The Traveler’s Guide to Airline Travel Insurance in 2024
Travel insurance is now easier to purchase than ever before, and today’s travelers have many options to choose from when it comes to protecting their trips. In recent years, single trip travel insurance has increased in popularity and is now easier than ever to obtain. Now, many airlines offer travel insurance to passengers as part of their checkout process.
Plans offered by commercial airlines can differ greatly from one company to the next. Below we dive into the world of airline travel insurance, and break down some of the best plans offered by popular carriers.
Understanding Airline Travel Insurance
One of the biggest misconceptions is that the airlines themselves are insuring the trip. Instead, many airlines partner with prominent travel insurance providers to provide passengers with travel protection.
The policies offered through these partnerships are often fairly comprehensive, and cover a lot of the common travel disruptions you may encounter on a trip. Common inclusions in airline travel insurance include coverage for:
- Flight delays
- Trip cancellations
- Missed connections
- Lost luggage
- Emergency Medical
- Medical Evacuation
As with any type of insurance policy, it’s important to read the fine print of these plans to understand what they cover.
How Does Airline Travel Insurance Differ From Third Party Travel Insurance?
Purchasing third-party travel insurance, also referred to as independent travel insurance, involves shopping around on your own to find a trip protection plan. This could include going directly to a provider or visiting a comparison site like Squaremouth.
Buying a policy through your airline will always be the quickest option as it only adds a couple of clicks to the checkout process. However, sometimes it pays, or saves, to look around.
Some other things to consider when deciding where to purchase insurance include:
- Options: Airlines usually only offer one option for their customers. Shopping around, travelers can explore more than 100 different plans from top providers.
- Coverage: Travelers that want more or less coverage than what their airline offers have few options to modify their policy. Most providers offer customers multiple plans with varying degrees of coverage.
- Cost: Pricing can vary quite dramatically for travel insurance, even when coverage is similar. Shopping around lets you evaluate what different providers are charging.
Airlines That Offer Travel Insurance in 2024
Many of the major airlines that operate across the United States offer some form of travel protection to their passengers. These plans are often available for purchase during the checkout process as an optional add-on. Some airlines also offer the option to retroactively add trip protection to your trip after making a booking.
Below is a breakdown of various airline travel insurance policies that are current at the time of publishing this article.
Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of every airline that offers travel insurance.
Alaska Airlines Travel Insurance
Alaska Airlines’ travel insurance plan is offered through Allianz Global Assistance. When creating a quote on their site for trip protection, the following coverage was presented:
- Trip Cancellation: 100% of Trip Costs
- Trip Interruption: 100% of Trip Costs
- Emergency Medical: $10,000
- Medical Evacuation: $50,000
- Travel Delay: $150 with a 6 hour minimum delay
- Baggage Delay: $100 when bags are delayed more than 24 hours
- Baggage and Personal Item Loss: $500
Expert Tips:
Most third party travel insurance premiums range between 5-10% of a travelers total insured trip cost. The premium for this policy was above average, equating to more than 10% of the total trip cost included in the quote. The medical coverage does not meet Squaremouth’s international travel insurance recommendations for medical coverage of $50,000 in Emergency Medical coverage and $100,000 in Medical Evacuation coverage.
American Airlines Travel Insurance
American Airlines offers travel insurance through a partnership Allianz Global Assistance. According to American Airlines’ official website, Allianz offers multiple options to passengers with varying degrees of coverage.
When creating a quote for travel insurance through American Airlines for this article, we were presented six different plans, with an option as low as $22. The most comprehensive plan, called “Travel Insurance II” offered the following benefits:
- Trip Cancellation: 100% of Trip Costs
- Trip Interruption: 100% of Trip Costs
- Change Fee Coverage: $250
- Emergency Medical: $10,000
- Medical Evacuation: $50,000
- Travel Delay: $150 with a 6 hour minimum delay
- Baggage Delay: $100 when bags are delayed more than 24 hours
- Baggage and Personal Item Loss: $500
Expert Tips:
The above benefits are consistent with a comprehensive policy. However, the cost of the policy offered was 11.5% of the total trip cost, much more than comparable plans found through a third-party site. The medical coverage also does not meet Squaremouth’s international travel insurance recommendations for medical coverage.
Delta Travel Insurance
Similar to the majority of airlines, Delta’s trip protection is also offered through a partnership with Allianz Global Assistance.
