CHARLOTTE, N.C. — We are on the doorstep of the holiday season, which means you might be thinking about traveling by air. This is year will different than any other given COVID-19 and financial issues within the airlines themselves.
Even thinking about what to do can likely zap the holiday spirit right out of you.
Travel insurance is something many may have skipped in the past, but now, you might want to rethink it. After all, you or someone in your family might be sick, remember it’s flu season too. So where do you begin?
“Cancel for any reason insurance is absolutely the only way to go,” said Ronni Fishkin at Mann Travels in Charlotte, NC.
This type of insurance has different tiers, the cheaper policies cover some things, maybe even you getting sick, but what if someone else in the family is sick? What if you get into a fender bender on the way to the airport? What about rental cars? Remember it’s 2020, anything could go wrong.
And another question to consider — if you don’t want to spend more than you have to, can you get by without travel insurance?
“You already have plenty of protections built into the process, especially if you are paying, you’re your credit card,” said Scott Keys who is also known as the ‘travel guy’ for Scott's Cheap Flights.
Some of the better options out there include the Chase Sapphire card. According to Chase, this card will reimburse you up to $10,000 per person if the trip is cut short by sickness. Airfare, hotels, cars, accident coverage, baggage delays and lost luggage are also covered to some extent.
In 2020 especially, planning your trip also means planning for what could go wrong.
It is very important to make sure you read what’s not covered in a travel insurance policy, those are called ‘exclusions’. Read the ‘terms and conditions’ of the policy you buy — that’s where companies of any kind tend to hide all the surprises that come back to bite you in your wallet.
