Damselfish
Contributor
I rarely buy travel insurance, I'd rather self insure given the cost and the possible hassle of actually collecting. I think you have to look at trips on a case by case basis, and decide based on how much the insurance costs, how likely you are to have a covered problem on a given trip, and maybe how long it is until the trip. I'm sure the price of travel insurance takes this into account, assuming people tend to buy insurance more for higher risk trips, so for a low-risk trip you'd be paying a lot compared to the risk. Insurance is probably more important for a liveaboard since there is less flexibility there, but make sure the insurance will actually cover it.
Think about what your losses might actually be. Even non-refundable air tickets can generally be reused for a fee as long as you cancel before the flight. So you're not out the whole price of the ticket. If you need to cancel due to something like a death, with documentation you may be able to do it without a fee. Even prepaid non-refundable accommodations and diving you may be able to at least reschedule if you talk to them, especially if it was due to a death or real emergency. ("My boss wouldn't let me go" is less likely to elicit much sympathy.)
If you have a days delay due to flight issues, you might try to get the airline to also move the return trip assuming you can contact the resort and move your dates. I think if you contacted a resort and said you needed to arrive and leave a day later due the airline messing you up, and they had room so they wouldn't lose anything anyway, most would be willing to do that.
If you're using something like frequent flier tickets or a timeshare you might see it as a loss, but from what I've read in the fine print I don't think you can get anything out of travel insurance anyway in that case.
I figure I am way ahead of the game. I've traveled a lot and there's only a couple times I might have used insurance. One was a trip I had to cancel due to a death in the family. While it would have been more convenient to just get a check and bag the whole thing, in fact I was able to reuse the tickets without a fee and the resort allowed me to reschedule the hotel/diving within a year, so I didn't really lose anything. And I've gotten stuck in airport hotels for a night on the way home due to weather once or twice, but I really don't care about little stuff like that.
People sometimes say you should buy travel insurance if you can't "afford the loss." That statement makes sense to me for something like home insurance but not for travel insurance. You've presumably paid for the trip already, so by definition you can afford it. The issue is actually whether you can afford to go on the trip another time. But a dive trip is optional. While it would suck to lose the money and not be able to do the trip, it's not like your house burning down and not being able to afford a new one.
Think about what your losses might actually be. Even non-refundable air tickets can generally be reused for a fee as long as you cancel before the flight. So you're not out the whole price of the ticket. If you need to cancel due to something like a death, with documentation you may be able to do it without a fee. Even prepaid non-refundable accommodations and diving you may be able to at least reschedule if you talk to them, especially if it was due to a death or real emergency. ("My boss wouldn't let me go" is less likely to elicit much sympathy.)
If you have a days delay due to flight issues, you might try to get the airline to also move the return trip assuming you can contact the resort and move your dates. I think if you contacted a resort and said you needed to arrive and leave a day later due the airline messing you up, and they had room so they wouldn't lose anything anyway, most would be willing to do that.
If you're using something like frequent flier tickets or a timeshare you might see it as a loss, but from what I've read in the fine print I don't think you can get anything out of travel insurance anyway in that case.
I figure I am way ahead of the game. I've traveled a lot and there's only a couple times I might have used insurance. One was a trip I had to cancel due to a death in the family. While it would have been more convenient to just get a check and bag the whole thing, in fact I was able to reuse the tickets without a fee and the resort allowed me to reschedule the hotel/diving within a year, so I didn't really lose anything. And I've gotten stuck in airport hotels for a night on the way home due to weather once or twice, but I really don't care about little stuff like that.
People sometimes say you should buy travel insurance if you can't "afford the loss." That statement makes sense to me for something like home insurance but not for travel insurance. You've presumably paid for the trip already, so by definition you can afford it. The issue is actually whether you can afford to go on the trip another time. But a dive trip is optional. While it would suck to lose the money and not be able to do the trip, it's not like your house burning down and not being able to afford a new one.
