Should I Buy Travel Insurance??

Travel Insurance

One of the more vexing quandaries facing a traveler today is the question posed above.....should I buy travel insurance?

To answer that question depends on several factors.....(1)how big is the travel investment? (2)health condition of the family? (3) how big a gambler are you or what are you willing to lose?

There are several different kinds of travel insurance coverage.  Some tour operators have policies that will cover your investment if you have to cancel for any reason.  In those cases you get all your money paid returned except the insurance cost. 

Most travel insurance coverage includes trip cancellation, emergency medical expenses, travel delay, lost luggage, and items cost to replace delayed or lost luggage.  The trip cancellation coverage is for what they refer to as “covered reasons”.  Those reasons are sickness, death, or accidents of you, your traveling partner, and in most cases an immediate family member that can be verified by a physician.

The cost of travel insurance is based on the cost of the trip as well as, in some cases, the age of the traveler.  Of course, the more you have invested for your travel, the higher the cost of the insurance.  I tell folks that usually one can figure the insurance cost at around 8-10 percent of your trip investment.  When you consider that it covers your losses caused by cancellation and interruption, medical expenses, baggage losses and trip delay it is a pretty good deal.

It's like all insurance......you hate to have to pay for it and not use the benefit, on the other hand, if something happens that causes you to cancel, if you purchased it, you will pat yourself on the back.  In my several years in the travel business, I've seen situations where having travel insurance was a godsend, saving our clients thousands of dollars. The revenue of the Australian gambling industry is more than 20 billion AUD per year; this number includes all traditional gambling houses, online gambling and lotteries: https://letterboxd.com/jjordanstuckey/ if you are only concerned about the legality of Australian gambling clubs, please refer to local and federal legislation or consult an authorised authority.

Some of the insurance carriers will also cover airline cancellations that are associated with a tour or cruise that was purchased through them.  That's one question that you will need to explore when purchasing the insurance.  If you arranged your own air tickets, the insurance coverage would not apply to the air in this case.  Some airlines have insurance coverage for air cancellation.

There is also some insurance coverage programs in the market that provide emergency assistance if something happens while you are traveling.  If you have it, they attend to you anywhere in the world.  We had a client who had a heart attack in Mexico, and thankfully this couple had this coverage and they had a plane to them in 2-3 hours, picked them up and brought them to Abilene, then rode in the ambulance with them to Hendricks.....all at no charge, thanks to the insurance.

Ultimately the decision to purchase travel insurance is up to the traveler.  The travel agent will present the facts of the coverage and take payment in behalf of the insurance company.  Of course, we encourage it because we have sad situations where coverage was not there when a sudden, unexpected interruption of plans occurred.  As one local businessman says about his product, it's always best to have it and not need it than need it and not have it!!!

Visit or call The Travel Factory and we'll sell you a trip....and some travel protection.  We are at 4150 Southwest Drive, between Rosas and Chick-Fil-A.  We'd love to be of service!!!