Trip Insurance is it worth it
 

My travel agent id trying to sell me insurance for my Honeymoon to Hawaii, is it worth getting?

Oh, yeah! A few years ago we made last minute plans for a vacation in the Bahamas, and in the 7 days between reservations and the trip my husband came down with the worst flu he had ever had. We lost all the money because of not spending less than $100.00 to be safe.

Are you talking about trip cancellation insurance, health insurance, or both?<BR><BR>In any case ask for and read the contract IN DETAIL to see what is covered and what is not. For example, some policies cover a missed connecting flight only if you have two hours between arrival and departure.<BR><BR>Are you covered if you can't go because of bad weather such as a snow storm?<BR><BR>Are you covered if your grandmother dies ?<BR><BR>If you have a serious illness are you covered for a flight home by air ambulance? Etc ?

i have purchased insurance for three trips (china, france and italy). while i have never had a need for it, i never travel without it.

I recently purchased travel insurance from a company I believe called Travel Impressions. I could cancel my trip for any reasons whatsoever up to 2 hours before my flight with a full refund. I can't tell you the piece of mind it gave me given our current world state. I was traveling out of the country.

I guess I'm a gambler. I play the Lotto every week, I like Vegas, and I never buy travel insurance. My trips extend as long as 5 months at a time, so I suspect that if I had been buying insurance for all those trips, with that money I could have traveled another year free by now on the amount.<BR>If I were doing a package tour that does not give refunds then maybe I would consider it. But the vast majority of the hotels, car rentals, and other expenses I have regarding independent travel are fully or almost fully refundable, so I just don't get the point. By the way, my health insurance does cover me when I travel, including out of the US, and has a 0 deductible in case of &quot;accident&quot;.

Most coverage doesn't include acts of terrorism or war, so keep that in mind these next few months!

From a financial standpoint, travel insurance is generally an unwise purchase. Why don't you divide the cost of your comp and collision insurance by the cost of your car, then do the same for the cost of travel insurance vs. your travel cost. Then adjust for the fact that your car insurance covers 6 months vs. however long it is from now 'til your trip.<BR><BR>I think you will find that the cost is VERY much higher than other types of insurance.<BR><BR>Obviously that's not an exact science, because you don't know the relative risk factors, but still....<BR><BR>If you try this and it turns out I'm wrong, please post back.

If you can afford to lose the non refundable costs of your trip and/or cover the costs of returning home early because of sickness or injury to you or a family member, you don't need insurance. I personally buy it and it sure came in handy when my husband had bypass surgery one week before a trip to Australia. I would have lost over 3000.

Shamus66<BR><BR>I have traveled quite a bit over the last 15 years and never got the insurance. We had planned to go to the Big Island leaving tomorrow. On a lark I did buy vacaton protection on the Fly drive portion but not the condo. Well 3 weeks ago my wife fell and broke her ankle so badly that she needed a plate and screws put in. The Dr. said cancel the trip. So I am out over $1200.00. The condo owners showed no mercy. They have a signed contract that says no refunds with in 30 days and thats the way it is. I will think twice now about the insurance.<BR><BR>Have Fun<BR>GP

A death in the family caused a cancellation of a cruise. I had insurance and got my money back. My other family members did not and were out several G's. <BR><BR>Highly recommended.<BR><BR>MM

Sometimes for honeymoons people think they don't need insurance because no matter what they are going to go on their honeymoon trip. Well here's a true story:<BR><BR>When I was a travel agent a few years ago, I had booked an all-inlcusive honeymoon trip to Cozumel for a couple who loved snorkeling and diving. I offered the optional insurance, but they declined. Two weeks before their wedding, the bride got hit in the jaw with a softball (what a fluke) and it broke her jaw. She walked down the aisle with her jaw wired shut. <BR><BR>They really wanted to reschedule the honeymoon because with her jaw wired shut the bride could only drink liquids( so much for the all-inclusive meals) and couldn't snorkle or dive. <BR><BR>How easy it would have been with insurance. In the end, through lots of phone calls from me and pleading, extra money from them, the honeymoon got rescheduled, but you never know what may happen. I think it's worth the peace of mind, esp. if your spending money you can't afford to lose in case of emergency.<BR><BR>Good luck and stay away from softballs!<BR><BR>Sandy<BR>

Reading between the lines on the above posts, realize that the bulk of those who support the idea of travel insurance are related to the &quot;non-refundable&quot; type cruises and resort packages. I agree -- it is invaluable for those, but not necessarily for independent travel in which the majority of the reservations are fully or almost fully refundable.

Regarding the terrorism cancellation part of insurance - some policies are now starting to include very specific criteria for cancellation in event of terrorism. The one we are purchasing for our daughter's trip to Scandinavia this summer has a terrorism clause and 3 criteria must be met, the most important of which is US Dept of State must issue a specific travel warning to countries included in tour (global advisory doesn't cut it)<BR><BR>Agree with those above - could you stand to lose non-refundable part of trip. Also, for out of country, does it include air ambulance evacuation, if necessary.

