KRNS

Hi,

I have made arrangements for safari to Tanzania in Oct. and paid airfare thru agency used by tour operator who will take payment for trip insurance. Don't know if I should check around or if there are standard rates. How soon should I purchase it? Only for land portion as tickets could be used another time with penalty? Thanks for any suggestions.

sandi

If you, your travel partner or family members (even if not traveling with you), have any pre-existing health problems that might preclude you from travel (interrupt travel), depending on insurer, premium for insurance has to be made from 7, 4 or 21/days of initial deposit.

Check www.insuremytrip.com from where many find a policy that suites their needs. Read all drop-down menus for exclusions and added details. If any questions, there's an 800# to call.

StanKase

I agree you must get the insurance within the windowof the initial deposit. The best firms, TravelGuard, AccessAmerica offer premium policies at ~$9 per $100 but since air is covered (are you 100% sure even if trip/flights interupted?). Yes, it is expensive but they do not hasssle you and the pre-existing condition coverage if you have any is very valuable. The above named firms require taking out the policy within 15 days of initial deposit of any kind for trip.

massagediva

Check out www.insuremytrip.com. It provides quotes from several companies at once.

KRNS

Thank you for your suggestions but unfortunately I came to this site too late. Trip was booked in Feb. and I was referred to a company to book my flights and the person there said I had to obtain the insurance within 10 days to be covered for pre-existing conditions. Since none of us have any health problems I assumed I had some time to check things out since trip is not till Oct. I've put deposit for 4 for safari in Tanzania and 4 day trek in Rwanda to see gorillas. A lot of money lost if something goes awry. Had to have a BIG glass of wine when I read responses.

junglenana

The easiest way to buy insurance is to call your American Express number on the back of your card and they will connect you to the right office. It is 10 or 12 dollars a month and can be cancelled after you get back.If you travel on business often maybe you would want to take every month.Used to pay 100's for regular insurance before I knew this.

davgai1

You can still purchase the trip insurance which will cover you for a multitude of reasons, including illness of yourselves and close family members. The only thing you are "late" for by not purchasing withing 15 days is the coverage for pre-existing conditions, and the "cancel for any reason" coverage.

Davgai

mpkp

I believe HTH Worldwide lets you purchase the insurance before the last payment is due and covers preexisting conditions so you may want to check with them. They are usually included in the Insure My Trip quites .

skibumette

When calculating your "trip cost" include both your land portions AND any penalties you might have to pay to re-issue your tickets for a different flight, whether it's several days or a year later. If you're using FF miles, add in the amount of the penalty to return your miles to your account.

cary999

Have you put down 100% of your Oct. land trip? If you cancel next month (May) how much would you lose, ALL of it? (You say no worry about air tickets).

Personally I'm not a big believer of general trip insurance. I'm willing to take the gamble of my going or not and my possible loss versus my cost of insurance. But I do believe in medical insurance because that is where a really big cost can hit you.

regards - tom

sandi

At minimum you need Medical and Evacuation. Most, if not all, reputable on-the-ground outfitters, won't let you travel without the minimum.

On the insuremytrip site, you can purchase
- Comprehensive plans - trip cancellation/interruption, flight and baggage delay, baggage loss, medical/dental, evacuation. Or

- Medical/Evacuation only policies.

anitas

I made deposit on my cruise 6 months ago and now I am ready to make the full payment. I called insuremytrip.com and they told me to purchase CSA Travel Protection-Freestyle and that would include any pre-existing reasons to cancel. I read it over and it seems that I can cancel for any reason whatsoever.

cary999

anitas- if you cancel for any reason, what percentage of the trip cost is refunded? I'm no expert on all policies, but from what I've seen it is not 100%, usually 75%. (Read the "fine print" ). Getting back 75% but still losing 25% (plus the cost of the policy) would make a person think some before casually canceling.

regards - tom

Patty

Tom,
Here's the amount you get back:

If Cancellation Penalty Percentage of Penalty
Amount Is: Amount Payable Is:
Up to 25% of trip cost... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 100% of penalty amount
26% to 50% of trip cost... ... ... ... ... ... ....90% of penalty amount
51% to 75% of trip cost... ... ... ... ... ... ....80% of penalty amount
Over 76% of trip cost... ... ... ... ... ... ... ....70% of penalty amount

Sorry about the format. I copied and pasted from the insuremytrip site. But basically, if you cancel very close to departure (at that point you'd more than likely be in the "over 76% of trip cost penalty" phase), you get back 70%.

atravelynn

KRNS,

Evac insurance for sure! If you don't have pre-existing conditions, then it's no problem that you didn't get the insurance shortly after making the deposit.

Only for land based on what you said about air. You can compare rates and see if the agent's policy is reasonable.

anitas

Patty,

I looked back at insuremytrip.com I looked at the policy I was thinking about purchasing. I didn't see the cancellation penalties that you listed. Can you tell me exactly where you found them. CSA Travel Protection-Freestyle. I will call and check it out. Thanks.

brandywine

Anitas,

The insurance you mentioned CSA Travel Protection Freestyle does not appear to cover "cancellation for any reason". That would be CSA Travel Protection Freestyle Luxe, which you pay much more for the basic policy and pay a substantial additional amount for the "cancel for any reason" benefit. Also, this benefit clearly states that the insurance must be purchased within 24 hrs of the first trip payment. You can see Patty's breakdown if you click on the cancel for any reason benefit at the bottom, another pop up box will come up on your computer screen.

Tom, we agree with you, but I guess engineers think alike.

Sandi, I didn't understand your comment about on-ground outfitters not letting you travel, we have never been asked on any kind of trip if we had insurance of any type. Is this something specific to East Africa (where we have not been)? For example, does Roys ask to see your policy when you arrive in Arusha, no one has ever mentioned this.

sandi

brandywine -

All of my ground operators ask for verification of travel insurance - medical/evacuation, at minimum. Name of Insurer, Policy Number and Contact info (i.e., phone, fax or email address).

brandywine

Sandi,

Ok, I guess that's good to know. Like I said, no one has ever asked us for anything, but we've only been to SA and Botswana (besides other trips and cruises of course).

KRNS

Thank you all for your responses. You Fodorites know all needed information on travel. I am so glad I found this site! Good thing I retired before getting computer, I'm on it all the time! Love Pete's Pond!!!!