Trip Cancellation & Interruption
International travel can be a serious financial investment. Whether you’re departing for an adventure to parts unknown, or going on an excursion with family and friends, you should make sure that you find the right trip cancellation travel insurance plan to protect your non-refundable trip costs.
We recommend that if you decide to purchase a comprehensive policy with trip cancellation coverage to protect your trip cost, you should acquire it shortly after you placed your first trip deposit or payment towards your trip. We also advise that you compare different companies’ quotes because as we’ve said before, no two travel insurance policies are identical. Yonder can help you with this, along with all of your travel insurance needs.
The most common reason people cancel their trips is due to a medical emergency for either you or someone in the family, such as illness, injury, or death. Even the most basic trip cancellation plan should cover you in case of this emergency.
Example: Your mother unexpectedly falls very ill right before your upcoming bucket list trip to South Korea. You choose to stay home with her while she recovers instead of going on your trip. You can cancel your trip with no regrets thanks to having a proper trip cancellation plan. After all, your non-refundable trip cost would be reimbursed, and you can start planning your trip to South Korea sooner rather than later!
Major storms and natural disasters at your home or your destination are common reasons to cancel your beach vacation or cruise. Trip cancellation coverage can help you recoup the costs of canceling so you’re able to start planning your next vacation, hopefully with a better weather forecast.
The most important thing to remember about this cancellation reason is your insurance policy MUST be purchased prior to a weather system, like a tropical storm or hurricane, being named by the State Department. Once a system is named, this would be a “foreseeable” event and may no longer be covered by travel insurance.
Example: You finally pulled the trigger on your dream vacation and booked a Caribbean cruise. Unfortunately, a hurricane formed a week before your cruise and is expected to hit your cruise port the day of your departure. Thankfully, you had purchased travel insurance before this storm had formed so you’re able to cancel and receive a full refund for those non-refundable payments you had made towards the trip.
Covered cancellation reasons vary provider to provider. Some other examples include a financial default of your tour operator, sudden unemployment or if a terrorist act occurs in a city on your itinerary. If you want to be prepared for these or other possibilities, ensure you’re checking out the list of “covered reasons” for each travel insurance policy.
Example: You’ve been called in for jury duty, and the court date is the same as your date of departure. A trip cancellation plan that includes coverage for being required to serve on a jury, you can get the cost of your flight reimbursed, so you can be a responsible citizen without losing out.
Important Note on Trip Cancellation Coverage: This is additional coverage which is typically included in Comprehensive plans.
Who Should Buy This Coverage
Traveling Families
Those with significant travel expenses, especially nonrefundable deposits or payment
What’s Covered
Reimbursement of up to 100% (indeed, some even offer 150% under Trip Interruption) of prepaid, nonrefundable deposits and payments in the event of unforeseen circumstances causing a trip cancellation or interruption
Most policies offer a list of ‘covered’ cancellation and interruption reasons — some examples of covered reasons include sickness, injury, death of the insured or the insured’s family member, inclement weather, natural disasters, terrorist events, etc. Check your plan’s certificate for the specifics.
What’s Not Covered
‘Cancel for Any Reason’ coverage — read about the distinction here
‘Foreseen Covered Reasons’ — essentially, this means you can’t add coverage after a hurricane has already arrived at your destination
In Summary
You just never know what emergency, illness, disaster, weather pattern, or other unforeseen circumstance may necessitate a cancellation or interruption of your travel. While in that moment the least of your worries may be your finances, you can protect yourself preemptively with Trip Cancellation and Interruption coverage.
