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Did you know most major travel credit cards come with built-in travel insurance? If you like to pay with plastic AND get points for travel, check your travel credit card's fine print to determine what insurances and protection features are included. See below for some ways I've *almost* used my credit card's insurance...
As an example, here's what's included in my card {TD Travel Rewards Infinite}: - Trip Cancellation Insurance {covers $1,000/eligible person up to $5,000/per trip} - Trip Interruption Insurance {covers $5,000/eligible person up to $25,000/ trip} - Travel Medical Insurance {8-day trips if under 65, 2-day trips if 65 or older} - Common Carrier Travel Accident Insurance - Auto Rental Collision/Loss Damage Insurance - Delayed and Lost Baggage Insurance - Emergency Travel Assistance Services
What About Other Travel Insurance? Normally, I make sure I have one or two travel insurance policies going at one time to make sure there are no coverage gaps. For example, for short trips I rely on my travel above credit card's insurance, but since it only covers me for 8-days, for longer trips I default to my medical plan's built-in 6-month travel medical insurance.
A Lost Bag and a Loophole Recently my husband booked two tickets through his Business Travel Rewards Visa {with same features as above}---one for himself and one for his business partner. Upon arriving at their destination, my husband's business partner's bag didn't. It turns out that even though my husband booked his business partner's ticket with his card, the lost bag insurance only applied to him, his wife {me} and any offspring {non-existent}. Therefore, the loophole is unless you book the ticket yourself, or are a spouse or child of the ticket purchaser, you won't be covered if your bags are lost aside from making a claim to the airline. Air Canada did provide a $100 sorry your bags didn't arrive for a few days kick-back, but that didn't help much.
Swine Flu Debacle A few years ago myself and 13 other girls were about to leave for Mexico on a triple-bachelorette when swine flu broke out. Travel plans had to be changed. Aside from lending my trip styling skillz to select the destination and most appropriate trip style for 14 girls {an all-inclusive in Los Cabos}, a travel agent made the booking and she was thankfully able to get each of us a refund given the circumstance. But, I'd booked the flight myself. Knowing my credit card had travel iterruption insurance, I thought getting my money back on the flight would be easy-peasy, but I was wrong. I had to submit a form and wait three weeks for my credit card's insurance provider to make a determination on my case, but I was supposed to leave in 3 weeks so wasn't willing to risk the uncertain wait. Thankfully I was able to re-route my Cabo flight to Vegas.
Insurance is a strange concept. We need it, but it doesn't always pan-out to protect us. Either way, we have to have it and seem to learn more about its intricacies when something goes awry. When you travel, make sure you have the appropriate insurance---whether from your travel credit card or a purchased policy---to protect you from harm's way.