What Is A Single Trip Travel Insurance? (2024)

Whether you travel a lot or a little, you deserve solid financial protection when venturing away from home.

Travel insurance provides a financial safety net for both global nomads and infrequent flyers when unforeseen events ground vacation plans.

“Travel insurance plans can vary widely, but the protection they offer can generally be grouped into three main areas: protection for your financial investment, protection for your health and protection for your belongings,” says Beth Godlin, president of the Aon Affinity Travel Practice.

If you’re planning just one excursion, you can buy a single-trip plan that suits your needs better than an annual travel insurance plan that covers multiple trips. Here we’ll explain the difference between yearly and single-trip plans and what single-trip travel insurance covers.

Single Trip vs. Annual Travel Insurance

While single-trip and annual plans can include the same benefits, there are differences that will make one more suitable than the other for your trip.

Single-trip plans

• Cover one trip. The coverage begins when you buy the policy and ends when you return home. You can visit multiple countries and the journey will still be considered one trip as long as you don’t return home in between visits.
• Typically, the length of a single-trip policy is 180 days.
• Generally are cheaper than annual plans.
• Usually have no age restrictions.

Multi-trip or annual travel insurance

• Covers as many trips as you want to take within a year of the purchase date.
• In some cases, there is a 45-day limit on the duration of individual trips within the year.
• Sometimes have age limits, for instance age 18 to 65.
• Provides convenience for insurance for multiple excursions.

Who Is Single-Trip Travel Insurance Good For?

If you’re taking one trip, even if for an extended period of time, single-trip travel insurance is a good fit. You can customize the plan for that particular trip and not overpay. It’s also good for those in their 70s who may have limited choices for an annual policy.

Coverage for trip cancellation, travel delay, travel interruption, emergency medical expenses, lost or stolen baggage and personal items and emergency evacuation comprise the best travel insurance plans regardless of the type you buy.

Trip Cancellation with a Single-Trip Insurance Plan

Godlin says trip cancellation is often associated the most with travel insurance coverage. If you cancel for a reason listed on your policy, trip cancellation insurance provides 100% reimbursem*nt for money you lose in prepaid, non-refundable deposits—say for tours, hotels, and flights.

“One of the benefits of travel protection is reimbursem*nt for non-refundable expenses if you’re forced to cancel a trip for an unforeseen reason—for example an illness that requires medical attention,” she says. Other covered reasons for cancellation include a death or injury; severe weather, acts of war or a serious family emergency.

Not all reasons for canceling are covered. For example, if your sister changes her mind and doesn’t want to go to London with you to celebrate your special birthday, you won’t be reimbursed for your plane tickets and pre-paid activity expenses.

If you want the most flexibility regarding your travel, consider adding a “cancel for any reason” upgrade to your standard travel insurance plan. The upgrade allows you to cancel for reasons not listed in your policy, but you pay about 50% more for the freedom to do so. If you cancel no later than two days prior to your departure, you will recover about 75 % of your trip’s cost.

Single-Trip Travel Insurance and Trip Delays

Trip delay insurance comes to the rescue, at least financially, if you arrive late to your destination due to a reason listed on your policy, for instance an airline delay or national emergency. You can file a claim for reimbursem*nt for non-refundable expenses for activities you’ll miss.Travel delay insurance will pay out up to the limits in your plan, typically around $1,000 per person, up to a daily limit, commonly $200, depending on the policy.

If the delay means you need a hotel room or meals while stranded until you catch up to your itinerary, your policy reimburses those outlays too. Keep in mind that most travel insurance plans have a waiting period – six to 12 hours – before your benefits kick in. Be sure to hold on to any receipts that you will need to submit when you file a claim for reimbursem*nt.

Trip Interruption and Single-Trip Insurance

One of the worst phone calls to receive on vacation is about a family emergency back home. For example, if your teenage son has a car accident while he’s staying with your parents and you’re in Mexico with college friends, you’ll need to cut your trip short and return home.

Trip interruption benefits provide reimbursem*nt of non-refundable expenses if you have to return home early. For example, if you miss a private boat tour that you pre-paid, or if you need a last-minute flight home, your policy will cover these costs.

