4 Reasons Travel Insurance Is Worth It for Trips

Sorry to hear about your situation. You can’t buy travel insurance and then use something you knew about prior to purchasing it as reason for cancelling. It wouldn’t be hard for the insurance company to work it all out

The problem is that insurance bought now is not going to cover a preexisting diagnosis. Check the credit card that you used to make the bookings; you may have some insurance as part of that.

I am in the process of booking my honeymoon to Italy for two weeks. We have booked 3 hotels so far, totalling about $7,000, and foolishly I bought reservations that weren't refundable to save $900. These were booked mostly in February, but one was early March. The honeymoon is late June/early July.

Since booking my fiancee learned that there's a mass in her chest that is potentially lymphoma. We're waiting on pet scan results and then biopsy. If she has cancer then we don't know what the travel plans will be like, if we can even go.

I know it was foolish to buy non-refundable bookings. Please save the shame. I know.

I am looking into travel insurance and it seems like it would cover cancellations, and it would also cover a lot more. Is this correct? Thanks in advance 💚🙏

Talk to the hotel. Usually they’re lenient if valid medical reason.

If anyone is looking for a teachable moment from the last week of wildfire smoke, storms, and operational meltdowns... Here it is:

BUY TRAVEL INSURANCE, don't cheap out on this. Make sure you get proper coverage for reimbursement of costs when your plans are changed by no fault of your own.

Flight cancelled? Book what you can to get there or home and file a claim for reimbursement.

Hotel deposit or non-refundable? File a claim for the unexpected charges to change or cancel.

Need a place to stay that isn't the airport seats? File a claim for your hotel costs.

Depending on your coverage, there are other reimbursed coverages. Please learn from this week and maybe it will save you a rant on Users posting in the future 🤷‍♂️

Is it ever actually ever worth buying car insurance? Homeowners insurance? Renter's insurance? Health insurance? Pet insurance? It is not until you need it. Then you're fucked. Play Russian roulette and you'll eventually lose.

You should always get insurance, but not with the airline, that’s never going to be the best option. Get one that covers you for more things (medical, delays, baggage etc) elsewhere, it’ll probably be much cheaper. In the UK I can get single trip insurance for like £30 

I travel quite frequently and have never bought travel insurance. Never needed to use it.

Why yes, that's how insurance works. A lot of people buy it, most people never need it, a tiny minority get into trouble and take advantage of it.

Insurance prevents a hiccup from turning into a show-stopper. I've used mine a couple times, such as when I got a pretty bad accident -- it meant I didn't need to worry about picking a hospital or paying for it, that was all handled by insurance, including a clothes for the extended stay, and flight adjustments to match.

I could have found a hospital myself, paid for it myself, then acquired a foreign-language doctor's note to talk to the airline and reschedule and whatnot. But insurance meant I could focus on my procedures and recovery. My insurance for that trip cost me like $40.

Others use it when luggage gets delayed, a storm unexpectedly hits, etc.

This is also highly dependent on where you're going.

I've traveled to Europe a few times without insurance. However, you would never see me stepping into the US without insurance.

Been reading several posts when trips go sideways, with OP wondering “how do I get compensation for this mishap). Not all flights I take seem to warrant travel insurance (I think).

When do you all bone up for trip insurance?

I've been to Japan three times and I've done travel insurance all three. I've never used it but it's a "peace of mind" line item in my trip budget. There's really no way to say if it's worth it because you can't see the future. If something happens, you'll be glad you had it but if nothing happens you'll be thinking "I wish I had that money back."

Two things to keep in mind:

a) Travel insurance usually has lots of fine print so you'll likely have to jump through hoops to use it.

b) What the airline offers is generally substandard, i.e. it's expensive for what you get. When I've purchased travel insurance previously I've used a meta site like InsureMyTrip.com to see different plans and compare levels of coverage against cost.

I already find the 10-business days assessment ridiculously long but whenever they ask for additional information which, the 10 business days resets after you send the information back.

