Do I insure our overseas flights?

[CruisinManiac]

Using CSA LUXE and will insure the cruise cost. Do I also included the air cost (booked independently from the cruiseline) in case we cancel the trip, or is insuring the change fee enough ($250) , if we get an air voucher from the airline?

[FlyerTalker]

Only you can decide what you should or should not insure against.

 

Tell me....should I have a $100, $250 or $500 deductible on my car insurance? Same type of question.

 

Next!!

[Shak]

I believe trip insurance is a must. With considering all the costs that may incur with getting injured, sick or missed connections the cost of trip insurance is a small price to pay.

Shak

[CruisinManiac]

Only you can decide what you should or should not insure against.

 

Tell me....should I have a $100, $250 or $500 deductible on my car insurance? Same type of question.

 

Next!!

 

Not really! I am asking if I insure the entire cost of air, or just the part that I would not get back from the airline.;) I don't know what I am suppose to do...that is why I am asking.

 

The cost of the insurance doesn't matter. We always buy it, but have never insured our flights to US based ports because we know we can get a voucher from the airline, and the change fee for using those vouchers on another flight isn't that much. Plus, we usually have miles and don't pay for our flights.:) This time, the flights are over $1,100 pp.

 

Another question. When you get a voucher from an airline, I heard that it is only good for the same country that you originally booked? If this is true, I am not sure that we would be able to fly back to Europe within the time limit to use the voucher (from the time of original ticket purchase.) If that is the case, then perhaps we should insure the entire amount.

[greatam]

Not really! I am asking if I insure the entire cost of air, or just the part that I would not get back from the airline.;) I don't know what I am suppose to do...that is why I am asking.

 

The cost of the insurance doesn't matter. We always buy it, but have never insured our flights to US based ports because we know we can get a voucher from the airline, and the change fee for using those vouchers on another flight isn't that much. Plus, we usually have miles and don't pay for our flights.:) This time, the flights are over $1,100 pp.

 

Another question. When you get a voucher from an airline, I heard that it is only good for the same country that you originally booked? If this is true, I am not sure that we would be able to fly back to Europe within the time limit to use the voucher (from the time of original ticket purchase.) If that is the case, then perhaps we should insure the entire amount.

 

There are very few travel insurance policies that will insure the ENTIRE trip (including your air) if you cancel BEFORE the trip (there is NO reason to cancel except illness). READ the fine print in your own policy. At this late date, you will be hard pressed to make a claim for anything OTHER than the cost of a change fee UNLESS you have cancel for any reason insurance (and some of those policies only give you back a CREDIT) or a medical problem.

 

The voucher from the airline is ONLY good for 1 year from the date you booked, not the date of your flight. So if you booked 10 months or so in advance, you may only have a month or two to use the voucher.

 

I don't fly US but am a very loyal AA/OneWorld flier. Never heard of having to fly from the same country. AA just deducts the change fee and will USUALLY let me book whatever I want with the residual balance (a couple of times they have restricted me to the same trip, just a date/time change). BUT there again, I am a top status AA flier. YMMV

[greatam]

Plus, we usually have miles and don't pay for our flights.:) This time, the flights are over $1,100 pp.

 

Using miles for US domestic flights is a VERY poor value. Wouldn't you have rather paid $2-400 for domestic flights and had all those miles you spent to pay for $1100 flights??? Same thing using miles to upgrade on a long haul international flight. The miles are worth FAR MORE for an upgrade than for a domestic flight. Something to think about.

 

Aren't you kicking yourself in the butt when you could have used the same miles to be able to SLEEP in a flatbed all the way to Rome??? Free food on a plate (NOT a "box lunch"), free booze, priority check in lines, priority security lines, all the little niceties of flying at least business class. Again, something to think about. It really is worth the miles to upgrade to business class and SLEEP all the way to Europe, Asia or the Middle East. There is nothing like walking off the plane feeling like you want to do something instead of going to a hotel to bed.

 

I would simply go nuts if I had to fly coach on a long haul flight. I flew on Jan 13 nonstop from PHX to JFK (US Air) because I needed to get there at the last minute by Friday morning for a meeting. I flew coach (very few US miles and couldn't trade anyone on Flyertalk for AA miles). What a crock!!! I will NEVER take that flight again. I was totally exhausted when I landed at JFK. Somebody sleeping leaning into me (I had a window seat at the back of the plane with my own blanky and pillow).

 

AA 10 or 30 upgraded to business, even if it means a 5 hour trip from my office to Sky Harbor and the flight to LAX or a 4 hour drive to LAX is the ONLY way I will get to my NYC office in the future.

[greatam]

PS MOST travel insurance policies REQUIRE you to insure the FULL cost of your air travel to even get back the change fee. No policy I have ever seen will ONLY allow you to insure the change fee.

