There has been a lot of confusion about whether or not travel insurance covers a natural disaster like the April 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland that stranded tens of thousands of travelers. When someone asks, “Does my travel insurance cover this type of event?” I answer: “Check the fine print.” Clicking the insurance button when buying a ticket online probably won’t get you good coverage. These types of travel insurance offer very basic coverage, which may be fine if your trip doesn’t cost much. Or if your itinerary is not complicated and requires multiple stops over a longer period of time with expensive hotel reservations.

Here are five guidelines for how much travel insurance to get.

1. How much is your trip worth to you? A young student sleeping in hostels all over Europe and carrying a backpack will not need a “Cadillac plan” travel protector. He compares that to a couple in their early 60s who have reservations at 5-star hotels in some of Europe’s most expensive cities and who fly first class. Their trip will cost quite a bit, so they should consider paying for top of the line coverage.

2. Compare the cost differences between a basic plan and a premium plan. I went to a popular travel insurance website to see how much a two-week international trip would cost me. The Basic plan sells for $127 for a person my age. When I added “cancel for any reason” coverage, enhanced medical coverage, and optional flight coverage, the total increased to $202. So now I have to ask myself, is it worth the extra $75?

3. Know what you’re buying. Travel insurance policies contain 4 types of trip protection: trip cancellation, trip interruption, trip delay, and missed connection.

• trip cancellation refund you the full cost of your prepaid ticket in case you have to cancel previous to your trip. One insurance company sells a “Cancel for Any Reason” policy for an additional cost, although most other companies have specific, but still extensive, conditions under which it can be cancelled. Find out what your trip cancellation covers and what exclusions are not covered. Some companies, for example, did not reimburse those affected by ash from the volcano because they considered it a weather disturbance rather than a natural disaster.
• trip interruption reimburse you for travel expenses in the event of an unexpected crisis during your trip, causing its cancellation, interruption or delay. A worldwide travel insurance company paid 100% of the cost of the trip for travel interruption due to volcanic ash that hit Europe in April 2010.
• trip delay reimburses you for the expenses you pay for trips delayed by more than 5 hours for covered reasons but only up to a certain amount, about $1000, another $750. The travel delay typically covers hotel accommodation for stranded travelers, meals, taxi fares and essential phone calls.
• lost connection reimburses you if inclement weather or common transportation causes an airline’s scheduled flights to be canceled or delayed three or more hours before your departure time. One Gold Plan pays you $250 for a missed connection.

4. Does my airline not refund my ticket costs, stay me in hotels and cover food expenses in case of cancellation and interruption of the trip? So why do I need additional travel insurance? Good question. Years ago my family and I traveled from San Francisco to Singapore and our trip was delayed due to mechanical failure. The airline took all the passengers to a nearby hotel, paid for our rooms, and gave us meal vouchers to use at the hotel restaurant.

On another occasion I had to cancel my flight due to illness. Because I purchased a non-refundable ticket, I was able to apply that ticket to another travel date, minus of course a $100 penalty. He had a year to use the ticket.

Once, when dense fog grounded my plane for 8 hours, the airline gave everyone who asked for it meal vouchers for an airport restaurant. Since it was a foreign country and I didn’t speak the language, I didn’t know that food vouchers were being given, so I missed the coffee and croissants. The best advice here is to know your rights as a passenger.

Missed connections are another form of travel frustration. If your missed connection occurs when you are traveling with the same airline or airline alliance, the airline will take care of you. However, if your missed connection occurs when you are flying with two different airlines or airline alliances, then you are out of luck with the airlines. If you have travel insurance that covers missed connections, you’re in luck.

5. Take out travel insurance for medical coverage and other services. Sure, airlines do reimburse and are in many cases required by law to make up for long trip delays, disruptions and cancellations. But they won’t pay any medical bills if you are injured on your travels. And they won’t pay for worldwide assistance services like medical evacuation, medical referrals, translation services, prescription replacement, emergency cash transfers and concierge services, and a host of other services you can buy with health insurance. journey.

So the choice is yours. Most travel cancellations and interruptions are pretty straightforward, and you can get refunds from the airlines. In those cases, you would not need a premium trip cancellation plan. But in the event of a volcano eruption or some other natural disaster that severely disrupts travel for days on end, you could lose hundreds of dollars. That is why there is travel insurance. Like any insurance, we get it because we don’t know the future.

Travel insurance is worth it for the medical coverage alone. All travel insurance covers trip delays or cancellations for specific reasons (again, check what they will NOT cover) and is easily upgradeable for additional costs. However, its real value is medical, especially for medical evacuations that cost tens of thousands of dollars.