How do you handle travel insurace when you use miles for the air?

[stipmom]

Do you put what a ticket would cost in the total? I want to make sure I am covered and able to get to the port if the airline cancels the flight or delays me enough that I miss the cruise and have to get to the next port.

[cruiseco]

Do you put what a ticket would cost in the total? I want to make sure I am covered and able to get to the port if the airline cancels the flight or delays me enough that I miss the cruise and have to get to the next port.

 

None of the major third-party insurers will pay a claim based on a dollar value you assign to tickets obtained with FF miles or any other awards points. So estimating what the ticket is worth if purchased with cash and insuring that amount is a waste of money. However, you can insure any actual non-refundable cash outlay you made when you got the tickets -- ticketing fee, taxes, etc. And in some cases, like with the new Travelex policies, in order to be eligible for pre-existing medical conditions coverage you have to insure ALL pre-paid, nonrefundable expenses so if you forget to insure those fees/taxes you're risking blowing your pre-ex coverage.

 

What happens in the case of a cancellation depends on the policy and the FF mile program. If the FF program won't let you put those miles back in your account you're just out of luck. If the FF program will let you re-bank the miles into your account for a fee then some policies will cover that fee. For example, this is from a TravelSafe policy:

 

"Trip Cancellation: Benefits will be paid, up to the Maximum

Benefit Amount shown in the Schedule of Benefits, to cover You for the unused non-refundable prepaid expenses for Travel Arrangements, including up to $150 for the cost of airline imposed fees to rebank frequent flyer miles for air flights to join Your Trip when You are prevented from taking Your Trip . . . "

 

To be eligible for this benefit the fee would have to be included in the trip cost you're insuring.

 

Other insurers will not do this for you as they will only cover pre-paid, non-refundable expenses and since this re-banking fee is not pre-paid they won't cover it.

[KCcruisin07]

We are using frequent flyer mileage for our trip (credit card type), and the company making the arrangements said that our reservation looks the same as a regular reservation including the price. So we insured it. I hope we don't need to find out if this was the right thing to do!

[cruiseco]

We are using frequent flyer mileage for our trip (credit card type), and the company making the arrangements said that our reservation looks the same as a regular reservation including the price. So we insured it. I hope we don't need to find out if this was the right thing to do!

 

It doesn't matter what it says on the reservation or the ticket. When filing a claim you will be required to show proof of payment for whatever trip arrangements are being canceled and to show the exact amount you paid and the exact amount you are losing. You will need a copy of your canceled check or a copy of your credit card statement showing the payment for the air tickets. You will have neither.

 

Call your insurer and ask them how they handle this type of situation. If they tell you there will be no reimbursement for these tickets you should be able to have the coverage amount lowered and have any difference in the premium refunded back to you.

[trvlgirl65]

We checked with many companies and only about 3 or 4 cover frequent flyer miles, we used Steve at the trip insurance store his website is on the posts. We purchased the Travelex companies travel select policy and insured them for the amount the airlines charged to rebook, and the tax we paid. One other insurance would not cover the rebooking fee so check them out carefully.

[KCcruisin07]

It doesn't matter what it says on the reservation or the ticket. When filing a claim you will be required to show proof of payment for whatever trip arrangements are being canceled and to show the exact amount you paid and the exact amount you are losing. You will need a copy of your canceled check or a copy of your credit card statement showing the payment for the air tickets. You will have neither.

 

Call your insurer and ask them how they handle this type of situation. If they tell you there will be no reimbursement for these tickets you should be able to have the coverage amount lowered and have any difference in the premium refunded back to you.

 

Thanks, I will check with them. I booked insurance after hours and could not check at the time.

[iamtrustworthy]

Do you put what a ticket would cost in the total? I want to make sure I am covered and able to get to the port if the airline cancels the flight or delays me enough that I miss the cruise and have to get to the next port.

 

 

Hi stipmom,

 

The trip interruption, travel delay & missed connection coverages are still available to you even if you used FF tickets.

 

You don't insure a value for the tickets, but you'll want to include the taxes in your insured trip cost.

 

Steve Dasseos

[stipmom]

Somewhere I read if you are concerned about being unable to use the flight home part of your ticket and having to pay for a flight home just insure the additional cost of that flight. Is that legal to do ? Thanks