Trip Insurance Newbie questions

[avgsuperheroine]

I apologize if these are really basic questions. Our last trip the insurance was really affordable through the cruise line so I just chose that to make it simple. However, I want to insure our flights this time as well so that I can change our trip if a great deal comes along.

 

Can I do this with Cancel for Any Reason insurance? If I book a January cruise with a full refund policy 75 days out and I find a great cruise a different time can I change our flights if I have this type of insurance even if they're non-refundable?

 

We have five of us flying. With this kind of insurance can I book the flights and then change them if I need to or does the entire trip need to be canceled?

[cruiseco]

You definitely need to talk to the insurer to get an answer to this question. Just remember, the Cancel For Any Reason benefit is just that -- it's not a change for any reason benefit. This means they will not cover any change fees for the tickets due to a switch in the ship/sailing date to take advantage of a lower fare. That's not a covered reason. And unless you're cancelling everything it's not covered under the CAR benefit anyway.

 

Whether or not you can change your ship/sail date (and airline tickets) at all on a CAR policy is something only the insurer can tell you. They might say that you're technically canceling the first booking and re-booking and decide it's not allowed. Or they may be flexible and accommodate you. If that's the case get it in writing.

[sirwired]

I don't know of any trip insurance plan that provides a 100% cash payment for airfare in a CAR claim. The highest I know of only provides a 75% payout. This, combined with the hefty CAR policy premium, means you'd need one heck of a deal for this idea to make sense financially. You'd probably be better off just paying the change fee yourself and getting regular insurance. (Unless, of course, you have some other reason for wanting a CAR policy.)

 

That said, I don't see any reason they wouldn't pay out... if you cancel, you cancel. Just don't try and apply funds from the first booking to the second in an attempt to "double-dip" by having insurance pay a claim on your airfare, and then re-use whatever credit you end up with. I wouldn't want to find out the hard way that they monitor use of an airfare credit. (It'd be trivial to do so, with or without your permission, as all that's required to retrieve an airline reservation is your reservation code and last name, both of which would be part of your insurance claim.)