As usual I'm putting together my own trip -- flights, rooms, car, etc, all separately. I've never used travel insurance before, but my other trips were pre-9/11. Having an 87-year-old father means I could end up having to change my trip dates. I'm building the trip specifically around places I want to stay so I'll have to book some of them early. Most of you here sound like you arrange your own trips. Do you use travel insurance? If so, any companies you recommend? Can one insure just the plane tickets? or part of the rooms? I'm concerned about the rooms that sound like they charge you 50% no matter how far ahead you cancel.

I recently used www.insuremytrip.com to shop and compare options, wound up going with a company called CSA. I called the 800 # for insuremytrip.com and the staff were patient and very helpful with my questions.

Use your seaarch function and you can pull up a comparison list of many companies. It will explain all the different options.

If you are only concerned about the air fare cost, something that you might want to check with the airline that you use...Deltas policy for cancellation of an INTERNATIONAL ticket because of medical necessity for yourself or a family member, is a refund with a letter from your Dr. I had to cancel a trip of mine because of a medical problem that my husband had. It was no problem. I would think that all major airlines would have the same policy. If that is the cass, you would not have to cover that in your policy.

Do check the pre-existing conditions. Most plans cover this if purchased within 14 days of your first trip money spent.

Trip isnurance is good when you have an elderly family member that could cause your cancellation or quick return. Also the medical evacuation in case of a problem that happens to you...it is just decisions, decisions.

I use it for my trips. Have recently purchased it for an October trip..minus the amount for my Delta ticket!

Joan

Hi hoping,

Very few hotels have cancellation policies as strict as the one you cite.

I suggest that you find a hotel that suits you that allows you to cancel a week in advance without penalty.

The cancellation policy should be at the website. If not, FAX them and ask.

Generally, people insure things that have been prepaird, such as air tickets, hotels, car rental, tours and the likes.

But insurance is good to have for elderly or sick relatives, death of a relative, medical & dental coverage, evacuation in case something occurs overseas, etc.

As mentioned above, check

www.insuremytrip.com

where most of the major insurance providers offer their plans. Read all carefully, especially the small print. All provide various types of policies depending on the situation of the traveler. Some for air only, others air and evacuation, etc. If you have any specific questions, call the 800# associated with each company and speak to a representative regarding your issues.

Thanks for the tips -- especially about the separate plane policies. I hadn't thought about looking for travel insurance under websites. Re: the hotel -- I think they misunderstood my question. I will e-mail them again and ask about cancellation policy up to 2 or 3 weeks before. Maybe they thought I meant their policy for "being a no show". It's a highly rated place so assume they all sort of conform. My budget had always been too thin for insurance, but I may have been pushing it.

Most hotels don't charge you anything if you cancel from about 48-72 hours ahead (those are typical), at least in Paris. There is one chain of hotels where I am inquiring now (the Exclusive Hotels) that do have a strict policy about charging 50 pct of the entire stay if you cancel from 8 to 3 days ahead; within 3 days, they charge the full stay; before 8 days, they charge 30 pct even if it's two months ahead. However, it's because they are selling you cancellation insurance at 15 euro which lets you cancel any time up to 24 hrs before for no charge. If I book that hotel, I will pay that 15 euro, for sure, even though I kind of resent it. It's a tradeoff, as the room is cheap and I like the hotel.

That's the only one I've seen that bad, however, and that's just so they can make money on the insurance. Even they don't charge 50 pct no matter what.

I don't buy insurance myself because I don't prepay rooms and know I can apply the plane fare to another ticket if something happened to stop my trip (which would be very unlikely in my case).