How to Use Travel Insurance to Cancel a Flight - NerdWallet (2024)

FAQs

How does travel insurance work for cancelled flights? ›

Comprehensive travel insurance typically covers canceled flights that delay your trip for at least 3–12 hours. If your flight is delayed more than 12 hours, you may even qualify for trip cancellation coverage, depending on your plan.

Can I cancel my flight with travel insurance? In many cases, yes, you can cancel your flight and be reimbursed if you have an eligible reason for canceling. You may not cancel the flight because you've changed your mind. You must have a valid reason that is detailed in your travel insurance policy.

Cancellation generally covers you for the cost of cancelled flights, hotels, visas, tours/excursions, paid-for activities or sports, and prepaid meals, less applicable excess. This is all assuming that the expenses cannot reasonably be recovered from any source.

It covers unavoidable trip cancellations due to sudden and unpredictable events, including terrorism, natural calamities, and serious injury or sudden sickness requiring minimum three days' hospitalisation of the insured person, his spouse, parent or child, who are also booked to travel with the insured person.

Sickness, injury, death, or quarantine of a member of your travel party. A delay that causes you to miss or interrupt any part of your covered trip due to weather, mechanical reasons, or travel advisory. Loss or damage to your baggage and personal effects due to theft, burglary, fire, or transportation hazards.

Sickness, Injury or Death:

An injury, illness or death of you, your traveling companion, your traveling or non-traveling family member, your business partner or your destination host. This is the most common reason for trip cancellation.

If your travel insurance policy has a money-back guarantee or review period, you can cancel for any reason and receive a full refund within the timeframe if you haven't filed a claim or departed for your trip yet. But you won't get a premium refund if you cancel your policy after the review period.

Canceling a nonrefundable fare will result in an e-credit for the full amount paid (minus any cancellation fees, depending on fare type and route). However, if you cancel a refundable ticket, you'll get the amount paid refunded back to your original form of payment.

Although every airline has a different policy, many airlines will allow you to cancel flight tickets within 24 hours and give you a refund, even if you've bought a non-refundable airline ticket. If you've bought an airline ticket and want to cancel it on the same day, you can do so easily via 'Manage my booking'.

In short, trip cancellation coverage provides coverage for the money you would lose, while trip interruption coverage provides payment for the additional money for covered reasons you would have to spend to return home or resume your trip.

What does trip insurance on a flight cover? ›

What is covered by travel insurance. Most plans typically cover a range of trip protections, including accidental death and dismemberment, baggage delay or loss, emergency medical coverage and evacuation, trip cancellation, delay or interruption and more.

If your flight gets cancelled by the airline, you are entitled to receive either a full ticket refund or a new flight. If the flight is cancelled after you have already arrived at the airport, you are also entitled to care.

Travel protection focuses primarily on trip cancellation and gives limited protection for unforeseen circ*mstances that may cause you to cancel or interrupt your trip. Travel insurance supplies broader coverage, protecting against a wider range of possible financial losses during your travels.