Travel insurance is almost always a smart buy. The cost of not having insurance can be huge, if anything major goes wrong on your trip.

But we’ll be honest: You might not need to insure every little trip you take. It all depends on the risks you face.

When you’re trying to decide whether you need travel insurance, we advise asking one simple question: What’s the worst that could happen? Knowing the worst-case scenario makes it easier to understand when insurance makes sense.

When you’re spending a lot on a non-refundable vacation, it makes sense to buy travel insurance.

Worst-case travel scenario: A last-minute emergency forces you to cancel, and you end up losing all the money you spent.

How travel insurance helps: Your plan can reimburse you for the lost trip costs, as long as you cancel for a covered reason.

Certain types of trips—such as cruises and organized tours—are usually non-refundable as you get closer to your departure date. That’s why it’s so important to have a travel insurance plan with trip cancellation benefits, which can reimburse your prepaid, nonrefundable trip costs when you must cancel for a covered reason.

Which reasons are covered? That depends according to the plan you buy, but generally include the most common reasons travelers have to cancel a trip. Learn more: Covered Reasons Explained

You also have the option of adding the Cancel Anytime upgrade to certain travel insurance plans. Cancel Anytime can reimburse 80% of your unused, pre-paid, non-refundable trip costs if you cancel your trip for almost any unforeseeable reason your plan does not already cover. Read your plan documents for details.

When you’re planning a refundable vacation in the U.S., it might not make sense to buy travel insurance.

Worst-case travel scenario: You experience some minor travel snafus, such as a misplaced suitcase or a delayed flight.

How travel insurance helps: Travel insurance with baggage benefits and trip delay benefits can reimburse you for necessary items and/or services during a covered delay.

When you don’t have to worry about big, expensive disasters on your vacation, you may wonder: Is travel insurance worth it?  It depends on the kind of trip you’re taking and your risk tolerance.

Say you’re driving three hours to spend a week at the beach. It’s a simple trip—no flights, no international travel—and your vacation rental is 100% refundable if you cancel. You probably don’t need travel insurance.

Or maybe you’re taking Amtrak to visit a friend in Chicago. No prepaid hotel costs, and your train ticket is refundable. Travel insurance doesn’t make a lot of sense. Long story short: If you don’t have a lot of financial or personal risk, you may not need to insure your trip.

When you’re traveling internationally, it makes sense to buy travel insurance.

Worst-case travel scenario: You get seriously sick or injured on your trip, and you have to pay out of pocket for medical care.

How travel insurance helps: A plan with emergency medical benefits can protect you from huge medical bills.

Sure, unexpected trip cancellations can be expensive… but you know what’s really expensive? A medical emergency in another country. We’re always surprised by how many travelers think their U.S. health insurance will cover them overseas! Typically, hospitals and medical providers require payment up front.

This is doubly true when you’re on a cruise ship. As Quartz reports, getting sick on a cruise ship can cost you more than the vacation itself.¹ Your only option is treatment onboard (and most cruise lines don’t accept U.S. health insurance), or being airlifted to the nearest hospital (which is even more expensive—we’ll get to that in a moment).

That’s why it makes sense to get a travel insurance plan with emergency medical and dental benefits. Not only can your plan pay emergency medical costs, up to the limit in your plan, but our Assistance team can help you find high-quality care, monitor your condition, and communicate updates to your family back home. 

When you’re traveling to a remote or wild destination, it makes sense to buy travel insurance.

Worst-case travel scenario: You become ill or injured when you’re in the middle of nowhere, and you need a medical evacuation.

How travel insurance helps: If you have a plan with emergency transportation benefits, we can arrange and pay for your evacuation, in addition to your transportation home.

Adventure travel is having a moment. It’s easier than ever to go trekking in the Himalayan foothills, or cycling along Chile’s Carretera Austral, or fly-fishing deep in the Amazon. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to access care in an emergency. If a catastrophe happens while you’re traveling in a remote area, you’ll need emergency transportation to the nearest hospital… which could potentially cost $100,000 or more.

