Is it advisable to purchase travel insurance policies for a multistop trip?

Consider a scenario where I'm planning a journey with six or more destinations, and I've already booked flights and accommodations for each leg. Would it be beneficial to obtain travel insurance to cover potential issues such as cancellations, schedule changes, or overbookings for any specific segment of the trip?

I do not mean anything health-related, only the travel part.

 

Personally, I never acquire travel insurance and everything has worked out just fine. I've traveled for 6 months at a time to different cities and countries. The only thing I needed was medical insurance which I have and covers me in basically any country.

If you book hotels where you can cancel at the last minute, book flights with long layovers, and train/bus transportation when you arrive you actually don't need insurance against delays, in my opinion. The people who leave no wiggle room in their schedule are subject to missing flights and having to cancel hotel rooms at the last minute. But that's just me. Some sort of medical insurance would be necessary, if it's your own personal policy or a contracted one with the various travel insurance companies.

To answer your question, travel insurance doesn't make sense to me, when you can add in some wiggle room for the "what ifs", including booking everything on a credit card with travel insurance, etc. And don't check luggage, because if it's lost that will delay your trip and cause automatic cancellations of other flights and possibly hotel reservations. So, just bomb proof your trip the best you can with long layovers, etc

 

I have bought traveling insurance since Mrs. Swede was pregnant with Miss Swede (so 20 years). To clarify, I rarely buy it for domestic trips, just an annual international trip or two. I've had three delayed luggage claims and one instance where I had to buy full-fare economy tickets from Europe to the US to get us home due the SAS pilot strike. Especially because of the last incident, I have recovered 2-3 times the costs of all travel insurance purchased over 20 years. YMMV, of course.

 

Thanks for using chatgpt.

The reason I have concerns is something like this
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel...-b2572370.html

 

Would you be comfortable with rebooking on your own and absorbing the rebooking or cancellation costs? If you aren't, which is ok, then travel insurance is meant for such scenarios.

What would be your satisfactory outcome if your flight was diverted like the linked article? If it an IRROP, it might depend on how comfortable you are with making your own reservations for a new flight/rerouting and finding accommodation vs wanting someone to help you do so. It can also depend on if you have a friend or family "on the ground" who can help you do so. Do you have funds/points to handle unexpected costs?

There's also situations where it might depend on destination(s), mode of transport, or cost of the trip. If you miss a cruise's initial or port boarding, it'll probably be expensive and potentially low flight frequency to catch the next port of entry. Similarly, I've also paid for travel insurance when traveling during known disruptive seasonal weather or natural events which would book out all flights and/or hotels when the situation goes sideways, especially if in an area with limited lodging/transit options. It gave me a bit more coverage for hotel and flight costs than my credit card's coverage and presumably some travel professionals to help look up & book rerouting options.

I've read about stranded travelers who opted to not eat because they weren't given a food voucher. I'd consider paying out of pocket for airport food as bleak or stressful situations are usually easier to work within when I am not hungry. It doesn't stress my budget to do so and I might not even want to stand in line for a voucher if I could be using that time to rebook the flight online or beating the rush to get a hotel room/food. This is more being proactive to satisfy my own wants/needs than waiting to accept whatever is offered by the time it is offered. Fortunately such vouchers tend to be digital these days. You can also file for reasonable reimbursement in specific scenarios https://www.britishairways.com/conte...s/compensation