I lodged a claim and on the 9th business day, I got an email saying they need further information (which was already provided in my initial lodgement except I covered my credit card details - they need to see the card number. I provided this information then on the 10th business day, they again requested for additional information which is a medical certificate (I went to the doctor twice.. 1 was to get medicine hoping I’ll get better, 2nd is when I got a medical certificate saying I am unfit to travel). They requested a medical certificate for the initial consultation. I don’t think it is relevant but feel free to correct me.

Now I have an appointment with the doctor and need to wait another 10 business days once I provide the document. And who knows, they might respond on the 10th business day asking for more information. What a joke!

Trip (cancellation) insurance or travel (medical) insurance? The people replying here are mistaking what you're asking about. Half are replying about medical insurance, half are replying about trip cancellation/interruption insurance.

I would never travel without medical insurance. I'm not too concerned about trip cancellation insurance.

my friend and i are booking a trip to mexico through expedia using WestJet. expedia reccomends flight coverage ($127 ea). this POSSIBLY covers lost bags, cancelled flights, etc.

is it worth it? because we think its just a way for them to take more money. we are both young and this would be our first time travelling without "real" adults.

i need 300 characters to send this so i had to say that sentance to get there....

Just wanted to start a discussion based on what I’ve been seeing recently.

A lot of Indians still treat travel insurance as something you buy only because a visa demands it. But with flight disruptions, medical emergencies abroad, and lost baggage becoming more common, I’ve seen way too many people end up paying out of pocket—sometimes lakhs—because they didn’t understand what they bought.

Common issues I keep coming across:

• Cheapest policy chosen without reading exclusions
• Pre-existing conditions not disclosed
• No idea whether the policy is cashless or reimbursement
• Claims rejected due to missing documents or timelines

Medical treatment outside India is insanely expensive, and even a minor emergency can derail an entire trip financially.

Curious to hear from others here:

• Have you ever actually used travel insurance?
• Was the claim process smooth or painful?
• Do you think it’s worth paying extra for better coverage?

Genuinely asking—trying to understand real experiences.

I always do travel insurance for big expensive trips. Your insurance will not work in foreign countries and an injury or illness can be $$$$$$$. Insurance can also cover expenses if you get delayed, miss a flight, lose luggage, etc

It's just a question on how risk averse you are. I usually don't get travel insurance (I have travel.health insurance).. to my travel insurance is mostly interesting if something happens before you leave. Eg if you break a leg tomorrow and have to cancel your surf trip, travel insurance should return you the money spent on flight tickets and hotel. Often it'll include some kind of coverage if your luggage gets stolen.

If you travel like me, with the cheapest flights, the plan to go unless I'm actively dying in a hospital and sleeping in 20$ dorms.. the travel insurance doesn't make too much sense for me.

I travel quite frequently and have never bought travel insurance. Never needed to use it. The one trip I had that was cancelled I managed to get back from the airline with a doctor's note (flu)

People are always telling me to buy insurance though...are there any cheap international ones?

I have a really good health insurance plan. Do I really need travel insurance for my upcoming trip abroad? I know travel insurance covers some other stuff too, but I don’t think I need all that. I just want to make sure I can afford treatment if I get injured or sick.  I’m on a tight budget with this trip. So I don’t want to spend on anything I don’t have to. Is travel insurance really necessary in my situation?

No one can tell you if you need it or not. By it's nature, it is offered to mitigate the many risks inherent to traveling. To forego insurance is to gamble. Only you can assess the risks to your budget and travel plans.

I'm looking to book with delta airlines, they offer allianz travel protection for $275.38 (2 people) for my flights to Japan.

Is it worth it to add it onto my trip? Have you gotten it and were happy you did, or did you not get it and really regret it?

Hubs and I are going out of the country to a tropical island for our 5 year anniversary next year. We are gettingnready to finalize booking. As the title states, how necessary is it? Its adding 500 to our final total for the trip And we are wondering if its really a big deal to have. Or not so much ?