nfitz53

We are booking everything on our on for a two week trip to Italy next June. Many travel insurance companies seem to cover a trip that's been booked with an agency or tour group. In past postings people have recommended getting insurance to cover your flight if you haven't pre booked a lot of other things like hotels/attractions, as well as checking with your credit card company to see whether or not they cover you. I've found that if the flight is delayed or canceled you're covered, but what happens if one of us gets sick or breaks a leg and can't go? Does anyone have any travel insurance companies they would recommend. Thank you everyone for all of the great information. I feel as if I've been to Italy all ready.

ekscrunchy

I've found it very easy to deal with these people--insurance brokers--by phone. Tell them your needs and see what they come up with. I would be more concerned with being able to fly home if something untoward happens on the actual trip. But that is medical evacuation, and not what you discuss above.

http://www.insuremytrip.com/


Medical evacuation:

www.medjetassist.com

avalon

Some policies on insuremytrip will include mediacal evacuation, you just pay a bit extra for it. Book quickly after making your first payment so pre exsisting conditions are covered

ekscrunchy

MedJetAssist covers evacuation to your home hospital, or any hospital you indicate. Very few, if any, other policies will do that--they will evacuate you to the nearest appropriate hospital, even if this is far from home. You need to check that if it is important to you. There are oodles of long threads here on the subject...and on trip insurance in general.

Travelnut

You choose "air" and "land" for do-it-yourself trips. That way, your flight change costs and hotel rate changes or cancellation penalties are potentially covered. If you want to pay a little extra, some companies offer 'cancel for any reason' clause.

twiggers

I've used TravelGuard for my cruises and also my upcoming Europe trip. I've never had to use it (thank goodness), but it does cover medical insurance, evacuation, illness before trip, etc.
We did this since flights were so expensive and we had also prepaid train tickets and hotels (using Priceline).

hetismij

I think the OP is asking more about an insurance which covers cancellation due to illness before travelling rather than cover for illness once away (though that is also needed of course).

griz_fan

There are several good travel insurance companies, some recommended here. I think what you are interested in is the "cancel for any reason" coverage. In my research, almost all offered this option, but it does cost extra.

Christina

I thought all travel insurance covered you and your immediate travel companions if you couldn't go due to an illness. That's one of the main reasons people buy it -- as long as it isn't a pre-existing condition and/or you bought the insurance wihtin the appropriate timeframe to cover that.

Airplane tickets are the least of my worries when traveling, as I never buy a ticket that is nonrefundable. All major airline tickets are usually transferrable with a change fee, aren't they? Mine always have been. Yes, I know the change fee isn't minor for internatal tickets, but given this event is unlikely (I would hope, I have never broken a leg), it doesn't worry me at all. In fact, if your ticket is changeable with a fee, no insurance is going to give you money for the full value of the ticket. Insurers only cover real economic losses.

IN any case, read the conditions of the insurance, I thought they covered cancellation due to illness.

griz_fan

Christina - you need to start reading the fine print, I think a lot of your assumptions are way off the mark. There are lots of options for what is and what isn't covered with travel insurance. To assume all coverage is the same in this regard is a big mistake.

regarding airline tickets - there is often a HUGE gap in prices between non-refundable and refundable tickets. For example, from Delta.com, round trip SEA to LHR in November. Non-refundable lowest price was $753 round trip vs. a refundable price of $2813. Now some airlines will let you change a non-refundable flight, but the fees are getting steeper, and a lot (most?) of the aggressively-priced fares won't even allow for a change.

So, shop around and be sure to read the fine print. Assume nothing.

ira

Hi nf,

The only time we buy travel insurance is if we have to prepay a large amount, eg, tour or cruise.

How much is at risk if you don't buy insurance?

Christina

I don't think my assumptions are off the mark at all. I've bought travel insurance three times and have read lots of policies. All the ones I read covered cancellation due to the person's illness. Now I'm sure some do not, but I do think it is the norm. I don't know what kind of airline tickets you buy, but all of mine have been changeable with only about a $150-200 fee. This is an unlikely event, I don't know why people want to insure airline tickets myself, insurance is supposed to be for catastrophic events that cost you a lot.

TDudette

I've worked with Access America successfully. There were some details to work out if the traveler has a pre-existing illness. Also, do check if illness by parent(s) or business partner are covered.

northie

ira, you must be a US resident to say that. We would be bankrupt if we required medical and hospital stay in US if we didn't take travel insurance.

Travelnut

We had to postpone a Paris trip in 2008 due to hubby's heart surgery. The trip insurance paid for the airfare rate change, the change fees, and the difference in the hotel price due to landing during 'special events' dates. All of that for the two of us was well over what we paid for the insurance, which I purchased the same day as when we booked the original flights (months before the heart surgery was known to be needed).

nfitz53

Thank you everyone...with six of us going, and I'm the planner, I wanted to give people the option to get insurance. As we are 10 months out, anything can happen before we leave. Flights right now are about $1400 for June 2011 which would be $3000 a couple. Am I assuming correctly that hotels booked now can be cancelled(if done at least a week before) without losing deposit or payment? And thank you to those who responded regarding medical emergency while over there...I wasn't thinking along those lines, but glad it was mentioned...hope no one ever needs that type of coverage

ekscrunchy

Cancellation policy will differ from hotel to hotel. You need to check each one individually. Some places will refund if you cancel the day before; some will keep a percentage if you cancel two weeks in advance of arrival.

bettyk

One thing to be aware of.

If I need to change our AA tickets to Frankfurt because of my husband's current illness, we only have one year from the ORIGINAL PURCHASE DATE of the tickets to complete our travel.

Since I purchased our tickets in March 2010, we only have until March 2011 to use the changed tickets. If we can't make our Sept travel date, then we are hoping to go in October because the weather from Nov-March in Germany is not as ideal for us.

daffy_traveller

Travelnut- which insurance did you use?

I am currently planning a short trip to Panama and this is the first time I'm considering insurance. I am concerned about weather and wonder whether cancellations "for any reason" will allow me to recover losses if there are hurricanes, etc to worry about.

Also, one never thinks they will get sick or injured which traveling- I certainly didn't, until this past winter. I was on a 3 day trip to New York and fell down a flight of stairs in the subway on my first day. I spent 5 hours in the ER at Bellvue; ct scans of my head and neck and I broke my collarbone. I haven't gotten all the bills yet, but I have good health insurance so it hasn't been too bad. My generous sister gave me miles to upgrade my seats for the flight home; I never could have squeezed into a coach seat with my upper body in the state it was in!

But international travel can be a whole different ball game. Now that I've experienced an injury while on vacation, I see things in a whole new light.

2010

My husband & I now purchase travel medical insurance for the year. This way we are covered for holidays abroad or out-of-province trips, last minute or planned. We don't even have to think about it! As many have said already, you never know what might happen when you're away from home!

We've only bought trip cancellation insurance for prepaid cruises. Otherwise, airline tickets are refundable or changed for a fee. Hotel & car reservations are guaranteed with a credit card but we always check hotel cancellation policies carefully.

Also, be aware that insurance policies vary in what they cover & set out specific conditions for coverage. For example, my credit card company offers trip cancellation insurance but only for portions actually paid for on the credit card! It pays to do your homework!

Good luck!