How to File a Travel Insurance Claim

On a recent trip to Europe, my flight departed late, causing me to miss my connection and overnight en route before catching a flight the next morning.The airline provided dinner and accommodations, but I stood to lose the cost of one hotel night in my destination as well as prepaid train fare and museum tickets.Because I had paid $119 for travel insurance that covered nonrefundable expenses in the event of a delay, I was able to recover the roughly $400 outlay.Making a travel insurance claim requires attention to detail on and after your trip.

Here’s what you need to know.Understand What’s CoveredComprehensive travel insurance policies usually bundle trip cancellation, disruption and delay — the travel benefits part of a policy — with travel medical coverage, though both can be purchased separately.When it comes to travel benefits, insurance is designed to cover nonrefundable expenses lost because of unforeseen circumstances — known as covered reasons.These include job loss, serious illness or injury, death in the family, severe weather and government shutdowns.These reasons must be unknown before you buy a policy.

For example, buying insurance for a vacation before a hurricane hits your destination should entitle you to claim storm-related losses, as long as the hurricane was unnamed at the time of purchase.But buying it after the hurricane is named — meaning it is now a foreseen risk — means you won’t be able to recover your costs.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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