Always buy the insurance!

[MillauFr]

I used to think that, then I started doing my research and CC travel insurance covers very little.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve covers medical evacuations which is why I book my cruises with it.

 

[dhardawa]

I had insurance for my March trip to Washington DC. Trip insurance refused to cover anything. Absolutely useless.

 

[mentos]

I use a place called tripinsurancestore, but they also operate a blog that’s helpful for research.

Usually it’s best to buy your own policy and not that which is presented to you at checkout of any major airline or other travel site.

Same goes for car rental insurance (I use Sure, which partners with Autoslash for short term rentals, AMEX for longer rentals since they charge a flat fee)

 

[tvguy]

I used to think that, then I started doing my research and CC travel insurance covers very little. It's fine for me domestically but I won't travel abroad relying on it again (I did last year, I did not know better, I got lucky and didn't need it). h.

You really didn't get lucky. The reason credit card companies offer travel insurance for free is they know claims are rare. And if you buy travel insurance, it is the most profitable profit insurance companies sell because of how few claims it generates.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

120 kids (+30 chaperones & parents) from DS's school each paid $4,400 for a Scotland/UK trip mid April. Almost 95% bought trip insurance.

The trip insurance is only giving us the money back for the trip insurance. Beside British Airways deciding to give us our airfare back, looks like we are out the rest of the money.

Yikes, that's awful.

I'm going to stop complaining about DS' cancelled trip to Spain. $3800 with travel insurance, they are refunding but keeping $1000 for "expenses." Travel insurance will cover nothing. Even though it states quarantine as a covered reason for cancellation, apparently we are supposed to know that government ordered quarantines don't count (it just says quarantine in the coverage docs, no qualifications at all). Who else issues a quarantine?

And no, there is nothing in the not-covered reasons for cancellation regarding pandemics.

 

[RamblingMad]

One thing I’ve learned from this crisis is next time I’ll buy trip insurance! We have an early summer trip planned (not to WDW) and I didn’t purchase the insurance so now I’m afraid I’ll lose my money. Hopefully someone else can benefit from my mistake!

You want a cancel for any reason rider to fully cover you.

 

[sghokie]

I guess, always book cancellable hotel reservations. Seems like trip insurance is not good.
My mom fell in Mexico a few months ago and had to go the hospital. Luckily she bought the insurance and I think it was covered and it was a really expensive bill too.

 

[spiders]

I generally think trip insurance is actually a bad idea. I've only done it for cruises to cover medical evacuations.

Personally, to me, insurance is to cover the things you cannot afford to lose. I have homeowners insurance because I can't afford to lose the house. I have car insurance because replacing a car is a lot of money but more importantly I get a lot of liability and an umbrella policy because I'm afraid of the aftermath.

I don't buy insurance on an iPhone. Now, don't get me wrong...I'll be saying some very non-Disney language if I break my phone but it's really not the end of the world. I'll go buy another one. But I'm not going to spend $8 per month and then pay a $200 deductible for a phone. Same thing with WDW...don't get me wrong, I will definitely be saying some very non-Disney language but if you can afford to self-insure yourself then you're going to come out ahead....I mean, insurance companies come out ahead, that's why they're still in business.

 

[tvguy]

I generally think trip insurance is actually a bad idea. I've only done it for cruises to cover medical evacuations.

Personally, to me, insurance is to cover the things you cannot afford to lose. I have homeowners insurance because I can't afford to lose the house. I have car insurance because replacing a car is a lot of money but more importantly I get a lot of liability and an umbrella policy because I'm afraid of the aftermath.

I don't buy insurance on an iPhone. Now, don't get me wrong...I'll be saying some very non-Disney language if I break my phone but it's really not the end of the world. I'll go buy another one. But I'm not going to spend $8 per month and then pay a $200 deductible for a phone. Same thing with WDW...don't get me wrong, I will definitely be saying some very non-Disney language but if you can afford to self-insure yourself then you're going to come out ahead....I mean, insurance companies come out ahead, that's why they're still in business.

Travel insurance is one of the most profitable types of policies insurance companies sell, because claims are so few. So the other side of that equation is it is one of the worse insurance purchases you can make. But of course, if you are one of the few who has a claim, it is a great purchase.
I always tell folks to review what insurance they already have.
My 10 cruises have all been within a few miles of the U.S, or U.S. territories, so I never consider medical evacuation since as a U.S. citizen the U.S. Coast Guard will handle that at no charge. A former co-worker was on a ship when his appendix burst. He was 1,000 miles from San Diego on his way to Hawaii. The Coast Guard sent two helicopters to medi-vac him.....and a tanker to refuel the helicopters. They told him they sent two helicopters "in case one crashed!". They flew him to San Francisco. Total bill, zero.

 

[LSchrow]

We bought Travel Insurance (TravelEx) for our trip to Italy last August (we've never bought insurance for our hundreds of domestic trips).
I wound up very ill with pneumonia, in Rome.
The Travel Insurance paid for EVERYTHING: a doctor to come to the hotel at 11PM, all the injections, prescriptions, & OTC medications, food (for my husband - i had stopped eating). extra night at the hotel, flight change fees (oxygen level too low to fly), etc. Neither CC insurance nor regular Medical Insurance from home would have covered much, if any, of those costs.

Most policies, including "cancel for any reason", exclude pandemics as a reason.
Also, research travel insurance BEFORE booking a trip. Quite a few policies include coverage for pre-existing conditions as long as insurance is purchased soon after paying initial deposit on trip.