Advice on travel insurance?

I have used Travel Guard and another that I can’t remember. Often if it is a group you are going with, they have a company that they offer the insurance through. Look to get it within 14 days of booking the trip to cover pre-existing health issues and look for coverage that is “cancel for any reason” plus medical if you are going abroad. I’ve never had actual cause to use the insurance so I can’t really speak to which company is best. For less costly flight only trips, I don’t bother with travel insurance.

PS I have heard that it can be difficult to collect .

I tried to buy travel insurance that just covered the cost of the plane flight with no health insurance. But was unable to. All travel insurance companies that I could find all included health insurance. I don’t need to buy extra health insurance because my current health insurance covered all emergency care anywhere in the world.

Of course my insurance company will not cover the cost to have me medically evaluated in a special medical plane that the travel insurance will cover. But how often does that happen? I’m willing to rest that.

I have never used travel insurance, until about 4 years ago. I was using the Travelocity website and I think either they automatically added it or I accidentally added it. I noticed during checkout. I started to unadd it, but it was only 30.00 so I kept it. It was “for any reason”.
Two days before my trip I had to have a heart cath procedure. I canceled the trip and had to send my proof of hospitalization.
They returned all of my money except for a $30 co-pay. I don’t know the company, but as I said, it was through the trip advisor company.
My aunt had a similar experience, but they wouldn’t return her money. She had to put it towards another trip within 16 months of the cancellation.
So I would recommend the specifics of reimbursement be carefully reviewed before buying.

If you just want to insure your flight, I believe you can add that coverage with the airline when you book.

I wouldn’t say I’m experienced with it at all, but last year I went on a tour to Alaska and the tour was through a national automobile association (name is the first letter of the alphabet x 3). They offered trip insurance and before I signed on the dotted line and forked over 370 each for me and my daughter, I did a little researching. They told us that the insurance they offered would reimburse you if you had to cancel for any reason, any reason at all, and not just for you but for a relative or freind (for example, your father broke his leg or something like that, not just related to you yourself) versus the other type of trip insurance, where it had to be for a medical reason for you only. I had no idea how to go about purchasing trip insurance on my own but I found out that the rate offered by the company was not a bad rate, so I went for it.

I should add that for the trip I am referencing, an elderly couple had to cancel because the wife had a really bad back and required surgery,and she didn’t think she could tolerate the trip with plane, train, and automobile, so they cancelled and they got their money back, no questions asked.

Thanks, Jan.

And thanks for all responses. These days, it would take less to knock me down than it used to. So I want to insure against cancellation for two flights and two expensive hotels.

Any specific recommendations would be especially appreciared.

Are you booked through a conglomerate like Expedia? if so, they should offer insurance.

Check out the hotel’s cancellation policies before buying insurance for them. Many hotels will let you cancel up to the day before. If so, then you can try to get insurance from the airlines for the flights only.

A lot of airlines and hotels have an offer to pay a little more and be able to cancel for a refund, or make what you book changeable if you need go change dates. I sometimes upgrade to that.

I’ve heard some bad stories that insurance through third party companies can be a problem. People complaining it was hard to collect, but just on this thread it looks like some people had a good experience.

I once bought trip insurance, but I didn’t need to use it, so who knows if it would have bern a hassle.

Check your credit card benefits. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/credit-cards-that-provide-travel-insurance

18 months ago my daughter had a baby in Japan, then the family came to visit us for 2 months while she was on maternity leave. She neglected to check to see if anything related to postpartum would be covered on her travel insurance.

The birth had been incredibly traumatic to say the least, and once she got to the US, there were lots of doctor visits, physical therapy, and mental care. None of it was covered. She is still paying for it.