You know when you’re booking a flight or hotel online and there’s that section to add trip insurance? You may scroll past it thinking “I’ll get it later” or, “Nah, I don’t need it.” First off, your vacation time and safety are too precious to leave to chance. Secondly, the travel insurance offered at checkout is often the most relevant and affordable coverage for your trip. You’ve already told the booking agent (Hotwire, Priceline, Delta, JetBlue, your travel advisor, etc.), where and when you’re going, the length of your trip, how much your spending, and how many guests are in your party, so you’ve basically filled out a trip survey. Using that information, developed a technology to instantly tailor their 100+ plans to your trip specs…and better yet, lowered the cost by only charging for what you need. So forget the one-size-fits-all plans, and see why getting your travel insurance when you book your trip is a better, easier, and more affordable.
Customization Where it Counts
A month-long trip to South Africa as a family has very different needs than a romantic weekend in South Carolina. To find the plan for you, Allianz Global Assistance take into account factors like:
- Airport Codes. Some airports have better track records than others when it comes to travel delays and baggage loss. A lower risk location means lower prices for you and spotty locations equal more extensive coverage.
- Flight Path. If you have a direct flight, you don’t need coverage for a missed connection and very little insurance for lost luggage—so why pay more for it? If you have multiple layovers and tight connections, the technology knows it’s time to increase post-departure benefits.
- When & Where. Flight delays and missed connections are common concerns for air travelers, but the real risk largely comes down to your trip’s season and region. As you can imagine, flying from LA to NYC in the summer is much less tenuous than Cincinnati to Siberia in the winter, which is why coverage and pricing should adjust accordingly.
- Time Until Departure. If you’re booking a trip far in advance, a lot can happen between now and then, so you might need a bit more insurance for unforeseen changes. If you’re booking same day, you shouldn’t have to pay for cancellation insurance on the way there, just the way back.
But isn’t knowing your choices better?
Many people think aggregator sites, where you can compare insurance plans back to back, would be the best way to go, but you’re not compare apples to apples. An insurance company might offer a lower price, but are they open 24 hours so you reach them whenever the need arises—be it an Asian time zone or in the middle of the night in New Orleans? Do they have a qualified in-house medical team to handle emergencies? Do they have a mobile app to file claims or will you be mired in paperwork? When you see Allianz offered as your trip protection provider, you know you’re getting quality coverage and even better prices.
Time Savings
Analyzing the ins and outs of insurance plans is time-consuming, and putting in hours of research for a one-week trip just doesn’t seem worth it. Taking the details that matter most about your trip and comparing it to the billion insurance offers Allianz makes per year, their technology creates a custom plan in under a second. Add insurance while booking a trip and you’ll have instant peace of mind and extra time to plan the fun stuff.
No Regrets
Say you buy travel insurance in the moment, but wake up in the night with doubts. No sweat, if you’re feeling unsatisfied with your Allianz insurance or find a cheaper option, you have up to ten days (or longer depending on your state) to request a refund.
Travel Happy
Travel insurance has always been a good idea but now you just don’t have to think so hard about it. Personalized coverage, lower prices, and money back if you change your mind…Allianz has made buying insurance through your travel provider a no-brainer.
This post about better, cheaper trip insurance sponsored by our partner Allianz Travel (AGA Service Company) and we have received financial compensation as brand ambassadors.
These are some great tips to look into before buying the insurance cover. We always buy one before our travels. Yes peace of mind while travels and time to concentrate on other stuffs too.
I used to be that way! Ehh, I don’t need insurance, I am always careful. But now when I travel more and more I appreciate the protection! You never know what can happened. I remember when I was in Bali, my husband got scratched by a monkey and even though they said he will be fine he decided to take the rabies vaccine, just in case. And we had no problems at all getting our money back from our travel insurance. It’s also nice to get some cash when our luggage is missing or our flight is delay!
