Vacation With Confidence: Choosing the Best Travel Insurance Plans

So you’ve packed your bags and chosen your dream destination. Now what? While it might seem like the planning stage for your next vacation is over, travel insurance is at least one more important detail to handle. Good travel insurance protects you from vacation nightmares and makes handling the worst-case scenario easier. Our handy guide will explain the ins and outs and compare travel insurance plans so you can make the best choice! 

What Is Travel Insurance?

There are several policy types and benefits, but the basic premise is the same. Simply put, travel insurance protects you from the unexpected and makes handling emergencies while away from home much less stressful. You never know when a flight will experience a mechanical failure or when a significant event could prevent travel — thus, you need to cover your bases. Founded in 2004, the US Travel Insurance Association was founded to facilitate an ethical travel insurance industry and offer guidance for consumers. According to the USTIA, travel insurance policies should include elements of three types of coverage.

Financial reimbursement covers trip delays and cancellations, as well as lost baggage. Medical insurance covers injuries and illnesses that occur while traveling, and a 24-hour assistance line can connect travelers to doctors, hospitals, and other emergency resources they might need. According to the USTIA, the most recent travel protection market study covered the years 2020 – 2022 and found that Americans spent $4.2 billion on travel insurance. Online policy purchases account for about 80% of travelers insured.

“Results from the travel market study indicate a great awareness of travel insurance,” S’Neta Benefield, UStiA’s executive director, said in a press statement about the study. “Although customers are price-sensitive, they still place high value in coverage and service levels.”

What Makes a Good Travel Insurance Plan?

A good travel insurance plan has multiple components. According to Forbes, your plan should include trip cancellation, including 100% of non-refundable purchases that might be canceled. It’s essential to check whether your policy covers COVID if cancellation due to illness concerns you. Be sure to see if your plane tickets, for example, are refundable — or else policy coverage is redundant. In addition, Nerdwallet reports that travelers will also want trip interruption coverage, a post-departure policy that covers delays, missed flights, and other issues that occur while you’re headed to your destination. 

A good travel insurance policy should also include some kind of medical policy. Although you can and should check to see what your current health insurance plan covers to avoid making redundant purchases, many may not help if you’re overseas or in a different country. Medicare, for example, doesn’t cover any claims outside the United States except in a few exceptional cases. You’ll also want to make sure your policy includes evacuation and repatriation if you want the ability to be taken to the nearest hospital on your trip, or to be evacuated home in the event of an emergency.

Note that many policies include coverage of accidents that might happen during normal activities, like cycling or swimming, but may not cover extreme sports accidents that could happen during skydiving, for example. If that’s a concern for you, be sure to check for the right protection before making your choice. Lasly, you’ll want to choose a travel insurance policy that covers rental car collisions, lost baggage and 24-hour services, which can connect travelers to doctors, lawyers and other crucial resources. 

How Can You Get Travel Insurance?

There are multiple ways to purchase travel insurance. Firstly, travelers can check with typical insurance companies; Geico, for example, offers flights, interruptions and delays, and unexpected medical expenses. Many credit cards offer policies, and so do specific travel insurance companies. TravelInsurance.com, Faye, TinLeg, and World Nomads are all popular travel insurance companies, according to Forbes. The USTIA also offers a membership directory, which can be sorted and filtered into multiple categories, including insurance, air evacuation assistance, and much more.

How Much Does Travel Insurance Cost?

According to the USTIA, travel insurance prices are based on length of trip, destination, and age of the traveler. The total cost should be between 4% and 8% of the total travel cost. As an example, Budget Your Trip says travelers should expect to spend about $254 per day on an average trip to Paris, France. For a 5-day trip with two adults, an average trip should cost about $2,540. This means you could expect a travel insurance policy to cost $100 to $205.

Nerdwallet recommends using an aggregator like Squaremouth or Insure My Trip to compare multiple policies, much like Kayak compares flight prices. This way, you can ensure you’re getting the most coverage for the most affordable price.

What if I Travel Often?

One final consideration when looking at travel insurance policies is how often you travel. Frequent flyers, like people in business who leave town for work, might want to consider annual travel coverage instead of one-off purchases. According to USA Today, these policies often bundle all the categories of coverage — but sometimes come with time limits, such as only covering trips that last 30 to 90 days or less. Others may include age requirements. If you fit the bill, these types of plans can save money over time.

Unfortunately, you never know what emergencies may arise while you’re traveling. Even a peaceful vacation can become stressful if your bags are lost or if your flight is severely delayed. In the long run, not purchasing travel insurance can prolong delays and cost you more money than if you’d covered your trip in the first place. There are plenty of policies to choose from, and with a little research, you’re sure to find something affordable that protects your plans so you can travel without worry!