I am looking at purchasing a Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection plan, as we may need to interrupt an upcoming trip to return early for a covered reason. I am looking for experienced input specifically regarding how to calculate our non-fundable cost amount for purchasing the policy. Their trip interruption policy covers up to 150% of the non-refundable insured cost.

The round trip ticket from US to UK is the biggest cost of the trip, which is about $15K. Once we start the trip (fly the first leg to get to UK), I wanted to confirm that we will not get anything of that $15K round trip cost refunded to us even if that $15K is included in the covered amount of non-refundable cost, will we (if this is even possible, how do they calculate what the unused portion of a RT ticket is)? If I cannot get any portion of the $15K RT ticket cost refunded, I'm wondering whether it should be included in the trip cost calculation at all?

If we need to change our RT to return earlier than planned, the cost is approximately $6K (this is not a change fee, but just the fare difference+tax). My understanding is that since this isn't yet pre-paid non-refundable cost, I cannot add this $6K to the trip cost calculation. Is this correct? If it is, then I'm wondering if we're forced to add the $15K RT ticket cost to the trip cost calculation in order to receive coverage for the additional $6K ticket cost? Please note: I have called them to ask these questions, but they haven't been very helpful, other than to keep telling me that I just need to total all non-refundable costs that need to be covered.

Thank you for your help in clarifying how I should be calculating the trip cost for this RT + additional return tickets for trip interruption insurance.

I can't answer your question, but I note that:

1. Some credit cards include trip-interruption insurance at no extra charge. (You'd have to review the terms and conditions to determine covered perils, and what -- if anything -- you could recover.)

2. In situations like yours, it might be cost effective to purchase airline miles from an airline to redeem for award seats -- if award seats are available for your desired dates of travel. Many FFPs permit you to redeem for one-way awards, and many offer free, or low-cost, refunds in the event you opt to cancel an award ticket.

Appreciate your response. I used CSR to purchase the flights, so I do have some trip interruption insurance, but it will not cover the return fare back, I believe. I think they will only cover a change fee for the ticket (which we will not have on this particular ticket). And for your second point, the tickets are already purchased unfortunately so I cannot make use of that wise advice, but will keep in mind for our next trip.

How many travelers? $15K per person RT USA-UK seems high, possibly a full fare C/J business class (or FC ticket on one of the few carriers that still offers IFC). Expensive tickets tend to be changeable for free (sometimes called fully flexible), so check the fare rules. Also, with an expensive ticket, you're unlikely to need to pay a lot to change the schedule, especially if you make changes after the outbound portion has been flown

I think of about $4k as the cheapest Delta One RT fare from MSP (fortress hub) to Europe, with one way fares being over $6k.