuard is the company my sister and her friends used; they made the difficult situation easier.
ETA - do read the fine print, not everything they offer is comprehensive.

14

Personally, no. Under my health insurance I would be covered overseas - pay foreign supplier and be reimbursed. We could manage that. My kid who lives abroad is covered only in country of residence and buys health insurance when leaving the country. My SIL broke her shoulder and an arm in South Africa and had to fly back Business or First. Her travel insurance company wouldn’t cover the cost of an upgraded ticket despite MDs orders. She had purchased the insurance through the tour company they traveled with. I guess the lesson is: don’t simply click the “Buy Now” button when booking your escorted tour.

I travel abroad multiple times per year and have never bought trip cancellation insurance, too much fine print. I may get burned next month. Trip booked and airfare paid to Asia and Oceania, now elderly mother quite ill. But I’m not convinced insurance would reimburse me if I have to cancel or change plans. I never book anything more expensive than I can afford to lose.

The routes and carriers I tend to fly have some security built in - changes allowed for a fee that is significantly less than full ticket price. I also always book cancel-able hotel rates, not the very tempting noncancel-able pay-in-advance rates.

15

We do for bigger trips. While it has limited coverage, it is cheap to get and can help. We used it a few years ago when we had some flight delays and missed a connection resulting in the need to get a really expensive rental car. The policy paid off a lot of our additional expense.

16

You need to separate out different types of insurance: 1) insurance in case you need to cancel the trip, 2) insurance in case you get sick/injured while you are on a trip, 4) insurance to airlift you home in case you get very sick, 3) car insurance.
For case #1, you can buy a very cheap insurance when you are booking your trip. I do not usually pay for this because I rarely had to cancel a trip. A few times when I had to due to illness, airlines have given me credit or cash back sometimes.

2) Most health insurance would pay for it even if you have HMO. There is no need to buy additional insurance. D2 got sick in Thailand. My insurance company paid it as in-network.

3) this can be more expensive and you could include it with your travel insurance. It is more necessary if you are older or doing something activities that are more risky. For some more expensive credit cards, like AmEx Platinum or Chase Reserve, it is included in their membership fee.

  1. if you have car insurance at home, it would cover it or you could add it to your rental fee. Again, for personal injury it would be included in your health insurance.

Due to my CC membership and health insurance coverage, I have never purchased separate travel insurance. On the other hand, I have encouraged my mother to purchase a separate travel insurance in case of cancellation. I have put her on my CC so she could get airlifted home if she should ever need it.

17

5 -insurance for lost luggage - airlines only cover a very small amount. Can also be covered by some credit cards. We use it for ski trips since it's expensive to purchase new clothes and gears, and it needs to be done immediately

18

We purchased for our last trip to EU because we had an ill relative at home. Price depends on age and trip cost, so it was cheap for our adult children, but pricey for us, despite the low cost of non-refundable portions of our trip. We might purchase again for our next trip, primarily because it involves extended family, and if one of us gets sick, it will ruin it for all, and the more people involved, obviously, the higher the chance for a health incident. We never purchase for travel in USA. If the trip is only for my DH and I, I doubt we will purchase in the future even if outside the USA. Our trips tend to be self-designed, and much of the cost except airfare can be cancelled. However, I would still purchase for emergency evac. only. I was not aware that was an option, until a friend purchased for her elderly parents, and the cost was actually quite reasonable.

19

I do. Have sometimes not in the past but recently have done. This summer I had an accident on vacation. I went to the hospital but it was diagnosed wrongly and the hospital chsrges were so low over there that I did not go through the hassle of making a claim. However once it was diagnosed correctly when I got home it required surgery.

I was able to get around while in vacation (with a lot if difficulty). If it had been just marginally worse I would have been unable to walk at all (or if I’d known how bad it really was and they’d done the surgery there) then I’d have probably had to been transported home somehow as I would not have been able to do the commercial flights. My insurance would have been a bargain!

After that experience I won’t travel without insurance again.

20

I was on vacation in Cancun, someone there fell and needed a hip surgery. His insurance paid for the surgery there, but he ended up having to get airlifted out of there due to some complications. It was over 50K and his insurance didn’t cover it. His wife had to pay cash for an air ambulance to get him back to US. When I got home I checked with AmEx and they said my card would would covere it, and that’s why I put my mom on my card. This type of travel insurance is a lot more expensive than trip cancellation insurance.