How do I cancel a flight with travel insurance?
When you ask whether you can cancel a flight with travel insurance, the important question everyone needs to have answered is, “Why are you cancelling your flight?”
Your answer is probably going to fall one of two ways: Either you’re cancelling your flight for reasons you can control, or your flight has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond your control.
Basically, travel insurance (except for Cancel For Any Reason coverage) will not cover you if you cancel a flight for reasons you can control.
If your flight is cancelled for reasons beyond your control, you may be covered.
Things you can control
When we talk about cancelling your flight due to things we can control, they’re often things like:
- I changed my mind
- I broke up with my boyfriend/girlfriend
- I forgot I had a dentist’s appointment
- It’s my mom’s 90th birthday
However, they can also be things like:
- I'm afraid of getting COVID
- I'm afraid of terrorist attacks at my destination
- I'm afraid a hurricane may hit the island where I'm staying
- I'm afraid of flying
- I'm pregnant
None of these – sometimes even pregnancy – is considered a covered reason for cancelling a flight, or any other part of your travel. However, our LuxuryCare plan does include coverage in the event of normal pregnancy.
If these sound like things that might cause you to cancel a trip, you have three options:
- Don’t travel
- Purchase only fully refundable tickets and accommodations
- Buy Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) insurance
CFAR will reimburse you if you cancel a flight or trip for any of these reasons. However, it’s expensive, and it will only reimburse you a portion of what you paid.
Things you can’t control
On the other hand, you may not want your flight to be cancelled but it may be cancelled anyway due to circumstances beyond your control.
Those may be things like:
- Bad weather
- Equipment failure
- Strikes or labor issues
Those are often covered reasons for flight cancellation in most travel insurance policies.
What travel insurance can do
The next thing to consider is what travel insurance can do if your flight is cancelled.
Trip interruption
If the flight cancellation causes you to interrupt your trip – if your cruise ship sails without you because you missed your flight, for instance – the trip interruption benefit may reimburse you for money you’ve paid for things you won’t get to experience because of the flight cancellation, up to and including the entire remainder of your trip.
Travel insurance can also help arrange for you to meet the cruise ship at a port of call and continue your vacation.
Luggage
If your flight is cancelled but your bags end up in luggage purgatory, travel insurance can help you replace and pay for essential items, up to the policy limit.
Travel assistance
The 24/7 travel assistance offered by Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection can help you through a plethora of issues that accompany a flight cancellation. We can help you rebook and reconnect your travels, so that the cancellation of one flight doesn’t cause a huge domino effect down the line.
A cancelled flight is a hassle, but the good news is that there are ways travel insurance can help.