Travel Insurance Coverage: 18 Things Your Policy Won’t Cover

Ask Laura Heidt if travel insurance is getting better, and her response is: And how!

In the wake of Covid, travel insurance sales have spiked with the rebound in travel as people seek to protect their investments against flight delays and cancellations, extreme weather events and the persistence of the virus. But travel insurance is complicated with a range of benefits, inclusions and prices. Here’s what you need to know before you buy.

The 26-country no-border-control Schengen area is in danger of collapsing under the migration threat. Presumably, the new border controls will be for no more than two years. But for now, you have to figure on reverting to the bad old days of mind-numbing border hassles within the area.

Travelers heading to or from Washington, D.C., through Reagan/National Airport can expect major ground travel disruptions and delays through July 18. Trains on both the Blue and Yellow lines will suspend operations on two track segments:

A: It can be. You can occasionally get caught and be denied entry to a country—and boarding a flight to that country—because of some arcane and unexpected requirement.

Jet lag—the grogginess, dehydration, and general discomfort that follows a long-haul flight, has always seemed unavoidable. Especially now, as airlines pack even more passengers into dry, pressurized cabins and decrease their average seat size. Right?

Love it or hate it, winter travel in colder climates requires some essential snow gear. That’s especially true if you’re heading to an affordable winter destination that’s on the colder side. From flasks and jackets to mittens and gloves, make winter less painful this year (no matter where you roam) with this essential winter gear for travelers.

Editor’s Note: For travel insurance information specific to the current COVID-19 epidemic, see our stories on Travel In the Time of COVID: What You Need to Know; Travel Insurance Coverage: 18 Things Your Policy Won’t Cover; and Cancel for Any Reason Travel Insurance, Explained.

Wondering which airports are most likely to put you behind schedule during the busy summer travel season? If you’re flying to the Boston, Chicago, New York, or San Francisco areas this summer—or even worse, connecting to another flight there—be especially wary.

For at least the second time this summer, Amtrak is offering a rare flash sale for fares on Northeast Regional train travel for as low as $19. Sample one-way fares range from $19 between Richmond and Washington, to $49 from New Haven to Washington.

The average payback for six major hotel chain loyalty programs—the value of what the points will buy, compared to what you pay to earn the points—is near 9 percent. That’s substantially higher than the return from the big three airline programs, which fetch about 4 to 6 percent. Those figures come from IdeaWorks’ 2017 CarTrawler Hotel Reward Payback Survey. Among hotel programs, Wyndham’s payback is highest, at 16.7 percent.

If your flight on American Airlines is canceled or delayed, forget calling customer service or waiting in line at an airport. You can now rearrange your trip yourself, using American’s newly launched “dynamic reaccom” (read: re-accommodation) tool online, on the mobile app, or at an American Airlines kiosk.