Oh man, a monkey scratch….i would 100% be getting my rabies shot, you never know with wild animals. Sounds like you have had a few claims with your travel insurance. So glad it’s worked well for you. Do you use an annual plan? Or buy for each trip?
It is rarely a good idea to skip travel insurance. We did not know there were plans that could be customized based on airport codes, flight path, destinations and times. It is a no brainer to check out the options.
Yeah totally. And the cool thing about getting the insurance while you are booking your flight or cruise or whatever…is that they can take all those factors into account without you even needing to answer any more questions. Agree…no brainer!
Yeah, I have done that a few times for trips. But now I go annual plan.
We do love our annual plan too but most people barely get single-trip insurance and when it’s so cheap and tailored to your needs, we hope people realize this is a no-brainer
I have never purchased travel insurance, but I think it’s starting to make sense now! Especially now that I have a toddler who comes with us everywhere. Thanks for sharing this article- Especially the way you explained the insurance you get while booking your flight, I always assumed they were selling you something you didn’t need. But now I know otherwise.
Thanks for the awesome reply ChloĂ©. Yeah, I think the insurance companies, and the booking sites (like the airlines and expedia, etc…are starting to realize they need to provide real (well thought out options) to their customers, if they want to keep them. Super excited that Allianz is leading the charge on this!
Great tips in this article. We always say if you can’t afford to take out travel insurance you can’t afford to travel. When we’ve had to claim (3 times) it was always when we least expected something to go wrong. There are so many companies out there, next time we will certainly check Allianz out.
Oh wow, you have had to make 3 claims? That’s a lot. What were they for? We have yet to make a claim, but I feel that day is coming soon. You should TOTALLY look at the Allianz Annual Plan. It starts at $135 (for the ENTIRE year) 🙂
Touch wood, i’ve never had to make use of my travel insurance, but yeah i do agree, investing a few extra bucks, does prove to be quite useful, when something unplanned happens, and disrupts the flow. And being on the road constantly, hiccups happen often.
We are in the same boat Arnav…we’ve never had to use our travel insurance, but it’s such an important piece of mind, knowing that if something did hit the fan that Allianz would get us out of there and back home, without costing us 10’s of thousands of dollars. That to me is worth $200/person for an entire year of coverage!
Most of my life I traveled without any travel insurance, but this year I decided to give it a try. However, the prices seemed quite high for my age category and my destination (Middle East was considered “risky”), so in the end I traveled with out again. Being able to customize your travel insurance is something I haven’t heard of so far, so it’s good to know you can do it. Maybe this will lower the price for me.
I had a terrible experience with Expedia and their insurance. Once I bought it, I had some severe delays and unpredicted costs, and they completely ignored my claim. I’m surprised to hear that aggregator sites are not the best option to compare plans. Expedia forced me to use AIG that, as I mentioned, ignored my claim entirely, and I can’t even reach them. Maybe with Allianz Travel, it’s a different story. I would like to know how they cover claims at Allianz Travel.
Chris, sorry to hear about your bad experience with AIG. I have never used those guys, so I can’t speak from experience with them. But I can say that every person I know who has put in a claim with Allianz has been replied to promptly and well taken care of. YMMV, but we’ve been with Allianz for 4 years now, and absolutely love their annual plans so we are covered on every trip we take, no need to debate whether insurance is worth it for a certain trip. Like Ron Popeil used to say, “Set it and forget it” 🙂
I used to be one who just skips that part but a year ago, I was able to realize the importance of travel insurance thus now we make sure to get one for all our trips.
This is good to know that they’re able to customize the plan according to our needs. The ability to calculate the possibility of delays and baggage loss based on previous incidents is just incredible.
Traveling without insurance is really just kind of dumb. (We did it for a while until we wised up.) We’ve had to use it a couple of times: most recently for a nasty dog bite in Vietnam. Would have cost thousands without the travel coverage.
Oooo nasty dog bite, that’s terrible! So glad you were covered…smart!