Cancel for Any Reason Travel Insurance – why you should consider it

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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.

  1. The CFAR coverage is purchased within 15 days of the initial trip deposit.

  2. The trip is cancelled more than 48 hours prior to scheduled departure.

  3. 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.

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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.

3 Comments

  • […] Cancel For Any Reason Insurance:  With all the bad news circulating regarding being quarantined or contracting an illness, it may not be a bad idea to consider a “cancel for any reason” trip insurance.  Many award booking sites are recommending it for upcoming travel. […]

  • GerryD February 28, 2020

    This is an excellent article. We always buy trip insurance, but had not purchased “any reason” insurance until our last European excursion. Now, I’ll make this standard practice. I also appreciate your rationale about limiting your globe-trotting during the current health scare.

    • Miles February 28, 2020

      Thanks Gerry! Hope you guys are well!

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