Trip insurance - how to ?

[Altamira]

Before purchasing whatever trip insurance policy you are considering, you should thoroughly read and understand every sentence in the Terms and Conditions in the policy. Unfortunately, most policy holders do not do that, and are often surprised and dismayed to find that situations and conditions that they thought were covered, were not. Remember, those policies are written by lawyers whose main objective is to minimize the liability of their clients, the insurance companies.

 

[Schwob]

Thanks all for your replies and advice.

@outofofficebrb : That helps a bunch and I may take you up on the PM... especially after I found out if we may have a credit card that may offer some coverage.

@Altamira : Likely, I often am guilty as charged in that regard. The understanding part is hard at times. Last time I thought I try credit card rental car insurance (overseas), I chickened out and bought insurance at the rental card counter anyway cause I did not deduce the cc insurance would cover me against potential lawsuits from travel mates I essentially was driving around. Of course buying insurance at the rental car counter leaves you with no fine print (did in that case);and essentially no idea what you just bought... which felt really dumb, but better... but probably is really dumb.

All:
I'll ask the below with a little more detail open here (as opposed to a pm) as your replies may help other "hap hazard trip pick togetherers over time" like me out there:

So, in our specific case, we purchased the transportation from the US to Europe and back months ago. Likely that part in this case then will have to remain un-insured (and that does not bother me actually, "just" visiting mom there, no real expenses beyond flight and train) or is there a reason this part really should also be insured?

But now we are planning to piggy back an Egypt LOB trip amidst that Europe trip... and for reasons not entirely clear to me, I am thinking I want to insure that trip.

Well some reasons I can think of:
The LOB lists full capacity as still being available, so I fear a potential for cancellation, which of course if it were to happen won't be advertised as "due to lack of bookings".. But then again, if that were to happen it should happen prior to the start of the flight to Egypt and I should get the LOB money back (unless they go belly up). But I'd loose out on the Egypt flight and transfer cost and maybe a hotel night (which however should still be cancelable)... unless we fly anyway. But those costs are small.
If something happens health wise or during the travel to the LOB (a delay or the airline going belly up - most worried about that ... for some reason it seems most likely recently...) that would cause us to miss the LOB, we would loose that completely and then have additional cost "there" until our return flight or for an alternate (and then costly?) return flight (to Europe) ... that for some reason is my real concern, albeit I maybe should additionally worry about something happening during the journey that would not be covered by DAN that then requires real cost (medical attention and medically supervised transport back...).

But in that latter case, with the Europe portion of our trip already booked months ago, that then (medical transport back) would be hard to insure if that was meant to go to the US - or? (And we or one of us would have to be in a bad way to want to forgot a remaining week in Europe).

And defining Europe as the temporary home (not residing there really) and just insuring the Egypt portion as if we started from Europe (which in a way we do) would also be a stretch - or?

So am I stuck a bit here or is there a way to make sense of it (for travel insurance).?

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

Thanks all for your replies and advice.

@outofofficebrb : That helps a bunch and I may take you up on the PM... especially after I found out if we may have a credit card that may offer some coverage.

@Altamira : Likely, I often am guilty as charged in that regard. The understanding part is hard at times. Last time I thought I try credit card rental car insurance (overseas), I chickened out and bought insurance at the rental card counter anyway cause I did not deduce the cc insurance would cover me against potential lawsuits from travel mates I essentially was driving around. Of course buying insurance at the rental car counter leaves you with no fine print (did in that case);and essentially no idea what you just bought... which felt really dumb, but better... but probably is really dumb.

All:
I'll ask the below with a little more detail open here (as opposed to a pm) as your replies may help other "hap hazard trip pick togetherers over time" like me out there:

So, in our specific case, we purchased the transportation from the US to Europe and back months ago. Likely that part in this case then will have to remain un-insured (and that does not bother me actually, "just" visiting mom there, no real expenses beyond flight and train) or is there a reason this part really should also be insured?

But now we are planning to piggy back an Egypt LOB trip amidst that Europe trip... and for reasons not entirely clear to me, I am thinking I want to insure that trip.

Well some reasons I can think of:
The LOB lists full capacity as still being available, so I fear a potential for cancellation, which of course if it were to happen won't be advertised as "due to lack of bookings".. But then again, if that were to happen it should happen prior to the start of the flight to Egypt and I should get the LOB money back (unless they go belly up). But I'd loose out on the Egypt flight and transfer cost and maybe a hotel night (which however should still be cancelable)... unless we fly anyway. But those costs are small.
If something happens health wise or during the travel to the LOB (a delay or the airline going belly up - most worried about that ... for some reason it seems most likely recently...) that would cause us to miss the LOB, we would loose that completely and then have additional cost "there" until our return flight or for an alternate (and then costly?) return flight (to Europe) ... that for some reason is my real concern, albeit I maybe should additionally worry about something happening during the journey that would not be covered by DAN that then requires real cost (medical attention and medically supervised transport back...).

But in that latter case, with the Europe portion of our trip already booked months ago, that then (medical transport back) would be hard to insure if that was meant to go to the US - or? (And we or one of us would have to be in a bad way to want to forgot a remaining week in Europe).

And defining Europe as the temporary home (not residing there really) and just insuring the Egypt portion as if we started from Europe (which in a way we do) would also be a stretch - or?

So am I stuck a bit here or is there a way to make sense of it (for travel insurance).?

Pick any travel insurance company available to you and give them a phone call and ask them all of your questions. They will give you their answers at no cost to you. It is a free service - part of the sales process. You are under no obligation to buy. They will give you a free quote.

You will likely have to do this anyway at the point you decide to purchase.

