Travel Insurance?

[goodeats]

We purchased a package through a travel agent (room and tickets) for late August and they don't sell travel insurance. I know the media loves to hype, but they're saying it's going to be another bad hurricane season.

What kind of insurance should I look for and where? What would be a reasonable cost? Our flights are through SW so I wouldn't necessarily need the flights insured, but I might like the option to go with a different carrier if Southwest can't get us out within a day or two. I don't think we need medical coverage necessarily.

 

[platamama]

If you used a credit card to purchase the package, you should check and see what trip benefits the card provides. You may not need additional insurance, especially if it's domestic travel and you don't need medical coverage. I buy travel insurance when I travel out of the country.

 

[goodeats]

I put about 10% on credit card and the rest with Disney Gift Cards I've purchased for the rewards.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I use insure my trip dot com
They offer a variety of plans. I get it for cruising, any time it’s not easy to cancel at the last minute, expensive trips, and as pp said leaving the country.

 

[Jimsig]

I use insure my trip dot com
They offer a variety of plans. I get it for cruising, any time it’s not easy to cancel at the last minute, expensive trips, and as pp said leaving the country.

I second that. Used that site a few times and one time we needed to file a claim as we had to cancel an Alaskan cruise less than 30 days out due to illness.

We purchased a package through a travel agent (room and tickets) for late August and they don't sell travel insurance. I know the media loves to hype, but they're saying it's going to be another bad hurricane season.

What kind of insurance should I look for and where? What would be a reasonable cost? Our flights are through SW so I wouldn't necessarily need the flights insured, but I might like the option to go with a different carrier if Southwest can't get us out within a day or two. I don't think we need medical coverage necessarily.

Even though you don't think you need medical (and not just you but anybody) say you were on your way to the airport and got in car accident, or one of your kids broke an arm or leg a day or two before your trip, trip insurance would/should cover that if you could not go on the trip.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We were supposed to leave Tuesday for our trip. My FIL fell 15 feet from a ladder on Monday and has 2 brain bleeds, several facial fractures, and a few other broken bones. We do have trip insurance, but we were able to reschedule our resort without a penalty thanks to a gracious owner (condo offsite), and since we were driving, we won't lose anything anyway. If the owner had enforced the cancellation policy, and she would be well within her rights, we would have just been out without the trip insurance.

 

[tvguy]

I have noticed Travel Agents have moved away from selling insurance. Mine dropped it after a legal issue, actually making clients sign a form acknowledging that the agency not only does not sell insurance, they are neutral on whether clients should buy it. Travel Insurance is highly personal. It is the most profitable product insurance companies sell because it generates so few claims.
I have only purchased it once in 40 years, for a Disney cruise. I bought it because it was the most expensive trip I have ever booked, (nearly $10,000) it was at Christmas and New Years, a high travel, bad weather time of year.
The only time I had an incident that travel insurance would have kicked in was in 2012 when my mom had a stroke 2 months before a cruise. But HAL and Alaska Airlines refunded her money with out hesitation. As the Travel Agent put it, they (the cruise lines in particular) don't like bad publicity, and they do work to keep Travel Agents who book a lot of business with them happy. True, they had no legal obligation to do so, but it was just good business.

 

[DomesticPrincess]

My take on travel insurance: Real expensive if you don't ever need it. Cheap as chips if you do.

You might check your credit cards and your work if they offer insurance. My work was purchasing yearly travel insurance for their frequent work travelers and ended up letting the company offer it to all employees because they gave the company a discount on their plans for doing it. I insure my spouse and I every year. It only costs about $200 a year. You don't have to do that through work, either. Just google and you'll find many companies offering yearly travel insurance which covers all trips you make that year. If you're making more than one trip in a year it is usually cheaper to do it that way. Your credit card company may also offer it though watch it. Many only cover travel purchased with that card. Some of the companies that offer car and home insurance also offer travel insurance. Our company doesn't but sometimes if they do you can get a special discount for being a repeat customer.

 

[tvguy]

My take on travel insurance: Real expensive if you don't ever need it. Cheap as chips if you do..

Really no different in this regard that anytime insurance. Although most other insurances are to cover catastrophic losses. The dollar value of most trips, by comparison, probably is at the same dollar value that most folks drop collision coverage on their car.

 

[kaytieeldr]

What kind of insurance should I look for

Look for insurance that covers your expected of possible needs. You could read the coverages and exclusions on the various policies on the website mentioned above.

What would be a reasonable cost?

Can't say. Reasonable cost would be whatever the sufficient policy costs?

 

[goodeats]

Update from OP - I ended up booking travel insurance through AAA (we have a membership and our car/home insurance is through them). It was 1/3 less than buying through Insure my trip.com for the same coverage. I'm happy and it was easy to book. Plus the agent answered my questions compared to an annoying website chat feature. Thought I'd share since I never thought of getting insurance through them since we did not buy our trip through them.

 

[DomesticPrincess]

Update from OP - I ended up booking travel insurance through AAA (we have a membership and our car/home insurance is through them). It was 1/3 less than buying through Insure my trip.com for the same coverage. I'm happy and it was easy to book. Plus the agent answered my questions compared to an annoying website chat feature. Thought I'd share since I never thought of getting insurance through them since we did not buy our trip through them.

Thank you for coming back and reporting on your experience. I have nothing but good things to say about the insurance we purchased via AAA.