What is Flight Insurance? Protecting Your Upcoming Journey

What is Flight Insurance? Protecting Your Upcoming Journey

Last Updated: 2 min read

Flight insurance can help refund the costs a traveler incurs if they miss their flight or something happens while they’re flying. For many travelers, this is one of the main reasons they consider purchasing travel insurance.

Flight insurance coverage can help a traveler in four different ways:

  • Under the Trip Cancellation benefit, it can refund your trip costs if you miss your flight and need to cancel your trip for a reason listed by your policy
  • Under the Travel Delay benefit, it can cover the costs you incur during a flight delay
  • Under the Emergency Medical benefit, it can cover medical expenses if you have an emergency during your flight
  • Under the Accidental Death & Dismemberment benefits, it can provide a lump sum payment if you die or lose a limb while flying

Flight Insurance if You Need to Cancel Your Trip

The Trip Cancellation benefit is included in most single trip policies, and can refund your prepaid and non-refundable trip expenses, including the cost of your airfare, if you are forced to cancel your trip for a covered reason. The most common covered reasons include canceling due to an illness, injury, or death of you, a traveling companion, or a family member; canceling because bad weather cancels your flight or damages your destination; or canceling due to a terrorist attack at your destination.

If your flight is delayed for reasons out of your control, such as inclement weather or a mechanical breakdown, the Travel Delay benefit can cover you. This benefit reimburses the costs of meals and accommodations during a flight delay of at least 3-12 hours, depending on the policy.

Flight Insurance if You Have a Medical Emergency

Flight insurance can also help you in the event of a medical emergency after you leave your home. Depending on the emergency, you may be covered by either Emergency Medical or Accidental Death & Dismemberment, or both.

The Emergency Medical benefit covers you throughout your trip, including during your departure and return flights. This coverage can reimburse the costs associated with medical expenses incurred while you’re traveling.

Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) is included in some policies, and is an optional upgrade that can be added to others. This benefit provides a predetermined lump sum payment if you die or lose a limb during your trip.

There are three different types of AD&D coverage – 24-hour, Common Carrier, and Flight Only – all of which include flight insurance. Flight Only AD&D will provide the highest payment amount, but will only cover death or dismemberment injuries resulting from an accident or crash of your airplane. Common Carrier AD&D and 24-hour AD&D also include flight insurance, but provide lower payments.

Find Flight Insurance on Squaremouth.com

Squaremouth compares travel insurance policies from every major provider in the United States. Using Squaremouth’s custom search filters, find the best policy for your trip. If your main concern is flight insurance with coverage for both cancellations and medical emergencies, you can insure your trip cost to search for comprehensive travel insurance policies.