USVI-On-Line

We are planning a trip in early November, and were contemplating trip insurance this time (since USAIR stranded us last March because of that big snow storm on the east coast and we just paid out-of-pocket for our additional costs). We have gone multiple times in November before without a problem, but they are predicting an above average hurricane season (whatever that means...)

Has anyone purchased trip insurance, filed a claim, and actually recovered $$ ? If so, what company did you use and would you recommend it?

Hi sunlover,

I had this same question awhile back, and took these notes from the responses:

Go to www.insuremytrip.com and you can compare a lot of different policies side by side.
www.travelex-insurance.com
http://www.csatravelprotection.com/

You can get to the last one from the ad link at the upper left of this page. (Nice to support those forum sponsors!)

sunlover wrote:We are planning a trip in early November, and were contemplating trip insurance this time (since USAIR stranded us last March because of that big snow storm on the east coast and we just paid out-of-pocket for our additional costs). We have gone multiple times in November before without a problem, but they are predicting an above average hurricane season (whatever that means...)

Has anyone purchased trip insurance, filed a claim, and actually recovered $$ ? If so, what company did you use and would you recommend it?

I buy all the time and once had to cash in due to a back problem. Had to back out of a trip to Italy and already had paid for half the cost of the trip when all this came about. Now knowing that I have this condition I buy as soon as I make a reservation. Check the different plans but most require you purchase within 15 days of your first deposit (ie, your villa rental).

The policy I cashed in on was Travel Guard.

We pretty much don't travel without it any more. We have used Travel Guard for our trips and unfortunately have had to make a claim twice. One was during a July trip to Jamaica in which Hurricane Emily cruised by and left us "stuck" for a few extra days. The other was when my father-in-law was terminally ill. That was considered a pre-existing condition and we had to get the insurance within two weeks of purchasing the trip. We had no problem what-so-ever with the claims, just provided the appropriate documentation. This time, I almost didn't get the insurance and decided to last minute for peace of mind. It was only $112 for the week on STJ.

for what it's worth...

I paid a deposit for a 2008 villa a few months ago and contacted CSA (by phone) because I wanted to make sure a pre-existing condition would be covered.

They said not to buy the insurance until I'd made the final payment (not due till November), and at that point I would have 48 hours to buy the insurance (or something like that.)

I will never travel again with out getting trip insurance. The company I found covered pre-existing conditions as long as you had not made your final payment. We got it at the last minute and glad we did. After planning our trip for almost a year – we had to cancel a month before we were supposed to go, due to a serious health issue my wife had developed.

I called the company and they sent me all the claim forms really fast. I’m just now having an opportunity to gather all the required information they are requesting and should be getting it off to them next week.

Here is the company I went through (travelinsurancecenter.com) and the provider was HTH Worldwide and the plan name was HTH TripProtector.

We will be going to St. John in September....do you know if travel insurance covers airfares bought with FF miles? I'm also confused as to when I should purchase the insurance.....we made the first deposit on our villa a few months ago.

Mia, that really depends on whether or not you have a pre existing condition. If you don't then you are probably ok to buy any time up to when your final payment is due.

George, that's good to know. I'm keeping that name for future reference!

We were lucky in that we used to never buy it, and never suffered for that.

But I've gotten wiser, or at least less reckless over the years, so a few years ago I began buying it for any of our trips that required a substantial outlay of funds.

We had a week in Cozumel booked that we had to cancel due to my wife having knee surgery and the insurance paid as advertised.

Being from a hurricane prone area, and knowing how those storms could possibly not only affect our area, but the islands as well, I did not even consider not purchasing travel insurance for our planned October trip to STJ this year.

mia wrote:We will be going to St. John in September....do you know if travel insurance covers airfares bought with FF miles? I'm also confused as to when I should purchase the insurance.....we made the first deposit on our villa a few months ago.

We had to purchase additional FF miles for the trip. Also, when we canceled – I wanted to redeposit the miles back into our accounts which cost $100 each. So the way I see it – these are travel related expenses and I’m going to file these expenses with the claim.

We bought trip insurance one time only for a trip to China. We cancelled due to a warning from the state department for US travellers at that time- did not get our money back. Thats the only trip we lost money on. Since, we've never got trip insurance. We travel with FF miles, so nothing out with that if we had to rebank the miles. Usually, we can cancel our hotel up to so many days ahead of time and so we are really buying insurance for the week prior to arriving where we can't cancel. I think though with a villa it might be wise to get insurance as it is difficult to cancel a villa and get your money back.

George, that is good to know.
We've had to miss out on a few vacations over the years due to a family member's pre-existing condition. I haven't ever bought trip insurance but definitely plan to this time. This particular villa we are renting is just too expensive..

I hope your wife is doing all right. I was sorry to read that you had to miss your trip.

When SO contacted them, they said it did not cover tickets purchased with air miles.

nothintolose

Thanks nothintolose.....it isn't a huge expense, I think it's $75 to $100 per ticket to put the miles back in your account....certainly not a deal breaker as far as buying travel insurance....mia