Will Travel Insurance Cover Flight Cancellation?

Learn about what types of coverage are available when it comes to trip cancellation insurance and how it can help protect against unexpected costs due to flight cancellations.

Will Travel Insurance Cover Flight Cancellation?

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), developed by the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) created by Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and JCB, is a broad set of technical and operational standards that a company must follow to ensure that all companies that process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. You are using an outdated version of this browser and you may experience errors. Update to the latest version. You will need to enable Javascript to fully use our website.

When it comes to travel, it's important to understand the difference between trip cancellation insurance and travel health insurance. The main purpose of travel insurance is to cover your prepaid and non-refundable travel expenses in the event that you have to cancel your trip for a covered reason. It can also cover travel delays, trip interruption, delayed baggage and other additional benefits, such as lost passport and emergency cash transfers. If you want to have the option to cancel your trip for reasons not covered by travel insurance, you can take out cancellation insurance for any reason (CFAR).

This means that the airline is required by law to reimburse you for the canceled flight if it is to or from the U. S. UU. Airport.

However, if your flight is canceled and the ticket is non-refundable, you may be able to request a refund from your travel insurance provider. It's also important to note that even if the airline reimburses you for a canceled flight, you still need protection against other non-refundable travel expenses. Consider the money you've already paid for tickets to your hotel or rental car, event or attraction. If your flight is canceled, you'll want to find a way to have these costs reimbursed as well.

Travel insurance can provide a way to get that refund. The important step is to read your policy carefully to understand what it covers and what it doesn't. This way, you can make an informed purchase and travel with less worry about unplanned cancellations or delays. If your flight is canceled and you are entitled to a refund through the airline, travel insurance will not cover this cost.

However, most travel insurance policies will extend coverage up to one week in case of unexpected delays when you get home. The travel interruption benefit could help cover unexpected expenses, from hotels to meals. Unfortunately, travel insurance policies don't usually cover lost wages due to a flight delay or cancellation. Some, but not all, travel cancellation plans will include coverage for a canceled flight if the canceled flight is due to an unannounced strike or a mechanical breakdown of the aircraft.

If your baggage is delayed by six or more hours, baggage delay coverage can reimburse you for necessary personal items. Lost connection coverage is often part of a comprehensive travel insurance policy and is not always found in basic travel policies. For example, Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection doesn't offer coverage for missed connections in its ExactCare Value plan, but you can upgrade to ExactCare or LuxuryCare plans, which include it. If you missed your connecting flight for a reason listed in your policy under your travel interruption coverage, you will be reimbursed for the cost of catching up with your itinerary.

However, if you lose a connection booked on another airline, the airline could book you a new flight free of charge or make you pay for a new ticket. Once you've called your insurance company and taken note of any additional instructions they may have, it's time to book a new flight and any accommodations you might need while you wait. This means that you can use all coverage, except for trip cancellation, so you can use interruption benefits to help pay for additional costs back home and travel delay benefits to cover reasonable additional costs to cover your needs.

Karl Hauze
Karl Hauze

Alcohol evangelist. Certified web geek. Devoted zombie trailblazer. Unapologetic pop culture scholar. Avid twitter fanatic. Freelance social media maven.