That’s why it always makes sense to buy travel insurance for those adventurous trips. Emergency transportation benefits can pay for (up to the limits in your plan):

• Medically necessary emergency transportation
• Transportation to your bedside for a friend or family member, if you’ll be hospitalized for more than seven days
• Transportation home for any children under 18 or dependents who need your full-time supervision, if you’re hospitalized for more than 24 hours during your trip
• The cost of getting you home following a covered injury or illness, whether on a commercial flight, a stretcher flight, or an air ambulance

When you’re traveling to attend an important event, it makes sense to buy travel insurance.

Worst-case travel scenario: Something happens to delay your travel and you miss the big event.

How travel insurance helps: Certain plan benefits can help you get where you need to go when disaster strikes.

Whether it’s your best friend’s wedding, your great-grandfather’s 100^th birthday, or a themed cruise with five of your favorite bands, there are some things that happen only once in your life.

When the stakes are high and you absolutely, positively have to reach your destination on time, travel insurance can be your hero.

Say your travel carrier can’t get you to your destination within 24 hours of your scheduled arrival time due to a covered reason, such as severe weather or a natural disaster. Your trip cancellation benefits can reimburse you for the cost of alternative transportation to get where you’re going (up to the limit in your plan, and minus available refunds).

What if a covered travel delay makes you miss the departure of your cruise ship or tour? Travel insurance may cover reasonable transportation expenses to either help you rejoin your cruise/tour or reach your destination.

When you’re traveling with children, it makes sense to buy travel insurance.

Worst-case travel scenario: Your child gets sick while you’re on vacation. Not only are you anxious about their health, but you have to cut your trip short.

How travel insurance helps: Trip interruption benefits can reimburse you for your unused trip costs and your travel home. Emergency medical benefits may cover your child’s medical care.

Did you know that toddlers and pre-schoolers typically come down with as many as 8 to 12 colds, respiratory infections, and/or stomach bugs every year? Older children average 5 to 6 illnesses per year.² This means that if you’re traveling with kids, there’s a pretty good chance that someone—or everyone!—will end up sneezing, coughing, or (ugh) vomiting.

Of course, a runny nose isn’t enough to derail a trip. But if your child needs medical attention, travel insurance can connect you with a provider and reimburse the cost of covered care. And if you have to go home early for a covered reason (like serious illness), trip interruption benefits can reimburse you for the hotel nights and other prepaid trip costs you didn’t get to use.

Here’s another reason why it makes sense to buy travel insurance when traveling with kids: It might not cost you anything! Buy OneTrip Prime or OneTrip Premier, and kids 17 and under are covered for free when traveling with a parent or grandparent (not available on policies issued to Pennsylvania residents).

When you have a pre-existing medical condition, it makes sense to buy travel insurance.

Worst-case travel scenario: A chronic illness or medical condition prevents you from going on your planned trip.

How travel insurance helps: Trip cancellation benefits may be able to reimburse your lost trip costs.

A lot of people don’t realize that travel insurance can cover losses caused by a pre-existing injury, illness, or medical condition. Certain Allianz Travel Insurance plans include pre-existing medical condition coverage, as long as you meet all the requirements:

• Your policy was purchased within the time frame specified in your plan (usually 14 days from the date of the first trip payment or deposit.)
• You are a U.S. resident.
• You’re medically able to travel on the day you purchase the plan. If you’re living with a chronic condition, or if you’ve recently had treatment for a medical condition, you may want to ask your doctor for written approval to travel.
• On the policy purchase date, you insure the full non-refundable cost of your trip—including trip arrangements that will become non-refundable or subject to cancellation penalties between the policy purchase date and the departure date. (If you incur additional non-refundable trip expenses after you purchase your policy, you must insure them within 14 days of their purchase.)

Learn more: What's the Best Travel Insurance for Pre-Existing Medical Conditions?

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