seafox

I must admit that I have never paid too much attention to trip insurance. This year I am wondering if it is a good idea 9strikes, terrorism etc.). the problem is I have no idea what type of plan to get or even how to purchase. the facts of are trip are this for the 4 of us:

Hartford to Paris on 28 Oct. on US Airways/"free tickets" with miles (real cost about $180/each)

Apartment in Paris - $3600

Paris to London 3 Nov. via Eurostar, returning next day

London - pretty expensive hotel pkg with theater tickets etc. - $700/couple for the night

Paris back to Hartford on 8 Nov.

We don't realy need to worry about medical coverage in that our carriers do cover travel. What woudl you do? What insurance plans should I look at? Having the air tickets as such makes me nervous if their is a strike... we could get stuck for days waiting for a seat???? Also, Eurostar poses a similar problem in that if the train out is cancelled we miss our plans for that night. Thoughts?

bookchick

Seafox, go to www.insuremytrip.com

You'll be able to see which plans cover various contingencies, and even comparison-shop among various insurance carriers. Go look and you'll see what I'm talking about. I once purchased trip insurance that included "trip interruption" in case I missed a flight through no fault of my own, as well as "delayed luggage". I more than recouped the cost of the trip insurance, as I'd missed a connecting flight (due to the carrier), and essentially lost an entire day of my vacation trying to reach my destination.

BC

PalenQ

Eurostar has rarely been on strike - unlike French trains so I think that would be a remote event. But accidents and weather the past few years have incredibly IMO shut Eurostar down.

and hopefully you have booked a cheap ticket online - if just show up you could pay literally hundreds of bucks more. In event of strike normally non-changeable tickets I am sure can be changed, but yes subject to finding a place on mobbed trains.

lizziea06

Look carefully at your credit card benefits - you may already have some level of trip insurance from your credit card company.

Sue878

On the web site for insuremytrip there is a 800 number you can call with questions also.

PalenQ

Things that have shut the Eurostar trains - like the weather - are Acts of God and may or may not be covered as such by insurance. Strikes are acts of people.

Ann1

Any number of things can happen. We had friends who not only lost their luggage, but had things stolen out of it when it was returned. Then Alitalia never notified them that the airport they were returning from was going to be closed for renovation when they checked in for their trip. Alitalia wanted nothing to do with the claim and the insurance took over. We were delayed by the volcano last year and the insurance paid...not the airline. Your med insurance may pay for any medical, but not if you have to air lifted which travel insurance pays for. The list goes on and on of the different things that can go wrong.

Christina

I've never seen any insurance policy refer to "acts of God" as I don't think they are religious. All the ones I've had cover acts of nature, weather, etc., natural disasters, but I suppose you can find some that don't. All the main companies I've used cover weather.

I've never prepaid anything that expensive, so hard to say what I'd do (like $700 for a hotel). Apartment costs do add up if you've paid for them, and that is the norm, of course. I would ALWAYS buy trip insurance if I prepaid stuff like that or prepaid an apartment, I can't imagine why you wouldn't. Most travel insurance policies I've had cover delays for a day or two, the terms vary. The medical portion isn't usually that expensive, anyway, it's the sunk costs that really affect the premium (the dollars you've paid you are trying to cover, like around $4000 in your case).

I think all the policies I've had did not cover things like civil unrest, war, etc. Also, they likely will not cover a strike if the strike has been announced for a certain date. CSA does not, according to their terms, for example.

PalenQ

I've never seen any insurance policy refer to "acts of God" as I don't think they are religious>

I agree but still the phrase 'Act of God' is generic now and it came up because I was recently listening to a discussion on NPR and house insurance and they used the term 'act of god' - no doubt not the terminology in policies, pray tell!

Terrorism and war could be construed also as acts of god - anyway in policies I've seen often not covered. Say a terrorist threat closes the Chunnel...

Paul1950

We don't buy trip insurance as our medical insurance covers us worldwide and many of our reservations can either be cancelled at no cost or for just a few dollars or they are covered under insurance included through our credit card. The amount left isn't worth insuring.

So you really have to analyze how much you will lose if you don't insure against the cost of the insurance. Be sure to read the fine print in any insurance agreement--what one sentence gives you in big print on the first page can be taken away by a convoluted paragraph in fine print on page 5.

