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The Coronavirus, Covid-19, is on everyone’s mind. I’ve had many conversations with award booking clients, family, and friends as to my thoughts around the issue. Personally, I have two small trips on the books over the next couple of months and I’m monitoring the situation in my hometown of LA and the areas to which I’ll visit. I’m leaning toward avoiding any elected travel altogether, and for the first time in a long time, I’m not actively planning any trips later in the year. That’s pretty rare for me especially given the deluge of amazing fare deals we’ve seen recently. Honestly, I’m concerned of forced quarantine in areas I’d visit, and the unknown factors of transmission, particularly prior to being symptomatic and it’s ability to exist on inorganic materials. My planned trips have very low cost so I’m not too worried about losing money, but I have recommended that clients, and those looking to book trips further out to consider travel insurance that has a ” Cancel for Any Reason ” clause.
A Travel insurance policy that includes a “Cancel for Any Reason Clause” will cost you on average 50% more than a traditional policy, but reimburse you, on average, up to 75% of your trip cost. Most insurance policies will not allow you to cancel and receive compensation if you say you’re cancelling purely due to fear of contraction, etc. A cancel for Any Reason Clause will allow you to cancel for exactly what it says: Any reason. Although…there are some exclusions to any reason so make sure you read the fine print.
CFAR policies also need to added within a certain number of days of your trip being purchased, and cancelled within a certain number of days prior to travel so make sure you qualify as well.
An excerpt from CNBC on Cancel for any Reason Travel Insurance
If the video doesn’t load properly follow this link…I’ve been having problems with it
Here’s some information from AIG’s TravelGuard insurance program regarding Cancel for Any Reason:
There are three criteria that must be met in order to be eligible for Cancel for Any Reason coverage:
Provided the above criteria is met, and the Insured is prevented from taking the trip for any reason not otherwise covered by this plan, the insurer will reimburse the insured for a percentage of the prepaid, forfeited, non-refundable payments or deposits for insured trip arrangement(s) up to the maximum limit.
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The CFAR coverage is purchased within 15 days of the initial trip deposit.
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The trip is cancelled more than 48 hours prior to scheduled departure.
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The full cost of all non-refundable, prepaid trip arrangements is insured at the time of purchase.
Overall
If you’re considering a trip I would highly recommend pricing out a Cancel For Any Reason policy, and do your research on where you’re flying and the current situation. Information seems to change daily as does the government response which has lead to many people getting stuck in locations under quarantine.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.