I just happened to read an article on USA Today about the top reasons for air carrier delays. The gist of the article states that the top reasons for your flight getting canceled boils down to two things, bad weather and mechanical breakdown.
Now, all of the Comprehensive Package Plans that we offer (save one, that’s the Medex Trav Med Abroad Plan) cover bad weather, what is referred to as Inclement Weather, but not all policies cover it in the same way. The difference comes down to how long that inclement weather causes your common carrier (that’s your airline) to be delayed for. Some policies state that the inclement weather has to cause a complete cessation of services of your common carrier for up to 48 consecutive hours before the benefit will apply to you. Any less and you’re not going to be able to make a claim. There are a few companies and plans that they offer that have excellent coverage for inclement weather, they do not list a time period that your common carrier must be delayed for! Of course, it must be a reasonable delay, but that’s still the best coverage that you can get.
Next up is mechanical breakdown of your common carrier. Not all policies cover this, in fact there are only a few companies that do. I’ll list for you some of the companies that cover both inclement weather and mechanical breakdown.
CSA Travel Protection – Custom and Custom Luxe plans.
Travelex – Basic, Select, and Max plans offer coverage for both inclement weather and mechanical breakdowns.
TravelSafe– Vacation and Premier plans – again, two really good plans. The Vacation is their base plan while the Premier is their top level plan. Either one should serve you well.
Vacation Guard – Vacation Pro.
As always, buy your travel insurance early, the sooner the better! No company covers for foreseeable events. Keep that in mind.
When your flight gets delayed, two things can happen. 1) It can ruin your entire trip and you have to cancel it, or 2) You have to stay in hotel until your flight ready to go. If you’re far from home and stuck, do you really want to spend the night (or more) in an airport? I don’t! Again, nearly all of the comprehensive package plans will cover you for inclement weather delays and some will cover you for mechanical breakdown. The two companies above that I listed will cover you the best for both.
There you have it, I took out a bunch of the work for you in trying to find a plan that would cover you for both of those hiccups that can happen to your flight.
Happy Traveling,
Al
Updated 6/16/2014.