The following plan was offered when creating a quote for an international trip:
- Trip Cancellation: 100% of Trip Costs
- Trip Interruption: 100% of Trip Costs
- Change Fee Coverage: $250
- Emergency Medical: $10,000
- Medical Evacuation: $50,000
- Travel Delay: $150 with a 6 hour minimum delay
- Baggage Delay: $100 when bags are delayed more than 24 hours
- Baggage and Personal Item Loss: $500
Expert Tips:
Similar to American Airlines’, the plan offered equated to 11.5% of the total trip cost. In general, comprehensive policies will fall between 5-10% of a traveler’s total insured trip cost. Like other policies mentioned in this article, the medical coverage also does not meet Squaremouth’s international travel insurance recommendations for medical coverage.
Hawaiian Airlines Travel Insurance
Hawaiian Airlines is another carrier that offers its passengers Allianz Global Assistance trip protection. Similar to American Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines passengers have more than one policy to choose from.
Their comprehensive policy, referred to as “Global Travel Protection,” featured the following benefits:
- Trip Cancellation: 100% of Trip Costs
- Trip Interruption: 100% of Trip Costs
- Change Fee Coverage: $250
- Emergency Medical: $10,000
- Medical Evacuation: $50,000
- Travel Delay: $150 with a 6 hour minimum delay
- Baggage Delay: $100 when bags are delayed more than 24 hours
- Baggage and Personal Item Loss: $500
Expert Tips:
The Hawaiian Airlines travel insurance policy that was displayed on the quote amounted to roughly 10% of the total trip cost used for the quote. The coverage lacked adequate medical coverage for most international trips.
Southwest Airlines Travel Insurance
At the time of this article being published, Southwest does not offer travel insurance to its passengers. Travelers flying Southwest that want to protect their trip costs should consider using a third-party comparison site to compare policies from multiple providers.
It’s important to note that Southwest does have a generous refund policy for travelers that no longer wish to travel. Under the policy, even nonrefundable tickets can be canceled in return for future flight credit.
Spirit Airlines Travel Insurance
Unlike the majority of airlines in the United States, Spirit Airlines partners with Travel Guard to provide passengers with travel insurance.
The following coverage was displayed when Squaremouth submitted a quote on Travel Guard’s website following a link on Spirit.
- Trip Cancellation: 100% of Trip Costs
- Trip Interruption: 125% of Trip Costs
- Emergency Medical: $10,000
- Medical Evacuation: $20,000
- Travel Delay: $100 per day, $500 in total, with a 5 hour minimum delay
- Missed Connection: $500
- Baggage Delay: $500 when bags are delayed more than 24 hours
- Baggage and Personal Item Loss: $1,000
Expert Tips:
Compared to policies offered by other airlines, Spirit’s option provides travelers with more coverage for delays, cancellations, and lost luggage. With that said, the Medical Evacuation coverage is $30,000 less than most other carriers, and does not meet the recommended amount for international travel.
The policy offered through Spirit is also one of the cheaper options, at under 10% of the total insured trip cost.
United Airlines Travel Insurance
United is another airline that uses Travel Guard as its travel insurance partner.
The following coverage was found when filling out a quote using links on United’s website:
- Trip Cancellation: 100% of Trip Costs
- Trip Interruption: 125% of Trip Costs
- Emergency Medical: $10,000
- Medical Evacuation: $50,000
- Travel Delay: $100 per day, $500 in total, with a 5 hour minimum delay
- Missed Connection: $500
- Baggage Delay: $500 when bags are delayed more than 24 hours
- Baggage and Personal Item Loss: $1,000
Expert Tips:
Coverage is almost identical to what’s offered by Spirit, but with slightly higher Medical Evacuation coverage. As with every other policy offered by airlines, there is still less-than-ideal medical coverage for international trips.
How Much Does Airline Travel Insurance Cost?
From reviewing quotes from multiple airlines, the average comprehensive airline travel insurance policy will cost travelers anywhere from 9-12% of their total trip cost. Some airlines also offer less expensive options to passengers with less benefits and lower coverage.
The cost of airline travel insurance is high compared to third-party travel insurance. As a rule of thumb, most travel insurance policies will cost 5-10% of a trip’s total cost. Anything higher than that is considered expensive for travel insurance.
Is Airline Travel Insurance Worth It in 2024?
Judging a policy’s worth depends on your specific situation. In reviewing policies for this article, Squaremouth found that policies offered by airlines generally cost more and offer less coverage compared to third-party travel insurance providers.
However, you may find that the policies offered by your airline meet your needs as a traveler. In any case, Squaremouth would recommend shopping around and comparing plans from different providers before buying a policy directly through an airline.
With little effort, you may find a cheaper policy that offers much more generous coverage. Many credit cards these days also provide travel protection as part of their benefits package to cardholders. If you have a travel card, we recommend assessing what coverage you already have before purchasing any additional coverage.