Hurricanes can wreak havoc on travel plans, leaving you wondering about your financial protection. If a hurricane threatens to disrupt or derail your vacation, understanding your travel insurance coverage is crucial. This guide provides comprehensive information on what travel insurance typically covers concerning hurricanes.
When a hurricane impacts your vacation plans, travel insurance can cover a lot of essentials. If you experience a covered trip cancellation or interruption due to severe weather, travel insurance from Allianz Global Assistance can reimburse you for non-refundable, pre-paid costs, plus the extra cost of flying home early, up to the maximum amounts spelled out in your policy. If your journey home is delayed, travel insurance may reimburse you for the cost of a hotel room, meals, or other essentials. And if you’re injured in a storm, travel insurance can provide emergency medical and dental benefits, as well as emergency medical transportation benefits.
Here are some common questions about hurricanes and travel insurance, answered.
Can I Buy Travel Insurance if a Hurricane Is Already Approaching?
Seeing ominous clouds swirling on the weather channel as a hurricane forms and heads toward your resort can be alarming. Wondering if it’s too late to get travel insurance is a common concern.
It’s not too late to purchase travel insurance for your vacation, but it may be too late for insurance to cover you for potential losses caused by the storm.
Travel insurance is designed to offer protection against sudden and unforeseen situations and events. Once a hurricane (or other severe weather) becomes a named storm, it becomes a “foreseeable event” with known potential to affect your travel. Buying travel insurance after a storm is named means your plan won’t provide coverage for storm-related claims.
Purchasing travel insurance right after booking your trip is always the smartest approach, ensuring you’re protected from the outset.
If a Hurricane Is Predicted, Can I Cancel My Cruise and Get a Refund?
If a hurricane threatens to disrupt your five-night Caribbean cruise, can you seek reimbursement if you cancel, even if the cruise line hasn’t called off the trip?
No. However, if your travel carrier could not get you to your original itinerary’s destination for at least 24 consecutive hours from when you were originally scheduled to arrive because of a hurricane or severe weather event, your travel insurance can reimburse you for pre-paid, non-refundable travel costs.
Does Travel Insurance Cover Itinerary Changes Due to a Hurricane?
If a hurricane causes a cruise line or tour operator to offer an alternate itinerary, such as skipping a destination, do you have grounds to cancel the trip and be covered?
No. You must accept the change if a hurricane causes a cruise line or tour operator to offer an alternate itinerary — whether a different destination or different dates. Travel insurance is designed to protect you from financial loss, and if the substitute itinerary is of the same value as your original trip, you haven’t suffered a loss. (For example, if you had an itinerary change that required you to change an airline ticket, depending on your plan you could be reimbursed for change fees.)
What If a Hurricane Devastates My Destination?
If a hurricane hits your honeymoon destination shortly before your departure, leaving the resort uninhabitable, can you be covered if you cancel the trip?
If your destination is uninhabitable because of a natural disaster, Allianz Global Assistance’s travel insurance considers that a covered reason for trip cancellation or interruption. “Uninhabitable” means there has been enough damage to make a reasonable person find their accommodation unfit for use.
This definition cannot be stretched to include minor inconveniences. For example, the golf course being closed due to storm damage, or the resort placing you in a garden-view suite because the oceanfront rooms aren’t habitable, is not sufficient reason for cancellation. Check your Certificate of Insurance/Policy to see if pre-emptive evacuations ordered by local authorities are covered.
What Protection Does Travel Insurance Offer If a Hurricane Cancels My Flight?
If an approaching hurricane leads to airlines canceling all flights leaving your departure city, leaving you stranded, what does travel insurance cover?
Trip cancellation benefits can kick in if your travel carrier cannot get you to your original itinerary’s destination for at least 24 hours (or whatever timeframe is specified in your policy) from the originally scheduled arrival time because of a natural disaster. That said, in order to make a trip cancellation claim, you must have lost more than 50 percent of your scheduled trip due to a covered travel delay — and you must have made a good-faith effort to continue your travels.
Contact your travel insurance provider’s 24-hour assistance line. Their travel experts can help you figure out alternative ways to get to your destination – with costs that can be covered by your travel insurance. Trip interruption and trip delay benefits can help reimburse you for the eligible, additional costs of continuing your travels.
The most important thing to remember about hurricanes and travel insurance is that assistance is available. If you have questions about coverage or what to do when facing a hurricane, consult your provider for advice. Always read your plan documents thoroughly for complete details. Understanding your coverage will give you peace of mind, allowing you to make informed decisions and navigate unexpected travel disruptions.
