Travel Insurance

[Chris]

Our five previous trips have been in Sept/Oct so I have always purchased travel insurance, primarily because of the threat of hurricanes. This year we are going in March (48 more days to go!)and I would like your opinion on travel insurance this time of year. Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks!

[bevm]

I always get it. It's just peace of mind for us. You just never know what's going to happen.

[Greenskeeper]

I always get it. Long story short, booked a family trip a few years back. One month before going, my brother found out he had cancer. He had a full physical only about 2 months prior so it was a shock. We had insurance, no one else did. Needless to say, vacation was the last thing we had on our mind. The company we booked though gave everyone else vouchers for a future trip. We rebooked when my brother went into remission and almost to the day, the cancer was back. My brother is now cancer free for 2 years but he never took that trip. Thought it was jinxed.

I bought insurance about a month ago for a trip we're taking in 2 weeks. The cost of the insurance is about 2.5 percent of the trip. Well worth the piece of mind to me.

[verjoy]

Weather isn't the only concern. We never travel without insurance.

Before I retired I was a travel consultant. We had people have heart attacks, broken legs, emergency surgery and one woman fell in an airport while making a plane change on her way to Alaska and broke her hip. There was also deaths in the family, and tour company bankruptcy.

[arenee]

Not to mention lost or delayed luggage.

[cptnkirk]

We never get it, so far lady luck has been on our side. If ya need it to relax on vacation get it for sure. As others have said it will cover other things not just a cancelation of you trip. If ya allready usually buy it I say for peice of mind purchase it.

[mit43]

Always! Too much of an investment to rely on luck.

[California Girl]

I have always gotten insurance, except for our upcoming trip in April. Because we're splitting the costs with a couple of other people, I just wasn't sure how to make that work. So I'm just keeping my fingers and toes crossed that nothing bad happens!

[RickG]

Only when I'm taking a big group that would freak out about any loss - once in 14 trips. But it could be useful for a painful cherry induced injury; did you make a claim for that bevm?

In general, travel insurance is a bad deal for us because we are determined travelers.

Cheers, RickG

[KatieH]

We've never taken trip insurance - for the same reason as RickG - we're determined travelers. HOWEVER - last week I had the stomache bug - fever 103., vomiting, you name it, I had it. I was in bed Wed-Sat, and thought - what would I do if we were supposed to be leaving for STJ right now?

I'm still not taking insurance (think The World According to Garp) but it did make me consider it.

[bubblybrenda]

I would recommend you read the fine print. It sometimes isn't worth it (in my opinion). Depends on the price you're paying for thet trip. Some insurance policies state you must miss 1/3 of your trip; some insurance polices only cover airline delays of 24 hours or more and some policies state it is the insurers decision if you will get treatment or not. Each policy differs greatly so buyer beware.

[Bob & Anita]

We never use travel insurance. Like RickG, we are determined travelers. We prefer not to place bets that our trips will go ary.

While there are always exceptions, if you take enough trips then you'll spend much more on travel insurance over time then you'll ever get back. Just our view point, level of risk tolerence and ability to self insure.