Travel Insurance

You would book your flight, then buy insurance. There are many different types of coverage. Do you just want medical? Does your current medical cover you internationally? Do you want it to cover all trip costs? I recommend you get a plan that will cover transporting you home in case of injury or illness, and in the worst case scenario death. I use insuremytrip.com to compare plans.

Thanks!

I would suggest you get a plan that would reimburse you for the cost if you had to cancel your trip...also medical evacuation. Personally I never leave home without it.

We use Travel Guard. If you have USAA auto insurance, they give you a discount.

John whatever you do, take out comprehensive Travel/Medical Insurance. My nephew and his wife were on a bus in San Franciso a couple of weeks ago on a 3 week break to the US, when the bus braked suddenly and his wife was thrown down the aisle. She broke her lower right arm and left wrist. They have spent the last two weeks in and out of hospital involving two operations. They are unsure when they will be able to fly back to Oz, as she is having ongoing treatment.
I think it would be fair to say, that without comprehensive Travel/Medical cover they would have to sell their home to pay the medical and related expenses.

Once you determine your trip costs (flight, hotel, car rental, etc.) you can get a quote from a travel insurance provider. There are quite a few options depending on whether you need medical-only, trip cancellation, evacuation only or a combination of them all. Also, if you're planning on an active vacation, check for the availablility of an adventure sports upgrade to cover things like scuba diving, parasailing and more. Hope this helps!

American Airlines makes it easy; you're given an opportunity to purchase insurance at the time of your reservation. It's not some good-for-nothing policy, either - it's consistently highly-ranked in the industry - and the price is better as a bundle purchase than if purchased free-standing. It's a no-brainer. As you make non-refundable purchases (hotels, train tickets, etc.) you can add them to the policy as you go...so it's not only your airline tickets that are covered. Many of us on the Helpline have used this company, and were happy with their service when we needed to file a claim. But, you're probably flying United or a foreign carrier...so check out insuremytrip.com first, and please follow everyone else's suggestions! Even an invincible 20-year-old can be flung lengthways inside a city bus...

When considering travel insurance, bear in mind that you have only 7-10 days to bind the insurance in order to get the kind with "no pre-existing conditions" The days start to count from the 1st time that you spend any money on any part of the trip! Usually it is the airline ticket...in our case. As for airline insurance? I elect to not get that so that ALL of my insurance is in one package....we find ours thru: insuremytrip.com. We also wouldn't leave home without it, since my wife fell and broke her shoulder in Ireland, and we felt fortunate to have the coverage....saved lots of $'s that would have had to come out of future travel funds in effect, postponing our next trip to Europe! D.

Thank you all so much for your kind replies and sharing your experiences. I'm glad the last post mentioned the 7-10 days to bind. I booked flight last Saturday, I'll be looking at insurance today!

I use squaremouth.com for my trip insurance. I just booked my flight on July 13th. The policies that offered the pre-existing condition waver gave me until July 26th or August 2nd to purchase depending on the insurance provider. Don't wait too long, but take the time to compare policies to make sure you get what you want....be sure to read the fine print :-)

You have to have an insurable interest first before you can buy insurance. So buy the insurance after you pay your deposit. Remember most travel insurance companies have enhanced benefits if you buy your insurance within a required time period so it's best to look for coverage within 10 days of your first payment in order to have the most available options. One of the best comparison sites is QuoteWright.com