why you need travel insurance

A snow plough clears the taxi ways after heavy snowfall at Heathrow Airport, London, Saturday Dec. 18, 2010. (AP / PA, Steve Parsons)

The phone rang early on Saturday morning. My friend Lauren was calling on behalf of her friend John. He was ticketed on a British Airways flight to London Heathrow that afternoon — and onto India the next morning. John's flight to London had been cancelled. BA's phone lines were tied up, and he couldn't get through. In fact, Heathrow was closed down entirely because of heavy snow, and thousands similarly distressed travelers were all trying to contact their airlines.

Was there anything I could do to help? As I don't book air, I referred John to a colleague who did. When you can't get through to the airlines, a good travel agent can see availability, provide advice, and make bookings directly from her system.

But then I asked, "Does he have travel insurance?" "No," he said. "I took a gamble and lost."

Here are the facts of life about booking tours and cruises — or anything else with a long cancellation deadline. You need to read the fine print and know the cancellation deadlines and penalties. Cruise lines and tour companies will always offer travel insurance. There are usually less expensive options (often offering better protection) when you buy directly from insurance companies such as Travelex. A travel consultant can help you compare the options, evaluate the coverage you need, and save you money.

Like so many travelers, John planned his vacation on the internet. He declined the offer of travel insurance, and now he was stuck in rainy northern California, two days before his tour was to begin, unable to get to India because of a bad winter storm in Europe. Not only was he going to miss out on the dream vacation he had been planning for so long, he was looking at a 100% loss of his travel investment. While travel insurance can't guarantee good weather, it can protect you from being on the losing side of an expensive gamble.


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copyright (c) 2010 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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