Trip Cancellation Insurance

Theoretically all trip cancellation insurance strategies are valuable in unwanted situations like death, injury or illness. Besides, this insurance is also operational in the case of unpredicted events like being summoned to Court for a legal problem, your house has burnt or your car has had a problem and you can't get to the airport, therefore your flight is missed, or employees of a travel supplier have started a strike.

Don't take it into account whether you may approve the temporary forfeit of a small deposit or previous payment. Actually it is no useful as cover for lower travel risks, for example clothing permit on the spot if luggage is postponed. However if you've paid a lot previously for an important, long trip, charter-money or tour, then you must get your money back, through trip cancellation insurance.

Trip and risks
In general, charters and package tours mean large sums of money deposited before departure. If you cancel your trip with approximately one month before leaving, you can get your entire sum of money back if you require cancellation of the trip. There are consolidator tickets which once bought, even if you've canceled the trip your money can't be returned to you, therefore you must get original tickets for your trip in order to get your money back in the case of a cancellation. It is usually a financial risk if you have paid in advance for your trip, as nobody knows when changes occur and you can lose money.

Your money will be refunded in the following cases:

1. Death, illness, injury. In this case the traveler who is insured is protected as well as one or more people who have joint him or her. If a family member who remained at home died or is ill or injured and you must interrupt your trip, you can also benefit of refund. Moreover, there are some strategies which extend refunding conditions on the occasion of trip cancellation to a business partner who remained at home or to a member of a travel companion's family.

The strategies can not refund you whether your travel is canceled because a previous situation, a health problem for example, which was present during a precise time before you, purchased the strategy. A previous situation is usually specified as one for which a person who is insured was cured by a doctor or had drugs which were prescribed. The period which is exclusionary may differ from 30 to 180 days.

2. Home problems. A lot of trip cancellation insurance companies refund you on the basis of many unwanted events at home which cannot be avoided and could ask your trip interruption or cancellation. They are for example: problems with the house and you can't live in it anymore because of floods, fire, earthquake or other catastrophic event. You were called in justice or you had an accident on your way to the airport.

3. Operator failure. Trip cancellation insurance will return you the plane tickets or the hotel vouchers previously paid, whether an airline has a problem or a tour operator or a travel agency. The insurance related to operator failure covers you on the basis of those contingencies, but not entirely. There are a lot of strategies which state that they will protect you in case of default or failure, but there are only a few which cover you on the basis of bankruptcy.

A lot of companies don't take into account failure of the firm who sold the travel service. There are only a few strategies which exclude both. Therefore if you purchase trip cancellation insurance from a travel agency, you won't get your money back if the agency fails, but if an airline, charter operator, or tour operator fail, you'll be covered.

4. Destination problems. Trip cancellation insurance may well protect you on the basis of a considerable list of unpredicted events at your destination, or in the area where your plane flies through. Some examples are: highjack situations, flood, fire or earthquake at your destination, or it is in quarantine because of a contagious illness. Moreover, a strike which was not announced can interrupt air traffic, or what is worse, you can be a victim of a terrorist attack.

Trip cancellation insurance payments have good purposes, as they are meant to help you if you have a problem and that problems means cancellation or interruption of a trip for which you've paid in advance.