[PennyAgain]

Using miles for US domestic flights is a VERY poor value. Wouldn't you have rather paid $2-400 for domestic flights and had all those miles you spent to pay for $1100 flights??? Same thing using miles to upgrade on a long haul international flight. The miles are worth FAR MORE for an upgrade than for a domestic flight. Something to think about.

 

Aren't you kicking yourself in the butt when you could have used the same miles to be able to SLEEP in a flatbed all the way to Rome??? Free food on a plate (NOT a "box lunch"), free booze, priority check in lines, priority security lines, all the little niceties of flying at least business class. Again, something to think about. It really is worth the miles to upgrade to business class and SLEEP all the way to Europe, Asia or the Middle East. There is nothing like walking off the plane feeling like you want to do something instead of going to a hotel to bed.

 

I would simply go nuts if I had to fly coach on a long haul flight. I flew on Jan 13 nonstop from PHX to JFK (US Air) because I needed to get there at the last minute by Friday morning for a meeting. I flew coach (very few US miles and couldn't trade anyone on Flyertalk for AA miles). What a crock!!! I will NEVER take that flight again. I was totally exhausted when I landed at JFK. Somebody sleeping leaning into me (I had a window seat at the back of the plane with my own blanky and pillow).

 

AA 10 or 30 upgraded to business, even if it means a 5 hour trip from my office to Sky Harbor and the flight to LAX or a 4 hour drive to LAX is the ONLY way I will get to my NYC office in the future.

 

I have so many miles that I sometimes just blow them on a silly situation, have tickets made for family members or just upgrade becasue I can do so. Not the best uses, but there are always more miles coming in. My reward for my job. Such as it is.

[CruisinManiac]

First off, I should clarify that the "miles" we use are VISA charge card miles, not airline miles. ;) Because they do not hold much in value anymore, we use them for shorter trips whenever we rack up $30,000, which ends up being about two flights a year.

 

We do not have enough airline miles on any one airline to use air miles to buy the fares this year. :(

 

The voucher from the airline is ONLY good for 1 year from the date you booked, not the date of your flight. So if you booked 10 months or so in advance, you may only have a month or two to use the voucher.

 

I don't fly US but am a very loyal AA/OneWorld flier. Never heard of having to fly from the same country. AA just deducts the change fee and will USUALLY let me book whatever I want with the residual balance (a couple of times they have restricted me to the same trip, just a date/time change). BUT there again, I am a top status AA flier. YMMV

 

Yes, that's what I said in post #14. "(from the time of original ticket purchase.) " If we have to cancel, we would have to use an airline voucher up by August 2011. That's why I said I didn't know if we could make a trip back over to Rome by then. That is, if it is true that the voucher would have to be used to fly there, only.

 

PS MOST travel insurance policies REQUIRE you to insure the FULL cost of your air travel to even get back the change fee. No policy I have ever seen will ONLY allow you to insure the change fee.

This is the information I was seeking. Thanks once again, greatam! :)

 

So, it sounds like it would be better to insure the airfare and just get the refund from the insurance company. Is that what you do?

[greatam]

First off, I should clarify that the "miles" we use are VISA charge card miles, not airline miles. ;) Because they do not hold much in value anymore, we use them for shorter trips whenever we rack up $30,000, which ends up being about two flights a year.

 

We do not have enough airline miles on any one airline to use air miles to buy the fares this year. :(

 

Do you mean something like the CapOne miles or the new Chase program??? A total RIP. Change your credit card. If you are spending $30,000 per year, you SHOULD get some value from them other than the rip off ones offered by the banks. A LOT of the credit card miles are NO DIFFERENT than any other miles (except EQM miles-but those you only get from flying to confer status on an airline). Unless your miles are all with Southwest, you could have had a VERY good flight to Rome almost for free with the right credit card.

 

 

 

This is the information I was seeking. Thanks once again, greatam! :)

 

So, it sounds like it would be better to insure the airfare and just get the refund from the insurance company. Is that what you do?

 

You WON'T get a refund for the entire airfare unless you have a VERY special travel insurance policy OR a very special reason (medical, death, SOME employment situations, jury duty, etc.) AS posted previously, you will only get the change fee reimbursed for most policies for MOST reasons. You will NOT get the total cost of the tickets other than for the above mentioned reasons. BUT you won't get ANYTHING back unless you insure the total price of your tickets. Can't just insure the change fee.

[FlyerTalker]

I have so many miles that I sometimes just blow them on a silly situation,

Do you just blow off $100 bills? Because, whether you recognize it or not, that's what you are doing with those miles. They are an alternative currency. If your job gave you a bonus in euros because of your work, would you just "blow them"? Just because they aren't dollars? Bet you'd use them productively. But the bonus that you receive in miles....well, guess that's different.

 

Then again, you might be rich enough that it doesn't matter. If so, congratulations. I know your heirs will be appreciate your spendthrift ways.

[kenish]

OP- As mentioned, read the fine print...there are several online brokers who have 800 numbers. Trip Insurance Store (all one word, add dot com) is very helpful in that regard.

