Name: Should You Buy Travel Insurance for Your Next Trip?
Uploaded: 2023-08-16T02:20:00Z
Duration: 7 min 48 s
Description: More people are buying travel insurance to protect against threats posed by severe weather and other elements. WSJ’s Ethan M. Steinberg joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss the pros and cons of taking out a policy before traveling. Photo: Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

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More people are buying travel insurance to protect against threats posed by  severe weather and other elements. WSJ’s Ethan M. Steinberg joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss the pros and cons of taking out a policy before traveling. Photo: Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

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Should You Buy Travel Insurance for Your Next Trip?

J.R.: Here's your money briefing for Wednesday, August 16th. I'm J.R. Whalen for the Wall Street Journal. More vacationers are buying travel insurance but policies can be complex and expensive. WSJ's Ethan Steinberg joins me to help simplify things. So Ethan, how popular has travel insurance become?

Ethan: Travel insurance is wildly more popular now than it was before the pandemic. The pandemic exposed to people just how much is out of our control when we're traveling. At least that's what travel agents are saying. And data from a few different firms offers insight into this trend. InteleTravel, which is an agency that oversees about 70,000 travel advisors across the country they said that the number of clients who purchased insurance with Allianz which is their largest travel insurance partner grew 48% year over year through June. And the revenue bump associated with that rise was about 75%. Meaning that people aren't only buying more travel insurance but they're buying costlier and more comprehensive plans.

J.R.: 48% that's a big jump.

Ethan: It is, yes. And that's just year over year and it kind of grew the year before that as well during the pandemic.

J.R.: So when somebody buys travel insurance, how much do they expect to pay?

Ethan: There's a range, it could be anywhere from less than $50 to thousands. And primarily it depends on two things, the total trip cost and the age of the traveler. Of course, the more your trip costs, the more you'll be paying and that's on average. And the same goes with age. Data from travel insurance.com, which is a website that allows people to comparison shop between different travel insurance plans. It shows that the range is about 4% to 10% of your total trip cost.

J.R.: So if you're making reservations online or through a travel agent is that where you would buy your insurance or is it a separate purchase?

Ethan: If you are working with a travel agent often they will offer you a bunch of different plans that you could choose from if you are booking your travel yourself. Often there's an option to buy travel insurance when you're checking out on your airlines website. But travel agents recommend comparison shopping so you could see which plan fits your trip best in terms of coverage and cost.

J.R.: What's the main reason people purchase travel insurance?

Ethan: Travel agents say that medical coverage is the main reason people are buying travel insurance. During the pandemic when people were getting sick and you didn't know if you were going to catch the virus at any time and you were booking a trip, people wanted to have that safety and sense of security that they'd be able to back out of a trip if they were sick. And their doctor said that they couldn't travel. I spoke to a 29 year old personal finance coach from New York. She was in Mexico last year on vacation with her mom. She was insured but her mom wasn't. And her mom ended up getting food poisoning and they had to call a doctor to come to their villa and the medical bill just for that visit, he didn't prescribe any medicine just for the visit, it was $635.

J.R.: But what if you get sick or there's some kind of family emergency before you travel and it affects your ability to travel? Is that covered?

Ethan: So whether that is covered depends on the plan and also when you book the plan, let's say for example it's two days before your trip and you come down with the flu. Most plans travel agents say will cover any prepaid non-refundable costs that you would lose as long as you go to a doctor and get a note that says that you are in fact too sick to travel. But if you fall ill due to a preexisting condition, most plans by default will not cover you in that scenario. But, travel agents say that if you buy your insurance within two weeks of booking the trip, for the most part most plans will waive that preexisting condition waiver and will in fact cover you.

J.R.: So aside from a medical emergency well one thing that can really mess up a vacation or travel itinerary is bad weather. Is that typically covered by travel insurance?

Ethan: So it depends. If you are leaving on Saturday for Rome and you check the weather app on your phone on Thursday and see that it's going to be over a hundred degrees there for several days in a row and you think it's gonna be too uncomfortable for you to go backing out of your trip for that reason typically travel insurance won't cover you there as long as your flight is still going and no supplier has canceled on you. On the other hand, let's say your flight is delayed or canceled because of bad weather. In that case the onus is usually on the airline to provide you with some sort of alternate arrangement or a refund. But travel insurance will usually kick in after about six to 12 hours of a delay. Travel agents say and if the delay causes you to miss other legs of your trip like a cruise or a hotel, the travel insurance could depending on your plan, help you with those costs.

J.R.: Yeah, speaking of the hotels, how about things related to your accommodations, are those covered?

Ethan: It depends on the plan but let's say you get sick during your trip and you need to make alternate arrangements. So maybe you're supposed to fly from Paris to London but you're too sick to do that so you end up having to stay in Paris. Travel insurance again, depending on your plan could help you out with those extra hotel costs that were associated with you getting sick as long as the doctor said that in fact you couldn't get on a plane.

J.R.: So what else is covered by travel policies besides the big things like weather and flights and accommodations?

Ethan: So typically it kind of falls into two different categories. Trip interruption and then trip delay or cancellation, which, you know, a canceled flight or a canceled hotel will cover you there. Again, if you miss your cruise that's something that could also be covered up to a daily limit. And it depends on the plan, but any unexpected, prepaid non-refundable costs that are associated with you not being able to travel for some covered reason, the travel insurance could help you out there.

J.R.: You know, travel insurance, as you've been saying can be costly and you pointed out it doesn't cover everything. Are there alternatives to taking out an insurance policy to give yourself a layer of protection?

Ethan: Certainly and travel insurance isn't always the best option. Even experts, you know, travel agents who sell these plans regularly who I spoke to ran into some fiascos where they thought they were supposed to be covered for some part of a trip, but turns out they read the fine print and they actually weren't. And so there are other alternatives that are simpler and may cost less. One is associated with premium credit cards. So often different credit cards will offer you some benefits of travel insurance if you're traveling abroad as long as you book your trip with that card. The caveat there is that often with those cards, they will only offer you travel insurance and benefits associated with it up to a certain daily limit. One travel agent who I spoke to said that one of her clients declined to buy travel insurance because she said "No, look, my credit card has got me." But turned out when the client had to cancel the trip, she found out that her credit card would only cover about 5,000 of the 20,000 down payment that she made.

J.R.: So she was on the hook for $15,000?

Ethan: She was, yes. And that's because she didn't read the fine print.

J.R.: I still find it funny that people would try to have insurance cover the fact that they didn't like the weather at their destination when they were on vacation.

Ethan: Well there are some plans that do cover that they are cancel for any reason plans that will allow you to do just that cancel for any reason. But even with that, there are caveats and fine print.

J.R.: That's Wall Street Journal reporter Ethan Steinberg. And that's it for your money briefing. Today's show is produced by Ariana Aispuro and supervising producer Melanie Roy. I'm J.R. Whalen for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.

WSJ's Your Money Briefing podcast is your personal-finance and career checklist. Finance reporters and experts break down complicated money questions every weekday to help you make better decisions about managing your money. 

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