If you will be putting down nonrefundable deposit or full payment for any part of the honeymoon, it's worth covering that -- e.g., for a resort or condo, cruise, etc. If you would only lose the cost of the first night at the hotel if you canceled at the last minute, and if you could conceivably get your airplane ticket reissued for a small ($100 or less) fee, then it might not be. <BR><BR>Since you are going to a US destination, presumably your own health insurance would cover illness if you got sick or hurt there, although it wouldn't cover having you flown back home under special circumstances.<BR><BR>Otherwise, I think it's a very bad bet that you would get your money back if there were a terrorist attack or a &quot;red alert.&quot; These policies are largely aimed at cancellations because you or someone else gets sick or there's a death in the family, but EVEN THEN you should look at the fine print: there are often exclusions if the person (say, your father) who dies was already mortally ill when you booked passage! <BR><BR>Bottom line: I guess I'd buy the insurance if it were less than $100-200 and my outlay before departure for the honeymoon were more than $1000-1500.

GP:<BR><BR>So sorry to hear about the ankle. I'm curious why your wife's Dr. wants her to cancel the trip. I had a very similar break, got two pins in my tibia and a plate w/ 7 screws holding my fibula together. My Dr. never gave me any restrictions other than not driving for 7 weeks. Anyway, I went to Charleston, SC around 5 or 6 weeks post break, and went in the ocean. Do you suppose it's the air travel? <BR><BR>Anyway, if your wife would like to chat with me about her ankle, post back and I will provide my email. I ran a 10k less than a year after my accident, so I might be able to cheer her up if she needs it.

Here is something else to think about. In November 2001 we were scheduled on a cruise on America Hawaii Cruise Lines. Four weeks before our depature date (and of course after we had paid the full amount), the cruiseline went bankrupt! Luckily we had purchased travel insurance, but not through the cruiseline, so we recouped the full amount paid. Perhaps the financial loss doesn't hurt some people, but for us, it would have been the end of our vacation for that year. Like others have said, I guess it sort of depends on the kind of vacation you are talking about.

Here is something else to think about. In November 2001 we were scheduled on a cruise on America Hawaii Cruise Lines. Four weeks before our depature date (and of course after we had paid the full amount), the cruiseline went bankrupt! Luckily we had purchased travel insurance, but not through the cruiseline, so we recouped the full amount paid. Perhaps the financial loss doesn't hurt some people, but for us, it would have been the end of our vacation for that year. Like others have said, I guess it sort of depends on the kind of vacation you are talking about.

This is a great thread and timely for me.<BR><BR>Normally I don't buy travel insurance but my mom is battling cancer and things change quickly from day to day. My beau and I are planning a summer vacation to Spain and are paying careful attention to hotel cancellation policies. But now that the airlines are starting to have sales we need to decide how to safely go about purchasing our tickets.<BR><BR>For those of you in the know I have a few questions:<BR>1) Can you buy trip insurance independantly? Meaning can I buy a sale air fare ticket (generally non refundable) then go to a travel insurance co. and buy trip insurance that will in effect make in a refundable ticket?<BR><BR>2) Do you have to use a travel agent?<BR><BR>3) What are some companies to check out?<BR><BR>Wendy

In reply to Wendy<BR><BR>Yes, you can take insurance for just the air travel part of your trip. And yes, you can buy your own. We asked for information from our insurance man and he set us up with IMG. They will cover any part of the trip that you'd like.<BR><BR>One important thing that we learned was that many stateside insurance companies do NOT cover you while abroad. And this means too that Medicare does NOT cover anyone 65 while they're abroad. It could be an expensive lesson.<BR><BR>We were covered by BC/BS who told us that we would be covered but again, depending on where and when, there could be a situation where you would need to pay upfront and be reimbursed later.<BR><BR><BR>I'm not with an insurance company, or travel agency, nor do I have anything to do with the travel industry. I learned this by asking questions. <BR><BR>The price is based on the what you would like to insure, what your age is now, and where you're travelling to.<BR><BR>

Wendy --- if your concern is that a change in your mother's condition might require you to cancel your trip, you will have to search carefully for the coverage you want. I've looked at several policies and they specifically exclude coverage for claims arising from from a pre-existing condition. <BR>You may be able to find great low airfares and hotels that have no cancellation fee, so your exposure will be minimal without insurance. <BR>Good luck.

Thanks LN and kayd, We are researching now. We'd love to take advantage of the British Air Sale but we need to be realistic that mom condition could force us to cancell something. 5 months is a long way off.<BR><BR>Wendy

Here is a site that lets you compare all the different plans offered by different companies:<BR><BR>www.insuremytrip.com<BR><BR>Wend y

Shamus: We are going to Hawaii next week and found that by putting the whole package (air/hotel/rental car) on our GM card, we are automatically covered for the trip should we need to cancel. You might check into something like that with your credit card or find one that includes travel insurance as a benefit.

