Here is a real world "gottcha" on DAN"s Travel Insurance (as well as many other travel insurance programs) that could bite you in the butt. You really have to read the policy fine print as if you are a lawyer trying to figure out how the insurance company can avoid paying.
Scenario: As an example, you are going on a dive cruise, that due to late booking, you are inside of the non-refundable time limit, and the cruise cost is $3000, which you charge to your credit card. You book a non-refundable airline ticket for your trip using credit card points, not frequent flyer miles, and in this scenario, you use 75,000 points which will cover you for a $750 ticket. Your airline ticket actually costs $1000, so you pony up the extra $250, and charge that to your credit card. You are all set to go on your dive trip, but you receive an injury that will preclude you going on your planned trip. "No problem" you say to yourself, "I have DAN Travel Insurance, so I am covered 100% for trip cancellation" as the website's plan highlights leads you to believe.
Ah, not so fast! The gottcha is that DAN's insurance agency, CSA, will cover the $3000 cruise trip cost and the $250 extra you paid for the airline ticket, but they will not cover the $750 in points that you used to buy your airline ticket. They do not view credit card points as the same as frequent flyer miles, even though you can use the credit card points to pay down your credit card bill or buy other stuff. So, unless you can reschedule your flight (with a ticket change price of @$200 plus other restrictions), or you can get the airline to refund your non-refundable ticket (fat chance), your $750 in credit card points is going to go down the toilet. To add insult to injury, the amount of insurance you bought to cover the $750 in credit points used to buy the ticket was also a waste of money.
To be fair, DAN's insurance partner, CSA, is not the only insurance agency to act this way, but they sure could have highlighted this problem a lot more in their policy document to help DAN member make the best choices without having to hire a lawyer to fully understand the fine print.
Scenario: As an example, you are going on a dive cruise, that due to late booking, you are inside of the non-refundable time limit, and the cruise cost is $3000, which you charge to your credit card. You book a non-refundable airline ticket for your trip using credit card points, not frequent flyer miles, and in this scenario, you use 75,000 points which will cover you for a $750 ticket. Your airline ticket actually costs $1000, so you pony up the extra $250, and charge that to your credit card. You are all set to go on your dive trip, but you receive an injury that will preclude you going on your planned trip. "No problem" you say to yourself, "I have DAN Travel Insurance, so I am covered 100% for trip cancellation" as the website's plan highlights leads you to believe.
Ah, not so fast! The gottcha is that DAN's insurance agency, CSA, will cover the $3000 cruise trip cost and the $250 extra you paid for the airline ticket, but they will not cover the $750 in points that you used to buy your airline ticket. They do not view credit card points as the same as frequent flyer miles, even though you can use the credit card points to pay down your credit card bill or buy other stuff. So, unless you can reschedule your flight (with a ticket change price of @$200 plus other restrictions), or you can get the airline to refund your non-refundable ticket (fat chance), your $750 in credit card points is going to go down the toilet. To add insult to injury, the amount of insurance you bought to cover the $750 in credit points used to buy the ticket was also a waste of money.
To be fair, DAN's insurance partner, CSA, is not the only insurance agency to act this way, but they sure could have highlighted this problem a lot more in their policy document to help DAN member make the best choices without having to hire a lawyer to fully understand the fine print.
