Colin

why is very good travel insurance a must? can’t most people reading deep into this thread afford to just buy their flight home. never understood why this stock argument is so often regurgitated.

beachfan

Honestly don’t know. How much is a last minute J fare for a family of 4 from The Mideast to Los Angeles.
i have never bought trip insurance but this thread has me thinking about it.

nancypants

OT but it doesn’t take much for costs to stack up, even in Australia and even for people with access to reciprocal health care agreements. E.g., visit Uluru, no doctors and no hospital so anything even slightly severe = air ambulance to Alice springs with potentially another air ambulance to Adelaide subsequently, $12000 a pop, no negotiation

the whole flights home for toothache aspect is really a very minor part of the travel insurance discussion

Colin

unless you’re gaming the system by hiding some likely loss, only a fool buys travel insurance beyond the free coverage included by most premium credit cards. with an extra shot of ditz if he think some traveler insurer is going to shell out $10,000 a pop last minute J fares when offloaded for a toothache on an award ticket.

percysmith

Should be lowest fare, even in a 777 10-abreast or 787. Not original class of travel.

VegasGambler

Same reason people buy timeshares and the purchase protection at best buy. And insurance on their phones.

mvoight

A large percentage of the flying public do not have premium credit cards. Travel insurance is important as it is a bit expensive to get medical treatment in a lot of places.
My insurance carrier has coverage all over the world, but if I were to travel to some country where they don't have an agreement, then I will buy insurance.

mvoight

Why would they offload an entire family for YOUR medical problem? For example. In this case, a child had a toothache. That didn't mean both parents had to stay at the location.

Colin

my ACA policy from Covered California includes emergency and urgent care globally.

the relevance of insurance to this thread is the cray suggestion to buy it in this case because it would be a good solution to the problem of being denied boarding and rebooking due to a toothache. no one cares about the doctor cost, if any, to treat the toothache.

nancypants

I suppose we need to separate here how the USA does health/travel insurance and how the rest of the world (I believe) does it. The travel insurance that comes with my credit card (in Australia) is ok-ish but nowhere near as good as a stand alone policy. Standard medical insurance here provides no overseas coverage whereas I gather most US medical insurance does (but does it cover evacuation? I don’t know). I’ll have a read of the replacement flight section, I’ve luckily never had to claim (well, I should have but I’ve always just paid out of pocket for things which I suppose gives you an indication of how useful I find my travel insurance coverage!)

edit: even a just ok-ish credit card insurance here covers “due to circumstances outside your control”... “rearrange your journey”... “cover is limited to same or similar standard of transport and accomodation as was originally booked”. Which suggests to me that last minute $10000 business class flights would in fact be covered by an Australian credit card policy

USA_flyer

It's worth noting that the rules on insurance coverage for tickets bought on miles varies greatly. I would definitely check the coverage before assuming your TI will cover the cost of bringing you home.

beachfan

I said I never bought trip insurance, but I always use a credit card that provides the same coverage if I pay the taxes on award fees with it as if it was a full fare ticket.

After reviewing it, i would think the biggest issue in this case with my coverage would be documentation. Also, in a slightly different situation, if denied boarding due to something that was a preexisting condition, that would not be covered.

I think I would have to rely on the “medical emergency”, not a capricious act by ithe airline.

USA_flyer

My post wasn't directed at you, it was a general observation that not all insurances are the same.

beachmouse

And my Florida Blue policy specifically doesn't cover anything outside the USA. Given my travel patterns and the credit cards in my handbag, I do a travel medical & evacuation policy on a per trip basis and hardly call it foolish.

beachfan

Sorry to give the impression that I thought you were directing something at me, I was just trying to build upon your good comment.


i think folks are discussing two types of insurance
1) trip cancellation/interruption insurance which is often more cost effective to self insure (given transportation costs being what they are)
2) health insurance which is almost always unwise to self insure due to the possibility of catastrophic injury or illness.

My health insurance provides for coverage for emergencies; I have evacuation insurance through Divers Alert Network (great value) and Amex Platinum.