Iowagirl thanks. <BR>Where are you staying next week???

Good point iowagirl. If I buy anything on my credit card and a company goes belly up before delivering the goods, I'm covered. I started looking into Travelguard yesterday for a vacation package I may purchase, after reading all the fine print, it looked like nothing was covered! The exclusions must have outweighed the inclusions 5:1. The only thing I saw of value was primary insurance coverage on rental cars because my credit card only offers secondary coverage. Other than that, it looked like a waste to me. I'm going to contact my cc bank and ask for all the travel coverage provisions before deciding but I think they'll cover a lot of the big ones. Even Travelguard has an exclusion for tour operator default and acts of war declared or not. Anything involving the U.S., al-qaeda, Iraq, Isreal/Palestine can be construed as an act of war and &quot;civil unrest&quot;. How about &quot;civil disturbance or insurrection&quot;? Note to self: avoid travelling to areas prone to insurrection.

iowagirl, are you saying that if you book a totally non-cancellable plane ticket for example, then decide not to go due to health, your credit company will pay for it??? Or if you book a hotel say through Priceline that can't be refunded, and you don't go, that the credit card will reimburse you the full amount you paid?? That's some coverage.<BR>

Patrick: The GM card will work with the vacation package company to get us a refund should something happen and we can't go (see Loki's note). It also covers us for car rental insurance and lost luggage. However, if, God forbid, we should end up in some sort of war and all flights are grounded, we're stuck. There's no travel insurance that covers that. However, my agent did say that after 9/11 the travel companies and airlines were pretty good about getting people rescheduled. All we can do is pray that nothing happens.

Shamus: We'll be at the Maui Sheraton on Kaanapali Beach. We have stayed at the Westin Maui twice before and loved it, but they raised their prices quite a bit last year, so we're trying the Sheraton instead.

First time I bought it was on my honeymoon. We ended up spending $2500 extra because of an air traffic control strike (we got stuck in France for 2 extra days!) and had to buy new tickets, meals and hotel accomodations. We got every cent back. Definitely get it!

I recommend travel insurance for larger non-refundable expenditures. I would not recommend Travel Guard.<BR><BR>I had a relatively small claim on a policy with them and it took months and nasty letters for them to pay. They kept asking over and over for information I had already sent them and the info they requested didn't even pertain to my claim.<BR><BR>I worked on my own to minimize the claim (talking vendors into refunding &quot;non-refundable&quot; things), so I was even more honked off at Travel Guard's apparent determination to avoid paying.

I canceled my trip to Paris which was scheduled for the week after 9/11/01. Although the airlines were actually flying again before we were due to leave, my husband, who is self employed, was afraid of getting &quot;stuck&quot; in Paris. <BR><BR>USAir refunded both our(non-refundable) tickets, no problem.<BR><BR>The Parisian hotel La Villa also allowed me to cancel though I was past the two-week deadline, even sending a nice e-mail expressing sympathy &amp; solidarity. <BR><BR>I wonder if anyone will be as fortunate again, given the financial health of the airlines.

Wendy, I'm very sorry about your mother, but here's a thought: why not compare the price of farewar discounted non-refundable tickets against the lowest refundable (or re-schedulable) tickets, and then see if the difference is more than the cost of insurance. It might be worth the peace of mind and absence of paperwork (not to mention avoiding the gotcha if they say your reason for cancelling isn't covered) to &quot;self-&quot;insure by buying a refundable ticket.

To Litespeed_chick<BR><BR>The reason we cancelled is that we were planning a active trip. Lots of hiking and moving around staying at 2 different spots. Dr also said no water sports. The condo we had was on 3rd story and just stairs. I think if we were going to a mega resort like the Prince or Orchid we would have gone. Thanks for the offer, I'll let my wife know but she is not a fan of the internet. Our flight left today a 8 am without us. I am having a mai-tai in the cold rain of Humboldt county, somehow it is not the same. However a new trip needs to be planned.<BR><BR>Have Fun<BR>GP

Hi shamus66, I travel as often as possible and I think the insurance thing is a scam. Not really worth it. Rescpectfully, Leslie

iowagirl that is where I am staying can you send me a email<BR><BR>[email protected]<BR>

soccr<BR><BR>We have been doing that and the difference is over $600! We luckily have found trip insurance that will cover both me and my beua if my mom gets sick. The only catch is that we have to buy it within 7 days of purchasing our airfare, we have no problem with that. It's only $100 or so and we spoke with them at length about the situation so we are feeling really good.<BR><BR>Again I thank Fodorites for bringing this subject up and offering advice!<BR><BR>Wendy