Trip Cancellation Travel Insurance Plan Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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- How much does Travel Insurance cost?
- What does Travel Insurance cover?
- What doesn’t Travel Insurance cover?
- What is the latest date I can purchase travel insurance?
- If I buy my insurance now when I’m close to my initial trip deposit, what do I do when I prepay the other parts of my travel arrangements later? i.e. – If it’s too early to buy airfare or if I don’t know my final prepaid trip costs yet?
- If I arrange part or all of my trip directly with the cruise line or tour operator, does the “3rd party supplier default” coverage cover me if the travel supplier I booked directly goes out of business?
- Can I get Travel Insurance even if I don’t have a travel agent
- What is a Pre-Existing Condition?
- When covering a pre-existing medical condition, do I need to buy enough insurance to cover all my prepaid trip arrangements? Is there a deadline?
- What do you mean by the Lookback Period?
- How do I calculate my Per Person Trip Cost?
- What date do I use for my Initial Trip Deposit Date?
- What do I use for my travel dates?
- What kinds of trips does Travel Insurance cover?
- Where do I have to live to be able to buy one of these plans?
- What should I do if I get sick or hurt?
- Who’s considered your family member or a traveling companion?
- Do all of us have to purchase Travel Insurance?
- What is Terrorism?
- Does my credit card, homeowner’s or my regular medical insurance policy cover for me while I’m traveling?
- What do I get with the 24-Hour Emergency Hotline Services?
- How do medical evacuation / transportation and medical repatriation differ?
- What does Travel Delay cover?
- Can I change my travel dates if my trip changes?
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Q. How much does Travel Insurance cost?
A. Travel insurance tends to be 5% – 10% of your trip’s prepaid non-refundable cost. Click here to compare up to 10 different plans (with prices) in an easy to read side-by-side travel insurance comparison.
Q. What does Travel Insurance cover?
A. Travel Insurance covers you for Listed unforeseen events like:
- You, your companion or a family member has a medical emergency or dies
- You need emergency transportation / evacuation
- You’re laid off from your job of at least 1 years’ employment
- Your 3rd party travel supplier unexpectedly ceases operation
- Bad weather
- Lost, stolen or damaged luggage
- A city you’re visiting has a terrorist incident
- Cruise ship sicknesses
- A plane crash
Note: Some benefits (not medical) will only pay once on your trip. For example, if your trip’s delayed twice, you’ll only get reimbursed once.
Click here to learn more about what is and isn’t covered
Q. What doesn’t Travel Insurance cover?
A. Here are some of the things Travel Insurance usually does not cover you for:
- War or Civil Unrest (whether declared or undeclared)
- Contractual obligations
- You self-destruct your finances and can’t afford to travel
- You change your mind and don’t want to go
- You have to go to court for any number of reasons other than serving on the jury
- Mental, psychological or nervous disorders including fear, anxiety, depression, neurosis or psychosis.
Click here to learn more about the exclusions.
| There’s one exception to the typical exclusions: You can get policies that let you cancel your trip for any reason including changing your mind. Click here to see the details |
Q. What is the latest date I can purchase travel insurance?
A. It’s not too late to get trip insurance if you leaving soon.
You may get a travel insurance plan up until the day before you leave home or at least two days before something happens to you where you wish you had bought it two days earlier. You should get your travel insurance as soon as possible to maximize your benefits. If you wait to get it, you run the risk that something will happen before the policy takes effect. It’s too late to get it if the Cement Truck has already hit you.
Q. If I buy my insurance now when I’m close to my initial trip deposit, what do I do when I prepay the other parts of my travel arrangements later? i.e. – If it’s too early to buy airfare or if I don’t know my final prepaid trip costs yet?
A. Yes, you can cover your plane tickets you purchase later. You can either estimate your total trip cost now and insure that much or cover your known costs today and increase the insurance later (when you incur higher trip costs) prior to departure.
If it was me (Steve) I would buy the policy for the dates you know and covering the amount you know and then adjust it upwards as you make additional payments toward your trip.
Note: If you want coverage for pre-existing medical conditions:
Most plans require you to cover your full prepaid non-refundable trip cost to get the waiver of the pre-existing medical condition exclusion. It’s possible you don’t know today exactly what your trip costs are, so it’s best to insure the per person trip costs that you know. If you later find out your trip costs are higher, you can increase your insurance coverage and only pay the difference in the price.
Q. If I arrange part or all of my trip directly with the cruise line or tour operator, does the “3rd party supplier default” coverage cover me if the travel supplier I booked directly with goes out of business?