Godlin at Aon Affinity Travel Practice warns that not all trip interruptions are covered. “Examples of scenarios that may not fall under trip interruption coverage can include not having fun and going home, ending the trip early after a fight with a traveling companion, returning late from an excursion and missing the sail time and deciding not to catch up with that trip after experiencing a flight delay,” she says.

Medical Expenses with Single-Trip Travel Insurance

Medicare and many U.S. health insurance plans are not accepted abroad, so travel insurance medical expense coverage fills this coverage gap while you’re out of the country. Check your health insurance plan for the extent of its global coverage.

If your health fails or you have an accident while on vacation in another country, travel medical insurance can be the salve needed to keep you from fretting about the costs. If you twist your ankle while touring in Lisbon, suffer dehydration while admiring sites in Athens, or bump your head in a car accident in Copenhagen, a travel insurance policy’s medical benefits can cover doctor’s visits, hospital stays and medicine.

A robust travel plan will have at least $100,000 worth of medical expenses coverage, though some have more or less, depending on the policy. If your trip is within the U.S., your health plan can pay for medical costs before your travel plan’s medical expense coverage.

Medical Evacuations

If you suffer a serious injury or illness, a medical evacuation can literally save your life, and emergency medical evacuation travel insurance can pay the cost. If you’re ziplining in Costa Rica and have a serious accident, a medical evacuation to an adequate care facility is generally covered by your policy. The amount of coverage for medical evacuation varies by policy, but can range from $100,000 to $1 million.

Losing Your Stuff

Connecting flights increase the chance your luggage could be misdirected or lost, but can happen any time you travel.

“Baggage delays, loss, damage and theft are innate risks when taking a trip, but many travel protection plans include benefits that range from providing a few dollars to pick up some clothes for the night, to thousands of dollars for more valuable losses,” says Godlin.

Reimbursem*nts for lost baggage and personal items typically range from $500 per person up to $2,500, and there are often per item limits of several hundred dollars. To determine how much baggage loss insurance you need, estimate the value of what you’re packing, and of your actual luggage. Remember that travel insurance reimburses you for the depreciated value of lost or damaged items, not the cost of brand-new items.

Airlines do provide some recourse for lost luggage or damaged bags during flight, but travel protection will typically cover belongings throughout the course of the entire vacation.

Homeowners or renters insurance can also apply in certain circ*mstances, but the loss may be lower than the deductible so it might not make financial sense to submit a claim, says Godlin.

Covid Considerations

The best pandemic travel plans include Covid-related trip cancellation and medical expense coverage. If you’re worried about Covid impacting your trip, make sure it’s covered in your travel insurance plan.

Check the details of standard travel plans: Godlin says a lot of travel insurance plans simply adapt existing benefits to address Covid concerns. For example, some plans now include Covid and Covid-related sickness in their list of covered reasons to cancel. Other plans, she says, may provide coverage for Covid interruption—for example, if you or your traveling companion have to complete a mandated quarantine if you contract the virus.

“As you shop for a plan, read the fine print and ask questions,” Godlin advises. “Not every plan approaches Covid coverage in the same way.”

Consider a “cancel for any reason” upgrade: “Cancel for any reason” (CFAR) coverage allows you to do just that—cancel your trip and get some reimbursem*nt regardless of the reason. This can include concerns about Covid. For example, if you don’t like the Covid testing requirements of your destination you could make a CFAR claim. That reason would not be covered by standard trip cancellation insurance.

“We’ve seen an increase in inquiries around these plans since the start of the pandemic because they address the desire for increased flexibility in travel plans,” says Godlin.

Be aware of foreign travel insurance mandates for Covid: Some countries require that visitors have Covid-specfic travel medical expense coverage for entry. “Because of the pandemic, some countries now require visitors to carry travel insurance that meets specific coverage requirements in order to visit, so we’ve seen new policies pop up to directly address those needs,” she says. Be sure you know the travel mandates of your destination before buying a plan so your coverage doesn’t fall short of compliance.