• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 31 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 31st anniversary: Happy 31st Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $24,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $24 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    Tens of thousands of subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Do Travel Rewards Credit Cards Actually Provide Good Travel Insurance?

Article recommends Travelex Travel Select, you can click a link to read why. I am actually going to look from some trip insurance today, bought tickets but still looking for some of our accommodations
 
I just ran a quote for a european trip and squaremouth came with better coverage and about $250 less cost.
 
CalGalTraveler said:
I just ran a quote for a european trip and squaremouth came with better coverage and about $250 less cost.
Click to expand...
We are sold on Squaremouth. Their 'no complaints' policy paid off after I had an eye problem in Maui last June, and the carrier we chose kept asking and re-asking for more verifications and billings and statements of whether or not we'd turned the claim in to Medicare (we hadn't because we bought 'Primary' coverage). Eventually it took a 3-way phone call with the insurance carrier, Squaremouth and my wife. Problem solved in very short order and we had a check for the whole claim within a week.

Jim
 
I am also sold on Squaremouth after following @Passepartout recommendations. We priced out a policy for skiing in Europe on the site that was recommended by the article. Turns out the price was double the price of the policy I found on Squaremouth and had lower benefits. There is a provider on Squaremouth called DogTag which is backed by Northwest Mutual Insurance which is designed for skiing and extreme sports. It was almost half of all the other policies the site posted. Will even refund prepaid ski tickets and rentals for lost days due to snow closures. Hopefully nothing will happen, but if it does, I certainly hope DogTag follows through.
 
Last edited:
We should probably insure our trip with our kids/granddaughter for our cruise in April. I just worry about health issues stopping us from traveling.
 
BTW...DogTag is designed for skiiing, hiking and other extreme sports. Our policy covers up to $10k per insured for search and rescue. We never thought about travel insurance when we traveled in our 20s and 30s. Fortunately, nothing happened even though we were scuba diving, hiking and skiing in international locations.

Although we are in great shape, my DH is 60 and I am in my 50s so we don't want to get caught with a medical ailment. I dislocated my shoulder while skiing in Montana about 5 years ago and had to be hauled down the hill in a sled (would have been very scary but I was in so much pain, I didn't notice). They were not authorized to give me anything for the pain. (Note to self: Always carry Ibuprofen when skiing in case you are injured so you can take it). This was domestic so we were covered on med insurance. Would have been huge bill if international.
 
Last edited:
I plan to check out squaremouth for travel insurance for a cruise my dd and I are taking in 2021. Their prices are certainly less than what I was seeing with Allianz.
 
The Allianz insurance offered on United portal is not great coverage for price. Can do much better with Squaremouth.
 
Barclay Cards has been making changes in their benefits lately. The end result is a lot of the basic travel coverage for things like delays and lost luggage have been dropped. That is the kind of coverage I'm always looking for ever since I found that Villa Group offers medical emergency coverage when you pay the maintenance fee. An extra $15 extends that coverage to cover ANY travel beyond 100 miles of your home and not just when traveling to their resorts.
 
CalGalTraveler said:
The Allianz insurance offered on United portal is not great coverage for price. Can do much better with Squaremouth.
Click to expand...
I was just using the Allianz website, not a portal. Allianz was cheaper than the insurance offered by Viking, and from what I understand if you have a claim with Viking they "reimburse" you with travel credits.

When we get closer to buying travel insurance (probably right after we pay the balance of the cruise) I'll sit down and compare the coverage and costs.
 
Luanne said:
I was just using the Allianz website, not a portal. Allianz was cheaper than the insurance offered by Viking, and from what I understand if you have a claim with Viking they "reimburse" you with travel credits.

When we get closer to buying travel insurance (probably right after we pay the balance of the cruise) I'll sit down and compare the coverage and costs.
Click to expand...

Remember that if one wants pre-existing condition coverage, the policy needs to be purchased within 15 days of the first reservation.
 
CalGalTraveler said:
Remember that if one wants pre-existing condition coverage, the policy needs to be purchased within 15 days of the first reservation.
Click to expand...
Right. That ship has sailed, luckily neither of us have a pre-existing condition. However I thought I saw on one of the policies through Squaremouth you could still claim pre-existing conditions if you paid before the final payment for the trip.

The other thing we're looking at is, I "think" when we figure the cost of the trip we really only need to include the cost of the cruise (which will be paid off the end of this year) and airfare. Lodging, food, tours, etc. that we'll be doing outside of the cruise won't be paid for until we do them.
 
We buy the policies primarily for medical coverage and evacuation which can run hundreds of thousands, and rely on credit cards for cancellation and delay unless the cancellation is more than $1500. This keeps the cost of the purchased policy down because we don't need to cover the full cost of the trip.
 
FWIW, we had to cancel a planned trip to Mexico for spring break due to some ongoing medical issues with my oldest daughter. We had four non-refundable airline tickets from ORD to PVR. They were booked through the Chase travel portal using points from my Sapphire Reserve and cash. I filed a claim through the card, and though it took a few months I eventually got a payment for the full $2400.
 
Luanne said:
Right. That ship has sailed, luckily neither of us have a pre-existing condition. However I thought I saw on one of the policies through Squaremouth you could still claim pre-existing conditions if you paid before the final payment for the trip.

The other thing we're looking at is, I "think" when we figure the cost of the trip we really only need to include the cost of the cruise (which will be paid off the end of this year) and airfare. Lodging, food, tours, etc. that we'll be doing outside of the cruise won't be paid for until we do them.
Click to expand...
Yes, the cruise line insurance will cover pre existing conditions if the policy is purchased at the time of final payment. That is when I will be paying for mine for an April 2020 cruise.

I also have a yearly policy thru Allianz called AllTrips executive policy cost $450 per year for $5,000 coverage. The main reason I took this was for the medical evacuation coverage of $250,000. After reading Jim’s story from last year, I wanted to make sure I would be able to get home and have out of US health coverage. This is a general policy, medical is primary and they state you can purch@se additional insurance (of course!) if I want additional coverage.

I did have a claim this year that I submitted to Chase Sapphire Reserve for non refundable hotel and airfare and RCI fees. They paid for Hotel and airfare but not RCI fee. In fairness, I did not pursue it as it was only $239.
 
Last edited:
MULTIZ321 said:
Do Travel Rewards Credit Cards Actually Provide
Good Travel Insurance?


https://thewirecutter.com/money/credit-cards/credit-card-travel-insurance/


Richard
Click to expand...

The article kinda glazes over a lot of things, IMO.

The best advice (other than the one good piece which is don't pick/apply for a credit card just for the insurance), is to READ, READ, READ the policy BEFORE you buy (although some will have a refund guarantee within X hours/days).

For example, the author neglects to tell you what the Chase cards actually consider a *covered reason*. If memory serves, Chase does *not* have "work reasons" as a covered reason (ie, you get laid off, your boss changes their mind and says you can't take the vacation days, etc.)

This is why it's important to read the policies, IMO. Even things like travel delay can have widely varying coverages/reasons.

Also, know what you *want* and *need*. Some folks only want/need medical coverages. Others have pets and would cancel their trip if their pet got sick (AFAIK, only a "cancel for any reason" rider/add-on will consider this a covered reason).
 
I didn't find squaremouth any cheaper/better than insuremytrip.com But I guess it depends on what you need/want/looking for.
 
I tried Insuremytrip and I found the interface confusing. YMMV it does depend on what you need. Prices did look the same except they didn't offer DogTag which was designed for skiing/hiking/adventure travel and was much cheaper and with better coverage than the rest. However if I were going on a cruise this prob. would not be the right plan.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top