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With fall here and winter fast approaching, you may be looking at how to squeeze the last travel fun out of 2021. Having travel insurance is a smart way to guard against the unexpected when you’ve put down a lot of money for a great trip. To find the best travel insurance companies, we scored 12 essential benefits in 41 travel insurance plans and used each company’s top-scoring plan in our ratings.
Our analysis included each plan’s coverage for Covid-19; coverage for medical expenses and emergency medical evacuation; benefit levels for baggage, trip delays and cancellations; and the option to cancel for any reason.
TripProtector Preferred
Yes
Yes
The plan will provide travelers with ample coverage across the categories we scored.
Gold
Yes
Yes
This plan is packed with coverage options that offer high levels of reimbursement.
RoundTrip Elite
Yes
Yes
Seven Corners’ plan provides extensive coverage for travel problems.
Safe Travels Voyager
Yes
Yes
The Safe Travels Voyager plan beats out many others with its consistently high coverage levels across multiple important benefits.
Travel Insurance Select Elite
Yes
Yes
The Travel Insurance Select Elite plan earned high scores based on its ample benefits.
Travel Guard Deluxe
Yes
Yes
AIG’s plan offers a full slate of coverage benefits that the savvy traveler will be looking for. AIG Travel was a winner of Forbes Advisor’s best travel insurance companies of 2020 awards. Learn more here.
VIP plan
Yes
Yes
April’s VIP plan will fill the needs of travelers looking for good levels of benefits to address a wide variety of travel issues.
Platinum
Yes
Yes
AXA’s Platinum plan provides excellent coverage for travelers’ concerns, especially medical benefits.
Premium
Yes
Yes
Generali’s Premium plan provides consistently good benefits across the board.
Prime
Yes
Yes
Nationwide’s Prime plan has a full slate of solid benefits, plus extras that are not common.
Travel insurance company | Highest-scoring plan | Forbes Advisor rating | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
HTH WorldWide | TripProtector Preferred | |||
John Hancock Insurance Agency | Gold | |||
Seven Corners | RoundTrip Elite | |||
Trawick International | Safe Travels Voyager | |||
USI Affinity Travel Insurance Services | Travel Insurance Select - Elite | |||
AIG Travel | Deluxe | |||
April International | VIP plan | |||
AXA Assistance USA | Platinum | |||
Generali Global Assistance | Premium | |||
Nationwide | Prime | |||
C&F; Travel Insured | Worldwide Trip Protector Plus | |||
Tin Leg | Tin Leg Gold | |||
TravelSafe | Classic | |||
Travelex | Travel Select | |||
Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection | LuxuryCare | |||
Allianz Partners | OneTrip Premier | |||
World Nomads | Explorer | |||
Plans are ordered alphabetically within each star rating group |
Travel insurance policies can package together a number of valuable benefits. Work with a travel insurance agent, who can help you identify the coverage types you need and price shop the available options for you.
Look for these top coverage options.
You don’t book a trip with the intention of canceling it, but unexpected illness, injury, family member sickness, jury duty and more could derail plans. Trip cancellation insurance reimburses you 100% for money you lose in pre-paid, non-refundable deposits if you have to cancel for a reason listed in the policy.
If Covid is a concern, you can find travel insurance policies that cover Covid-related trip cancellation if you contract the virus right before the trip.
This is important coverage for travelers going abroad, where your U.S. health plan may have limited or no coverage. Travel medical insurance pays for ambulance service, doctor and hospital bills and other medical expenses during your trip. You can find generous coverage limits of $500,000 per person.
Because Medicare does not pay for health care outside the U.S., travel medical insurance is essential for senior travelers.
If Covid is a concern, you can find travel insurance policies that cover Covid-related medical expenses if you contract the virus during your trip.
This is also important coverage for those traveling abroad, especially to more remote areas where quality medical care might be hard to find. Emergency medical evacuation insurance pays to get you to the nearest adequate medical facility. You can find ample coverage of $1 million per person.
