Your credit card’s “free” trip insurance may not offer the protection you need
When Monique Tubb’s adult daughter was injured while vacationing in Colorado, she canceled the rest of her trip and flew home immediately. Tubb was confident that her UnitedPlus Explorer card’s...
View ArticleThis traveler says that he doesn’t understand trip insurance so he didn’t buy...
When Solomon Gizaw purchases his air tickets for a trip to Africa, he doesn’t buy travel insurance. Now he has to cancel his trip for medical reasons, but he doesn’t want to pay a change fee. Can our...
View ArticleBack pain caused me to cancel my cruise. Why won’t Trip Mate pay my claim?
Pamela O’Meara books a cruise, but has to cancel her vacation for a medical reason. The trip insurance she bought won’t cover her cancellation. Can our advocates help get the insurance company to pay...
View ArticleWhat to do when travel insurance doesn’t work
Travel insurance doesn’t always work. There, I said it. Sometimes, travel insurance is worthless. I know, because a few weeks ago, I wrote a column about how travel insurance can sometimes save the...
View ArticleWithout trip insurance, even a tragedy may not lead to a refund
Ethelynne Bates-Huffman had to cancel her trip to Norway, booked through Vantage Travel, for one of the most terrible of reasons: the sudden death of her husband. But her desperate plea to Vantage...
View ArticleI couldn’t get to my vacation rental during the hurricane. I want a refund
When Gary Molinaro and his friends booked a vacation home on the coast of South Carolina, they weren’t anticipating any problems. But then Hurricane Irma started churning toward the mainland and the...
View ArticleDidn’t buy trip insurance? You might still have it
Sheri Schmidt’s husband suffers a massive stroke before their non-refundable flight to Brazil. Because she didn’t purchase trip insurance, JustFly informs her that a refund is not possible and that...
View ArticleInsider tips for avoiding a pre-existing insurance trap
Pamela O’Meara narrowly escaped the pre-existing conditions trap. Oh, you know the trap. It’s the one where your insurance company tells you the policy is no good because your medical condition existed...
View ArticleI canceled my cruise, why can’t I get a refund for my trip insurance?
Zelma Friedling booked a Caribbean cruise a year in advance but canceled after two hurricanes hit the islands they were scheduled to visit. The cruise line refunded the money she paid for the cruise,...
View ArticleOffended by our request for more information? We can’t help
“These researchers for Chris Elliott respond with more legalese than the cotton-pickin’ insurance company did.” This was the response we received from Donald Norton to a question we asked him about his...
View ArticleBritish Airways won’t give me proof that my ticket was nonrefundable
After a terrorist attack in London, Kelly Bukaty cancels her British Airways flight. But her travel insurance company won’t reimburse her airfare without proof that her ticket was nonrefundable. Can...
View ArticleWhen should you call your travel insurance company?
Pamela Mazerski didn’t wait to call her travel insurance company until she had to file a claim. After making a deposit on a cruise, she phoned to ask about a policy that would cover her pre-existing...
View ArticleWarning: Don’t rely on a free trip insurance policy for a journey to Africa
Kellie McIntyre didn’t buy travel insurance for her African safari in the summer of 2016. She wishes she had. Her stopover in Istanbul happened to coincide with a coup attempt that occurred in Turkey...
View ArticleDoes travel insurance cover a pre-existing condition and the death of a loved...
Robert Hamilton was looking forward to his six-night stay in Colorado that he booked through VRBO and Turnkey Colorado. But he also knew that with his mother-in-law hospitalized, he probably should buy...
View ArticleAn unexpected health crisis leads to a lost honeymoon. Can we help?
Larry Bonistalli is a determined father. When his son’s fiancée suffers a sudden stroke right before their wedding and honeymoon, Bonistalli resolves to retrieve the money that the couple spent on the...
View ArticleWOW Airlines says it sold me flight insurance — so why won’t it refund my...
Larry Ayres wishes he had bought travel insurance when he tried to change his flights on WOW Airlines. And now he can’t even go on the trip. But wait … maybe he did buy trip insurance. But if he did,...
View ArticleHere are the best travel insurance companies
Barbara Goldsmith and her husband are planning a trip of a lifetime to Alaska this year. The couple, both in their 70s, are “healthy and active” — but they’re also worried. What if something goes wrong...
View ArticleWhat kind of “ticket protection” is this, anyway?
When Vance Luke bought an airline ticket for his daughter, he added optional “Ticket Protection” through International Travel Network (ITN). So when his daughter was hospitalized just before her trip,...
View ArticleWhere did all the polar bears go?
When Carol Majewski plunks down $16,000 on a trip to photograph polar bears, she expects to come home with an abundance of pictures of these rare animals. So now that she has returned from this...
View ArticleWithout a supporting doctor’s note, this trip insurance claim is DOA
Some of my fondest vacation memories are from trips to the Yucatán peninsula when my kids were younger: tubing an underground river; bumping down dirt roads exploring the jungle in an open-top Jeep;...
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