MsPerky

I have never purchased travel insurance, but am considering it for our Canadian train trip. I need to see what I already have via USAA, Blue Cross, etc before I make up my mind. I will not be purchasing the insurance through the tour company, but will use insuremytrip.com to research. Have any of y'all purchased trip insurance? What has been your experience? Legal Bill (our resident insurance expert) - if you are reading this, weigh in please!

MsPerky

I purchased a policy through USAA. The plan cost is not cheap (mine was quite a bit higher than the +1's - ), but this will be an expensive trip. The cancellation penalties are steep at Rocky Mountaineer, so the insurance is worth it IMO.

Chuck S

Travel insurance? What does it cover? Your USAA auto policy covers you in North America, or at least the English and French speaking areas and your medical is good as well. What's left to insure? Just back from France and "travel insurance" never crossed my mind.

-- Chuck

MsPerky

Here's an article that gives some reasons.

http://www.travelinsurancereview.net...vel-insurance/

There are several that make a difference to me for this particular trip - #1 being the most important because of the cost. We had to cancel three trips last year and we lost the value of the plane tickets on one of them, among other things. I doubt anything will happen this time, but I don't want to have to pay so much out of pocket if it does. There will be no auto involved. Flying these days can be dicey, so 2 and 3 are high up on my list, too. My biggest concern is changing planes and arriving in Calgary on time to start the trip. Normally, I would not care because when we travel we are usually making our own schedule. This is the exception.

Lainey

We used to visit the Caribbean every couple of years and I always purchased travel insurance. One time I cashed in on it as we had to cancel a trip due to a shoulder surgery for Rick.

The insurance will cover the cost of your trip if you have to cancel the trip after you have paid for it. Check for the exclusions like pre-exisiting conditions, etc. At times, people have to cut trips short due to family emergencies. The insurance may also cover for trips that are interrupted.


Most of the time the insurance will cover medical care and transport if needed. Our health insurance is worth zero dollars in Canada or abroad. While they won't refuse to treat you, you will get a bill and your health insurance company will decide if the price is reasonable and customary. Do you trust your health insurance company?

Lost luggage, late for flights, other misc things that folks don't think about can happen on a trip. I'd buy insurance.

PS Our friend canberra/Roy used to be involved in this. I bought insurance once just to cover airline tickets. I came "this close" to using it as I was ill the AM of our flight home. I didn't think I'd be able to get on the plane. I was glad I had the insurance as it would have paid for medical expenses as well as accommodations for my +1 and would have covered our air fare to get home. Didn't end up using it, but was glad I had it.

MsPerky

Yep, all those things are covered. If you buy the insurance within 30 days of your initial trip payment, you will normally be covered for pre-existing conditions. And the trip cancellation coverage was the same time frame. So I got the policy with a couple of days to spare.

dlq04

I've only bought it a couple times and we got to use once which worth it.

Morris

We had it on a trip to Africa, where our luggage was stolen. We had bought luggage and clothes for the trip and had receipts., They paid us full amount, no hassles.
We also had insurance last fall when we went to Puerto Rico and could not fly on to Viequez due to weather. We could have been stuck for about a grand in house rents, which the insurance would have covered. Luckily the owners refunded our money in full. BTW we are going over Christmas and have rented the same house. I would buy insurance for any trip out of the US.