Ann1

Paul1950: When we were stuck with the volcano...in Rome, not even north...because we were on Air France we couldn't get out. The airlines weren't liable to pay. If they did, they did, but most people lost. We had insurance and were reimbursed all $1500. we had to pay to stay the extra days. I would say that insurance was worth it.

djkbooks

You should definitely consider travel insurance due to the $3600 apartment, which is typically non-refundable. But, you must carefully review the actual policy/certificate. You'd want a policy that includes such things as "accommodations become uninhabitable" or are withdrawn for whatever reason (it does happen), as well as the usual cancellation reasons.

I've always used Travelex because their documentation is very straightforward and easy to understand. With many others, the verbiage is difficult to make sense of and you find yourself assuming (hoping) things are covered that are not.

Of course, the true test of any policy is claims processing. For the first time, recently, I had occasion to submit claims to Travelex. You just download the forms off the website, fill them out, and fax with requested documentation. I received checks within two weeks.

Even if you do have medical coverage when traveling, if you choose a policy with primary medical coverage, it will pay your deductible, co-pays, etc. My medical claim was less than my health insurance deductible (which I haven't used this year), so paid by the travel insurance.

We were also reimbursed for train tickets and a pre-booked Segway tour we missed due to my illness. There were three of us traveling - myself, my husband, my brother. My brother (with his own policy with Travelex) had to submit a separate claim for the train tickets and Segway tour.

It's critical to understand the certificate, exclusions, requirement, and documentation you might need for a claim (often impossible to acquire once you've left and come home). And, know when you have to exhaust other resources, such as the airline if your bags are delayed or lost.

You'll find excellent resources here

http://www.travelinsurancereview.net/

cheryllj

Yikes - I wish I had read some of those reviews before getting trip insurance on my next trip. I bought insurance through Access America and it seems to get nothing but complaints about failure to pay claims, mainly because of the "pre-existing condition" clause. (Keeping fingers crossed I won't need it.)

nancy1652

I used InsureMyTrip once and found it very worthwhile because I had to cancel air tickets and ground travel in South Africa. Got everything back (except the $200 I paid for the insurance, of course).

travelhorizons

One of the advantages of Travelex (http://tinyurl.com/26nrckf) is that it will cover your pre-existing conditions if you purchase within 21 days of your first deposit. If anything happens to a close relative after the time of your purchase, Travelex will allow cancellation for that reason as well (pre-existing conditions don't apply here).

Travelex will also provide trip interruption and trip delay protections, baggage loss or delay protection, and PRIMARY medical insurance while overseas (with just a $50 deductible).

apersuader65

My Travelex insurance is as travelhorizons mentioned above, and the cost was 3.5% of the total cost of the trip. WELL worth the 3.5% in my opinion, as we pay via debit card for everything, which has limited coverage.

Nikki

I seem to remember that many travel insurance policies have to be purchased within a certain amount of time after incurring the first covered cost of travel. Make sure that any policy you buy covers the costs you hope to include.

Ann1

Nikki: That is usually just for pre-existing conditions. It was explained to me that a pre-existing condition is anything TREATED within 6 months. I have purchased airline tickets and then the insurance 4 months later.

djkbooks

You do have to study the complaints. Many are due to misunderstanding the coverage, claims not covered, failure to provide requested documentation. And, any covered event must be "unforeseen". So, if a family member has a terminal illness and passes away, that's not likely covered.

If you have a pre-existing condition, you can always purchase the policy within the required days after first trip payment and increase the coverage if you have additional prepaid expenses.

I had an Access America policy once, purchased with Continental when I purchased the plane tickets. Coming home, our connecting flight from Newark was cancelled due to weather. (On a Saturday, last flight of the day, and we were rebooked for Tuesday!) All hotels were full. We rented a car and drove home from Newark. I got all sorts of incorrect/conflicting information from various reps on the phone as to whether this fell under cancellation, interruption, or delay...or whether we were covered due to weather. I had to send a letter through the mail to Continental for a letter verifying the flight cancellation and reason (which I did receive within days). I submitted the claims with requested documentation and received a check for the rental, gas, tolls, within a week.

djkbooks

Note also, with Access America, I had to submit two claims, one for my husband and one for myself, as two policies were issued.

But, with Travelex, we were both on one policy, so one set of claim forms - much more convenient.