 

If anything goes awry on your trip, burden of proof is yours. So, document *everything*; one person on this board had the presence of mind to ask an agent for a printout that the flight was cancelled...which saved the day on their claim. At least take a photo of the airport monitor or something. Also you will have to make a bona fide effort to catch up to the ship...and that's at your expense to hopefully be reimbursed later. You can't give up and go home.

 

Also, why would you cancel? If it's for a pre-existing medical condition of you or family you're probably past the eligibility period.

 

Determine what coverage you need and don't need. Contact a large TI brokerage (do a search on these boards or the main CC website). Then it's a personal cost decision on what level of insurance to purchase.

[Globaliser]

Do you just blow off $100 bills? Because, whether you recognize it or not, that's what you are doing with those miles. They are an alternative currency. If your job gave you a bonus in euros because of your work, would you just "blow them"? Just because they aren't dollars? Bet you'd use them productively. But the bonus that you receive in miles....well, guess that's different.

I think this is a bit harsh.

 

There's a difference between airline miles and normal money: the former can only be spent on a very limited selection of services, whereas normal money can be spent on virtually all of your daily needs, and major currencies are freely convertible to something more useful.

 

At the moment, I have over 600K miles in my main frequent flyer scheme. If the August/September trip doesn't work out (as is, unfortunately, looking likely to be the case) I will get 175K back from canx those tickets. I'm going to earn the best part of another 100K flying over the next three months. Those miles won't buy me dinner.

 

So I can well understand someone who's miles rich and time poor saying to hell with it, I'll just blow some miles even if it's not good value.

[Bowie MeMe]

I buy my trip insurance when I deposit the cruise. My TA always has the paperwork done when she sends me the confirmation. She adds to the cruise cost an amount for the air and even prepaid hotels etc. When I get around to booking the air and hotels and guides etc. , I call the TA and she raises the limit if I need to. I insure my air because if I miss a flight and THAT cause me to miss my cruise -- that is not an insured reason for missing the cruise. If I have the air (and expensive items like balloon flight over the Sarenghetti) and something goes wrong it is paid as an interupted trip. This is what I have been told and the two times I did have to file -- disruption of trip was what paid off for me.

 

The best thing about having insurance is NOT needing it. Another form of insurance is "self-insurance" -- if something goes wrong then you just suck up the cost. Sometimes this is your best buy. I just feel better if I think of it as "self insured" and my decision rather than taking a chanch to save money.

[KCcruisin07]

First off, I should clarify that the "miles" we use are VISA charge card miles, not airline miles. ;) Because they do not hold much in value anymore, we use them for shorter trips whenever we rack up $30,000, which ends up being about two flights a year.

 

We do not have enough airline miles on any one airline to use air miles to buy the fares this year. :(

 

 

 

Yes, that's what I said in post #14. "(from the time of original ticket purchase.) " If we have to cancel, we would have to use an airline voucher up by August 2011. That's why I said I didn't know if we could make a trip back over to Rome by then. That is, if it is true that the voucher would have to be used to fly there, only.

 

When we flew with frequent flyer miles last year and there were problems with volcanic ash and the BA strike, I was told that insurance would only cover any actual expense with a receipt, e.g. taxes. So if that is correct, it is a waste to insure the value of the ticket. I would check with CSA or insuremytrip to be sure.

[greatam]

When we flew with frequent flyer miles last year and there were problems with volcanic ash and the BA strike, I was told that insurance would only cover any actual expense with a receipt, e.g. taxes. So if that is correct, it is a waste to insure the value of the ticket. I would check with CSA or insuremytrip to be sure.

 

FF miles are ONLY insured for the change fee or more likely, the redeposit fee (less than the change fee-usually $100-150 depending on the airline and your status with the airline)

 

I'm curious-did you NOT receive any compensation for hotel bills, food, OTHER transportation (rental car, train, ferry)??? I have a claim with CSA a few years ago over FF miles. Change fee-redeposit fee paid very fast.

 

If you did not get at least the redeposit fee, you should be fighting.

[greatam]

dup post

[KCcruisin07]

FF miles are ONLY insured for the change fee or more likely, the redeposit fee (less than the change fee-usually $100-150 depending on the airline and your status with the airline)

 

I'm curious-did you NOT receive any compensation for hotel bills, food, OTHER transportation (rental car, train, ferry)??? I have a claim with CSA a few years ago over FF miles. Change fee-redeposit fee paid very fast.

 

If you did not get at least the redeposit fee, you should be fighting.

 

Luckily we didn't have to cancel. I checked into it in this thread when we were facing both problems, and I was told I would only be reimbursed for the tax if it were a loss.

 

That is really good to know that CSA helped you with your change fee though.

 

If I were making a reservation and ordering insurance today, I would certainly check on where they stand on frequent flyer miles, volcanic ash and airline strikes. I was not aware these could become potential problems!