Additional benefits you may want to include in a comprehensive travel insurance plan:
We analyzed and scored 41 travel insurance plans, then picked the highest-scoring plan for each company for the final ratings.
Points awarded to determine the best travel insurance companies were based on these 12 benefits:
Coverage for COVID under cancellation and medical expenses benefits (100 points): In our evaluation last year this wasn’t even on the radar. This year having COVID coverage is a must for travelers.
Cancel for any reason coverage (100 points): This optional coverage lets you claim cancellation benefits even if your reason for canceling isn’t listed in the base policy.
Emergency medical expenses (up to 50 points): Plans earned more points for higher maximum coverage limits.
Emergency medical evacuation (up to 50 points): Plans earned more points for higher maximum coverage limits.
Trip cancellation reimbursement (up to 20 points): Plans earned more points for higher reimbursement levels.
Free look period (up to 10 points): The free look period gives you a chance to change your mind about the purchase without penalty. Plans earned more points for longer free look periods.
Baggage delay time (up to 10 points): Plans got more points for shorter time periods in order to claim baggage delay reimbursement.
Baggage delay reimbursement (up to 10 points): Swimsuit for the pool? Nope? A jacket and tie for dinner? Negative. Baggage delay reimbursement can fund your emergency purchases.
Missed connection reimbursement (up to 10 points): Plans earned more points for higher payment amounts.
Travel delay hours (up to 10 points): Plans earned more points for lower delay time requirements before a payout.
Travel delay reimbursement (up to 10 points): Plans earned more points for higher payouts.
Trip interruption reimbursement (up to 10 points): Plans earned more points for higher reimbursement levels.
Travel insurance is a type of policy that reimburses you for money you lose from non-refundable deposits and payments when something goes wrong on your trip. These problems can range from lost baggage to flight delays to medical problems.
The more you’re spending on your trip, the more you likely need travel insurance. This is especially true for international trips and cruises, where travel problems become more expensive to solve.
There are common things not covered by travel insurance. Make sure you read a policy’s exclusions so you’re not caught by surprise later. For example, a travel insurance policy could have medical coverage but exclude pre-existing conditions. So if an existing condition flares up during your trip, the travel insurance policy won’t cover it unless you purchased a pre-existing conditions exclusion waiver.
High-risk activities may not be covered, such as scuba diving. Nor are problems that happen because you were drunk or using drugs.
Medical tourism is also a common exclusion, so if you’re going abroad for a face lift, travel insurance won’t cover the hospital bills or aftercare.
Travel medical insurance provides coverage for emergency medical expenses and emergency evacuation while you’re on your trip. If you suffer an injury, illness or problems with a medical condition that’s covered by your travel medical insurance plan, you’ll be reimbursed for reasonable and customary costs of emergency medical care. This also includes emergency dental care.
You can buy travel medical insurance as a plan by itself or as part of a more comprehensive travel insurance policy.
Travel medical insurance is available as a stand-alone plan or as part of a larger travel insurance package. It can pay expenses if you get an injury or illness while on your trip, as long as it’s a condition that’s covered by the policy.
If you’re concerned about COVID-19, check out Forbes Advisor’s ratings of the best pandemic travel insurance.
Travelers on cruises can potentially lose substantial money, just as much as a traveler on land. Cruise insurance can cover problems such as bad weather that causes a trip delay, or an illness that prevents you from traveling.
Cruise insurance plans also cover cruise-specific problems, like a change in itinerary that causes you to miss a prepaid excursion.
While standard travel insurance plans are meant to cover one-time trips, frequent travelers should consider an annual travel insurance plan. These plans cover the same issues as a single-trip plan, such as trip cancellation and emergency medical situations. But they also offer the convenience of a one-time purchase for multiple trips.
I’m the Insurance Analyst for Forbes Advisor. I’ve been writing about insurance for consumers for more than 20 years. Insurance intersects with many parts of our lives, yet it’s tough to untangle, and wrong choices can make a financial mess. I’m here to help you make sense of it. I’m especially interested in how data is affecting the price you pay for all insurance types.