Why Skipping Travel Protection Could Be a Big Nightmare

To mark the Halloween season, since we can’t make pumpkin-spice travel protection, we thought it might be appropriate to revisit some of the horrors of not buying travel insurance with assistance services when taking a trip.

As advocates for travel protection, we believe it’s an essential component of any trip. It serves as a crucial safety net, helping to protect you and your travel investments from certain covered unexpected events, mishaps, illnesses, and disruptions that can derail even the best-laid plans.

But suppose you don’t always buy travel protection when you travel.

What could possibly go wrong?

Nothing much. [Evil cackle.] Just …

Flights

Need we say more? Okay, we will. Flights that are:

Canceled
Delayed
Stuck on the tarmac
Grounded by weather
Grounded by mechanical issues…

So many things can go wrong with flights – and especially these days, as more flights are monitored by fewer controllers, with increasingly intense weather laid on top of that.

Flying is harder than it’s ever been, with a greater likelihood of things going wrong.

You want nightmares? Thinking about what could go wrong with commercial aviation will give them to you.

Our travel protection plans include coverages that may help with flight delays and travel delays resulting from flight issues, such as reimbursing you for the ripple effects a canceled flight can have on the rest of your trip. In addition, the 24/7 Travel Assistance Services included with our plans can help with booking and getting your travel back on track.

And, if the nightmares really get intense, our plans offer coverage for Accidental Death & Dismemberment for Air Flight Accidents.

Also read: What to do if Your Flight is Canceled

Health

We hate to bring this up, but health issues can arise at the most inconvenient time during your travels. As you know, you and your family can inevitably get sick, injured, or worse. Sometimes, the sickness or injury even happens when you’re traveling.

Because health issues can impact a trip in so many ways, our plans offer various coverages that can help before and during your trip:

Trip Cancellation – Get reimbursed for your trip costs if you become sick or injured before your trip and can’t travel.
Trip Interruption – Like Trip Cancellation, this can reimburse you for lost trip costs if you become sick or injured during your trip, and even pay up to 150% of trip costs (with our Preferred Plan) to help get you back on your trip.
Medical and Dental – If you get sick or injured during your trip, this coverage can help cover medical and dental costs.

Family

So many things can happen with families, whether you’re traveling with them or not. And because they’re family, what happens to them greatly impacts your ability to follow through with travel plans. Because of this, our plans include a number of family-related covered reasons for trip cancellation and interruption.

And we have a long list of who qualifies as a family member, including:

Traveling Companion(s)
Insured’s or Traveling Companion’s Spouse
Insured’s, Traveling Companion’s or Spouse’s:
- Child
- Parent
- Sibling
- Grandparent, great-grandparent, grandchild or great-grandchild
- Step-parent, step-child or step-sibling
- Son-in-law or daughter-in-law
- Brother-in-law or sister-in-law
- Aunt or uncle
- Niece or nephew
- Legal guardian
- Foster child or legal ward

Families can be complicated, and adding travel to the mix only complicates things more.

Your Health Insurance & Travel Protection: Why You Need Both

Weather

More extreme weather is affecting places that haven’t experienced it before. That means more travel issues and a greater need for travel protection.

The prospect of weather making your destination uninhabitable or your home uninhabitable was far less conceivable a decade ago. Now, travel issues resulting from an uninhabitable destination or home are a fact of travel life, and our plans include coverage that can help in those situations.

No matter where you travel, weather can be an issue, so helping to protect your travels against weather-related issues is a must.

Find your next trip: Best Places to Travel for Halloween Around the World

Costs

The post-pandemic spending cycle and inflation have driven prices for many goods and services into the stratosphere – and travel seemingly leads the way.

Over the last few years:

Airfares are up 25% from 2023
Vacation rental prices are up 36%
Car rental prices are up 27% compared to pre-pandemic

The upshot is that you’re spending a lot more on travel than you used to. Your travel spending may seem like more of an investment than it used to be. Why wouldn’t you protect that investment?

Our travel protection plans are designed to reimburse you for prepaid expenses should covered problems arise before or during your trip. With so much at stake, would you really want to skip that?

Also read: How Trip Cancellation Insurance Can Help You

Travel is more fraught than ever – and it costs more. Given that, travel insurance with assistance services from Generali Global Assistance can assist with possible travel mishaps.

Furthermore, it’s fast and easy to get covered. It starts with getting a quote.