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What Travel Insurance Doesn’t Cover (Exclusions)

There’s one exception to the exclusions: You can get policies that let you cancel your trip for any reason. Click here to see the details
You need to know what travel, cruise & trip insurance doesn’t cover because “the devil’s in the details”. Don’t assume everything’s covered.

Travel Insurance Doesn’t Cover Everything – Just “Listed Unforeseen Events”. Here’s a list of what’s commonly not covered:
Travel Insurance doesn’t cover some of the following because there’s no need for it to cover you. For example, if your cruise ship’s propellers break causing your cruise to be cancelled, it’s the cruise line’s responsibility to take care of you.

  • Any trip where the purpose of the trip is to obtain medical treatment
  • If the Insured’s tickets do not contain specific travel dates. This includes flying Standby or having open-ended tickets
  • Routine medical treatment from a known medical condition
  • Pre-existing medical conditions (this exclusion can be waived)
  • Travel supplier financial default (this exclusion can be waived)
  • Frequent flier tickets / miles, vouchers, award travel, face value of free trips & credit card miles. Learn more here.
  • Wanting to return home early
  • Not feeling safe to travel, except Cancel For Any Reason Plans
  • Business or contractual obligations
  • Failure of any tour operator, Common Carrier, person or agency to provide the bargained-for travel arrangements – This means that if the travel supplier changes the itinerary, but still gives you a similar trip, there’s not a valid claim with a Travel Insurance plan (all plans have this exclusion). note: this is different from Financial Default.
  • Unfavorable weather. Trip Cancellation / Interruption for bad weather is different from going to Cancun and having it rain the whole time. You won’t have much fun, but unless the bad weather prevents you from getting there, you won’t have a valid claim.
  • Your financial circumstances (“I can’t afford to go”)
  • War (whether declared or undeclared)
  • Mental, psychological or nervous disorders including anxiety, depression, neurosis or psychosis
  • Change in plans (“I just don’t want to go”), except Cancel For Any Reason Plans
  • Pregnancy or childbirth, or elective abortion, other than the Complications of Pregnancy threatening the life of the mother or child;
  • Any government regulation or prohibition
  • Your school board cancels your child’s trip
  • Intentionally self-inflicted Injury, suicide, or attempted suicide while sane or insane;
  • Participation in athletic events, motor sport or motor racing including training or practice for the same;”.
  • Extreme, high risk sports including but not limited to: diving, bodily contact sports; skydiving; hang gliding, bungee jumping, parachuting; mountain climbing or any other high altitude activities, caving, heli-skiing, extreme skiing, or any skiing outside marked trails;
  • Scuba diving (unless accompanied by a dive master and not deeper than 130 feet);
  • War or act of war, whether declared or not, civil disturbance or insurrection;
  • Operating or learning to operate any aircraft, as student, pilot or crew;
  • Air travel on any air-supported device, other than a regularly scheduled airline or air charter company;
  • Loss or damage caused by detention, confiscation, or destruction by customs;
  • Any unlawful acts, committed by the Insured, Family Member, or a Traveling Companion, whether insured or not;
  • Nuclear reaction, radiation, or radioactive contamination;
  • Civil disorder or riot;
  • If the Trip Departure Date and Trip Completion Date does not reflect the Insured’s intent to start and end his/her trip on those dates;
  • Alcohol or substance abuse, or related illnesses;
  • Any expected or foreseeable events.
  • Operating or learning to operate any aircraft as pilot or crew;

These are the most common exclusions. In order to know exactly what is and isn’t covered you need to review the actual policy wording from the links above.


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PPS - Even though TripInsuranceStore.com is the world's most informative travel insurance website, you are still responsible to know the coverage terms, conditions, limitations, and exclusions of your plan. No comments or explanations confirm or deny coverage. You need to refer to each plan's policy wording.

PPPS - The Trip Cancellation coverage begins at 12:01 a.m. on the day after the date the policy is purchased. All other coverages begin when you leave home for your trip when your departure date is in the future.

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