Travel Insurance vs Flight Credits

This is a question you have to ask the insurance company. It may not be one size fits all.

If I buy a flight that is non-refundable but I can get a credit and I cancel for a covered reason, can I waive the credit and get reimbursement from my travel insurance?

I agree with Frank that this is something that varies, but I will say that my travel insurance specifically states that I cannot be reimbursed by insurance if there is a possibility of a credit. In other words, you cannot waive the flight credit. That's why I don't bother insuring the flight portion of my trip. But definitely check the policy.

I think it's fair to say that the vast majority of insurance policies will not pay for a recovery you could have obtained by asking. Failing to ask would be insurance fraud. Related example: I've had to file for a Medicare reimbursement for care overseas, even though the insurance company and I know Medicare does not usually cover you out of the country. I had to submit the denied claim to the insurance company.

One other thing; in many cases, the deadline for using your flight credits can be extended by booking another flight and then cancelling that one. It depends on the airline, of course, but it wouldn't hurt to check. Which airline are you considering booking?

Check with TravelGuard to see if any of their policies still offer the ability to turn down a credit (by not using it) and be reimbursed for your flight (if a covered reason). The airline often just issues it (no problem), you will just need to (maybe) sign (or just accept) something that basically says you understand you will be committing fraud (or some other legal word) if you use the credit (that would be with the insurance company).

We used to always purchase Travel Guard's Gold plan, but they have done some revamping of policies we noticed for our last trip (which was a very unusual trip) about 1 1/2 years ago. In years past, we declined using the airline credits (twice, if I am remembering correctly) and were reimbursed for the covered problem flights, as we just were not planning to travel with that particular airline for the timeframe in which the credit was good.

Not knowing your itinerary, I can only offer the very broad-based advice of check carefully, because if even a delayed domestic flight messes up your itinerary that causes a domino effect (if you are catching a tour or cruise or other time-sensitive type travel), there could be much larger dollars involved (and I do not know...without re-reading trip insurance policy language...if that would then mess up your ability to file a claim for that $ larger non-airline parts of your trip, if the reason the rest of your trip was messed up was because of a flight problem.

So, check, double-check, etc.

We always get actual language of any trip insurance policy before we buy it. My husband refers to it as a "specimen policy," but cautions that is not really what it is called. There might be variables by state, so be sure to get the one that applies to your state.
B O R I N G reading (especially if you are comparing policies of various companies and then within any one company).....but very worthwhile reading to do, as it leaves no uncertainty. Typically insurance companies will have some sort of chart-like explanation of the various policies and differences, but the "devil is in the details" of the actual policy language. Have fun ;o

Oh, and the other thing I found that is a key benefit of having flights covered is that you can call the insurance company when something goes haywire with your trip (or your flights) while you are traveling, and they can act as a god-send to arrange flights, etc. for you. You do not have to be alone to panic on what to do...their emergency number (or whatever it is called) works magic.

I am looking at a United Airlines flight. Beijing to LAX, business class on 10/30. They don't offer a refundable airfare, only credits for a cancelled fight. Thinking of going with a different airline that offers refundable fares. So I may have to make a stop instead of non-stop. Much cheaper too.

Are you looking at the official United Airlines website? I just had a look and they show 2 business class fares. One is discounted and presumably has restrictions and one marked fully refundable. I did not drill down to see the details but I’d be surprised to see an airline not offer a fully refundable business class fare.

I am looking at the official United site. There is a category for Business Class-Refundable, but it says "Not Available. "