A. It’s not as simple of an answer as you expect. Go here to read my Blog post about Travel Supplier Financial Default.
Q. Can I get Travel Insurance even if I don’t have a travel agent?
A. Yes, you can get Travel Insurance even if you’re an independent traveler making all your own travel arrangements.
Q. What is a Pre-Existing Medical Condition?
A. Any injury, illness, sickness or medical condition of an Insured or Family Member which either manifests itself or exists during the 60, 90, 180 or 365 days immediately preceding the day you buy Travel Insurance, unless the condition is controlled through the taking of prescription drugs or medication and remains controlled throughout the 60, 90, 180 or 365 day period. A pre-existing condition has manifested itself when medical care, treatment or diagnosis has been given. Any adjustment of a prescription causes that condition to be defined as a Pre-Existing Medical Condition, too.
Click here to learn More about Pre-Existing Medical Conditions
Q. When covering a pre-existing medical condition, do I need to buy enough insurance to cover all my prepaid trip arrangements? Is there a deadline?
A. With the exception of the IMG SE & LX, Travel Insured for anyone except MO, NY, PA or WA residents and TravelSafe Classic plans, if you want the pre-existing conditions exclusion waiver, you must:
- Purchase enough insurance to cover the cost all of your prepaid non-refundable trip arrangements that you would lose if you cancelled on your departure date, and
- Buy the insurance before the deadline passes, and
- Cover the entire length of your trip (the date you leave through the date you return home) and
- Be medically able to travel on the day you buy your policy.
Note: If you want the pre-existing conditions exclusion waiver, you still have to insure a trip cost on the IMG SE & LX, Travel Insured for anyone except MO, NY, PA or WA residents and TravelSafe Classic plans. Just not your prepaid non-refundable trip arrangements.
Important:The lowest trip cost you can cover is $0. If you do this you will not be eligible to have the Pre-Existing Medical Conditions Exclusion Waiver with any policy.
Your Deadline To Waive The Pre-Existing Medical Condition Exclusion:
| Provider & Plan Details | The Pre-existing Conditions Waiver Deadline |
| CSA Freestyle | Your final trip payment date plus 24 Hours |
| CSA Freestyle Luxe | Your final trip payment date plus 24 Hours |
| Generali Premium | Your final trip payment date plus 24 Hours |
| IMG iTI SE | 20 calendar days after your initial trip deposit |
| IMG iTI LX | Your final trip payment date for most States |
| Travel Guard Plus | 20 calendar days after your initial trip deposit |
| Travel Guard Preferred | 14 calendar days after your initial trip deposit |
| Travel Insured WTP | 21 calendar days after your initial trip deposit |
| Travel Insured WTP Plus | 21 calendar days after your initial trip deposit |
| TravelSafe Classic | 21 calendar days after your initial trip deposit |
Click here to learn more about Pre-Existing Medical Conditions
Q. What do you mean by the Lookback Period?
A. A period of 60 to 365 days prior to the day you buy Travel Insurance. The Lookback Period defines what is and what isn’t a pre-existing medical condition. All travel insurance plans have a Lookback Period.
Click here to learn more about the Lookback Period
Q. How do I calculate my per person Trip Cost?
A. You want to use the actual per person prepaid, non-refundable trip costs including airfare. If you are invoiced for one lump sum, you may divide the total cost by the number of travelers. This is common with lodging and tours.
For cruises, Guests 1 and 2 in a cabin have higher costs than guests 3 or 4. However you have to look at the cruise line’s invoice and not your travel agent’s invoice.
Look at this Blog post I wrote on July 1, 2024 called “Get Your Trip Cancellation Claim Paid in Full” to learn about a common mistake people make when insuring a cruise.
Click here to learn more about the Lookback Period
Q. What date do I use for my Initial Trip Deposit Date?
A. Count the earliest day you paid any money, arranged for frequent flyer tickets or gave your credit card number to pay for a trip.
That said, if any of your trip costs are being paid with Future Travel or Cruise Credits that you received instead of a cash refund on a trip that was cancelled or interrupted, then you need to read this: Click here to learn more about the Initial Trip Deposit Date.
Q. What do I use for my travel dates?
A. Day #1 is the day you leave your home. The last day is the day you return home. You have to cover the entire time you’re away from home.
Read this for more detailed information: “What Are the Right Travel Dates to Insure?”
Q. What kinds of trips does Travel Insurance cover?
A. Any pleasure or business trip can be covered as long as it takes you away and has fixed travel dates.
Q. Where do I have to live to be able to buy one of these plans?
A.
