Travel insurance can be a boon if you suddenly find yourself cradling the toilet and nesting on the floor of your bathroom like it’s the only place in the world you can possibly exist, to be sure. But if the reason you have to cancel your trip is a mental health issue, it’s not likely that travel insurance will cover you there. [More]
travel insurance
Sorry, Being Dead Isn’t A Good Enough Excuse For A Refund From Allegiant Air
By 3.4.14
A man in Washington state who had planned to spend his birthday this year at Disneyland instead got to spend it planning a funeral. What a crappy exchange. He had to cancel a planned trip to Disneyland because his wife suddenly became ill and died around Christmas. Allegiant Air should have no problem refunding round-trip tickets when one of the passengers died before the flight, right? Nope. [More]
Now It’s Royal Caribbean’s Turn To Make The Whole Cruise Industry Look Bad
By 8.22.13
First Carnival had the infamous Poop Cruise and a string of other disasters. Now it’s another cruise line’s turn: this week, Royal Caribbean is in the news for seemingly abandoning an American passenger with a broken hip and his wife in Turkey, and for ending an Alaska cruise early because of a problem with the ship’s motor. [More]
UPDATE: Travel Insurer Decides To Listen To Customer’s Doctor After Public Shaming
By 5.3.13
Last month, we told you about a California woman whose travel insurance claim was denied because the insurance company posed her doctor a single yes/no question rather than let him explain his patient’s condition. After being shamed in public, the insurer is changing its tune — at least for this case. [More]
Travel Insurer Knows Which Question To Ask Doctor In Order To Deny Claim
By 4.23.13
When you’re buying a non-refundable plane ticket, it can be very tempting to fork over the few extra dollars to pay for travel insurance so that you’ll be able to get your money back in the case of an emergency like a medical crisis. But as easy as it is to click on that box and sign up for the plan, the insurance companies don’t always make it easy when it comes time to file a claim. [More]
Illness Forces Woman To Cancel Cruise, But She’s Not Ill Enough To Make Travel Insurance Claim
By 12.4.12
UPDATE: TripMate has provided Consumerist with a statement, which has been added to the bottom of the post. [More]
I Would Like To Name My Own Price & Not Get Trip Insurance Automatically, Priceline
By 4.2.12
Alli says she’s stumbled upon something she thinks is new on Priceline — when she named her own price for a , $25 worth of trip insurance was included with no opting out screen. Of course, Priceline doesn’t announce clearly that this is going to happen, instead just hiding it in the Terms of Service agreement. [More]
Choosing The Right Type Of Travel Insurance
By 10.24.11
An effective way to cut travel costs is to schedule trips out far in advance. But the earlier you lock down transportation and accommodations, the less certain you’ll be that something won’t come along and mess everything up. That’s where travel insurance comes in, allowing you to hedge your bets against circumstances beyond your control that scuttle your travel plans. [More]
RyanAir Hides Travel Insurance Opt-Out Under "Country Of Residence" Drop-Down
By 9.17.10
“Dark patterns” are when web designers exploit common browsing behaviors and use them to trick people into do something that’s to their disadvantage. One of these, the “anti-scan trick question,” is used by RyanAir to get people to sign up for travel insurance. Counterintuitively, to opt out you have to scroll through a “please select country of residence” drop-down menu. Sneaky. [More]
Travel Insurance Won't Cover Newly Insured Trips Foiled By Icelandic Volcano Ash
By 4.20.10
That wacky Icelandic volcano ash is not only mucking up Europes skies and screwed up travel plans worldwide, it’s also clouding the morals of travel insurance policy issuers, which are refusing to cover new claims brought on by the disaster, the Wall Street Journal reports. [More]
Access America's "Comprehensive Trip Protector" Insurance Isn't Comprehensive, So Enjoy Your Overnight Layover
By 2.26.10
Mark Smith just got suckered into buying travel insurance that turned out to be worthless to him. There was a huge hole in the middle of the coverage, which meant he and his two kids were stuck overnight in Denver on his own dime. Luckily the policy only cost $40, but that’s $40 that now belongs to Access America in exchange for providing a useless service. [More]
What Happens To The Baggage After A Plane Crash?
By 1.16.09
Though it probably couldn’t be farther from their minds, at some point after many hugs and hot chocolates, the passengers of U.S. Airways flight 1549 are going to wonder what happens next to their baggage.
When Buying Travel Insurance, Find Out What's Covered First
By 1.13.09
Richard is angry. He paid good money for travel insurance when he purchased tickets to Italy, and when he ended up having to work over vacation he canceled the trip and filed a claim. Access America denied it because being required to work during a trip isn’t covered by Richard’s benefit plan.
United Sells Family's Tickets To Someone Else, Ruins Once-In-A-Lifetime Vacation, Then Won't Admit It To Insurance Company
By 8.13.08
- Holding $5,000 in tickets from a family for six months, then telling them the day before that the flight has been canceled;
- When confronted with the fact that the flight hasn’t been canceled, telling the family that the reservation has been lost;
- Finally admitting that they’ve bumped the family from the flight and were lying about the cancelation and the lost reservation;
- Offering replacement seats on multiple planes and days, splitting the family up on different flights and depositing them at different islands;
- Offering to get them there 5 days into a 7 day vacation, part of which was scheduled to spend time with a family member who was dying in a hospice in Hawaii;
- Refusing to write a letter on the family’s behalf so that they can collect their insurance payment on the house they rented but never used.
With one act of disregard, United destroyed the vacation, cost the family over $10,000 in house rental fees that they can’t get back, and forced them to cancel the trip. The dying family member they didn’t get to see passed away in early June.
Four Questions To Ask Before Buying Travel Insurance
By 7.8.07
What Is Already Prepaid Or Nonrefundable? Know what you can realistically expect to get back.