It is highly unlikely you can define Europe as a temporary home. It is part of your trip, do not try to make things up. Insurance company's want the whole truth - anything else will likely be considered fraud.

Tell them the complete story and they will indicate what things they will insure and what things they will not.

 

[tursiops]

I travel enough that I just buy DAN Annual Travel Insurance, once per year, covers all travel.
Cost-effective over insuring individual trips, if you make maybe 3 trips a year or more, and easier.

 

[DavidFL]

I've bought trip insurance for expensive dive trips (mostly LOBs) and week-long-diving destinations for over ten years. I have only had to make two claims: my first claim seemed really obvious to me. The LOB operator cancelled the charter a little less than 24 hours before the scheduled departure because of a hurricane. The insurance eventually paid off; the 'eye-opener' was that it took about four months for the claim to be paid. When I tried to follow up during that period, the response was always some version of "we are overwhelmed because of the hurricane".

My second claim invoked the "cancel for any reason" clause that I pay extra for these days; it has now been two months since I made the claim and the only status I can get is "under review". I'm not sure how you can review a "cancel for any reason", but there you have it.

My point is, be prepared to wait several months for a claim to be paid.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Thanks all for your replies and advice.

@outofofficebrb : That helps a bunch and I may take you up on the PM... especially after I found out if we may have a credit card that may offer some coverage.

@Altamira : Likely, I often am guilty as charged in that regard. The understanding part is hard at times. Last time I thought I try credit card rental car insurance (overseas), I chickened out and bought insurance at the rental card counter anyway cause I did not deduce the cc insurance would cover me against potential lawsuits from travel mates I essentially was driving around. Of course buying insurance at the rental car counter leaves you with no fine print (did in that case);and essentially no idea what you just bought... which felt really dumb, but better... but probably is really dumb.

All:
I'll ask the below with a little more detail open here (as opposed to a pm) as your replies may help other "hap hazard trip pick togetherers over time" like me out there:

So, in our specific case, we purchased the transportation from the US to Europe and back months ago. Likely that part in this case then will have to remain un-insured (and that does not bother me actually, "just" visiting mom there, no real expenses beyond flight and train) or is there a reason this part really should also be insured?

But now we are planning to piggy back an Egypt LOB trip amidst that Europe trip... and for reasons not entirely clear to me, I am thinking I want to insure that trip.

Well some reasons I can think of:
The LOB lists full capacity as still being available, so I fear a potential for cancellation, which of course if it were to happen won't be advertised as "due to lack of bookings".. But then again, if that were to happen it should happen prior to the start of the flight to Egypt and I should get the LOB money back (unless they go belly up). But I'd loose out on the Egypt flight and transfer cost and maybe a hotel night (which however should still be cancelable)... unless we fly anyway. But those costs are small.
If something happens health wise or during the travel to the LOB (a delay or the airline going belly up - most worried about that ... for some reason it seems most likely recently...) that would cause us to miss the LOB, we would loose that completely and then have additional cost "there" until our return flight or for an alternate (and then costly?) return flight (to Europe) ... that for some reason is my real concern, albeit I maybe should additionally worry about something happening during the journey that would not be covered by DAN that then requires real cost (medical attention and medically supervised transport back...).

But in that latter case, with the Europe portion of our trip already booked months ago, that then (medical transport back) would be hard to insure if that was meant to go to the US - or? (And we or one of us would have to be in a bad way to want to forgot a remaining week in Europe).

And defining Europe as the temporary home (not residing there really) and just insuring the Egypt portion as if we started from Europe (which in a way we do) would also be a stretch - or?

So am I stuck a bit here or is there a way to make sense of it (for travel insurance).?

If you use credit card coverage, you need to have paid for that part of the trip that you want insured under them with that card. They will ask for invoices and proof of the charge to your card when you make a claim. I’ve made a claim before.

The travel insurance I usually buy doesn’t have stipulations on when you buy the insurance with few exceptions. It will cover flights or aspects of the trip booked before you bought it. You would be good. Just tell them the dates you leave the US and when you return as if it were one trip. The exceptions to date stipulations are for weather/natural disasters and government travel warnings - it won’t be covered unless it’s more than 14 days after insurance purchase for that and obviously if they are already named, you don’t get coverage. If you want bankruptcy coverage for the carriers, it would also need to be purchased within 15 days of your first trip payment (eg your ticket to Europe). Don’t fret as credit cards usually cover that.

You could get the liveaboard rider from Dive Assure as well. As for LOB canceling because minimum passenger count not met, I don’t think that it would be covered under mine. You may want to look into “cancel for whatever reason” insurance for that. DAN dive accident has travel assist included which my friend has used. It’s $100K in evacuation which he used for medical purposes not related to diving. It’s a nice benefit.

I’m not usually happy with the medical coverage included in travel insurance as many exclude pre-existing conditions and/or they are too low. I have PPO health insurance at home that covers internationally but the fine print is very grey which I don’t like so I opt to buy travel medical from Geo Blue (Voyager Choice) which covers pre-existing conditions and dental. I buy $1M with $0 deductible. I’m on my 30’s and for 32 days of travel it was $73 recently. It is a function of age. They have a good network of providers but will also cover some out of network. I do this for non-diving accidents or medical concerns. It’s a small price to pay in the grand scheme of security.

In summary, you are fine as it applies to Dive Assure’s fine print which I use. The only part I’m concerned about is the op canceling due to minimum passengers to sail. You could try insuring just that part with a provider that covers “cancel for whatever reason”.

In case you’re looking for some light reading

https://mk0diveassurecoatkqm.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/DiveTravel-USA-JRI.pdf