- CSA Freestyle and Luxe: You have to be a US resident
- Generali plans: You have to be a US resident
- IMG SE or LX: You have to be a US resident.
- Travel Guard: You have to be a US resident
- Travel Insured: You have to be a US resident
- TravelSafe: You have to be a US resident or citizen.
Q. What should I do if I get sick or hurt?
A.
- Make sure you seek medical help. In order to have your claim covered, you have to seek the initial medical treatment on your trip. If you, a family member or a traveling companion gets sick, hurt or dies, you have to have it corroborated by a physician. If your physician’s a family member, make sure you go see a physician who isn’t a part of your family.
- Call the insurance company collect (from anywhere in the world). You need to find out what else you should do right away. This is especially important because if you need emergency transportation, the insurance company has to arrange it for you. More
- Save all your paperwork, receipts and documentation
Q. Who’s considered your family member or a traveling companion?
A. Family Member usually means your spouse, child, spouse’s child, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, brother, sister, mother, father, grandparents, grandchild, step-brother, step-sister, step-parents, parents-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, guardian, ward, significant other.
Be sure to check each insurance company’s exact definition of a Family Member. A good rule of thumb is: “Family members are related by blood or marriage“.
On the other hand, Traveling Companions are “related” by their accommodations and itineraries. More
Click here to learn more about family members
Q. Do all of us have to purchase Travel Insurance?
A. No. The policy premium is based on the per person trip cost. You are covered by your own policy. Not everyone traveling together needs to take a policy. Nor does everyone have to use the same travel insurance plan.
Q. What’s a terrorism incident?
A. Terrorist Incident means an act of violence, other than civil disorder or riot (that is not an act of war, declared or undeclared), that results in loss of life or major damage to property, by any person acting on behalf of or in connection with any organization which is generally recognized as having the intent to overthrow or influence the control of any government. Click here to learn more about terrorism coverage
Q. Does my credit card, homeowner’s or my regular medical insurance policy cover for me while I’m traveling?
A. You should always check these policies before you travel, because:
- Medicare doesn’t provide coverage for those traveling outside the United States. This restriction applies to passengers on board cruise ships that are registered in a foreign country (almost all cruise ships have foreign registry).
- Your credit cards may cover you in some areas. Make sure you find out exactly what they cover.
- It’s a good idea to have your camera, jewelery, sports equipment or any valuable personal possessions specially scheduled on your homeowner’s policy. Travel Insurance limits what you can claim for certain personal belongings.
- Many health insurance plans do not guarantee payment directly to foreign hospitals, may have a deductible nor cover the cost of emergency medical transportation. Deductibles or co-payments frequently apply outside most plan service areas.
Q. What do I get with the 24-Hour Emergency Hotline Services?
A. Travel Insurance plans give you assistance services including the use of a 24-Hour Emergency Hotline, which you can call collect from anywhere in the world. Here are those phone numbers.
Note: In some countries it may not be possible to call collect. If you must phone the hotline directly, give them your location and phone number so they can call you back.
Q. How do medical evacuation / transportation and repatriation differ?
A. Medical evacuation / transportation is defined as you being transported to the nearest appropriate medical facility as a result of the insurance company’s Consulting Physician and the local attending Physician’s determination that adequate treatment is not available locally. If you want your doctor consulted make sure you give his / her contact information to the insurance company.
Repatriation means returning the body home in the event the insured dies on their trip. In other words, you fly home in the lower part of the plane.
Q. What does Trip Delay cover?
A. Trip Delay provides benefits to help you defray the cost of additional accommodations and traveling expenses that you might incur if your trip is delayed for a covered reason.
Trip delay benefits are shown as a dollar amount, but the benefits are paid as a daily maximum. Click here to learn more about Trip Delay
Trip Delay covered reasons may include:
- You being delayed by a traffic accident while en route to a departure
- Quarantine
- Hijacking
- Unannounced strikes
- Natural disaster
Q. Can I change my travel dates if my trip changes?
A. Yes, you can change your travel dates if your trip changes and you do not incur any penalty or financial loss when cancelling your original trip. This can be tricky because some travel agents charge fees, airlines will and also some cruise lines do, too.
Look at this page for more information about Policy Changes.
Something that is similar to this, but is not the same situation, happens when you choose not to take your trip before you buy airfare or when you are outside the penalty period. To you it might seem like cancelling a trip before the penalty period relieves the travel insurance company of any future risk, but this is not the case. If you are past the free look period (10 – 14 days, depending on the plan, after you buy a policy and you can cancel the policy for a full refund), you cannot get a refund on the travel insurance policy because you choose not to take your trip.
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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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