Does travel insurance cover death of parent and grandparent?

If a parent or grandparent dies while you’re traveling, regardless of whether they’re traveling with you, travel insurance can help in a multitude of ways. Most importantly, it can help you through the process of ending your trip and getting back to family, and it may reimburse you for expenses related to your return.

Here are some of the different provisions in a travel insurance plan that can help.

Trip cancellation/interruption

It won’t make you feel better about your loved one’s death, but their death is a covered reason for you cancelling or interrupting a trip. And this applies whether they’re on the trip with you or they died somewhere else.

When we say that a (grand)parent’s death is a covered reason for cancellation or interruption, it means that we’ll reimburse you for what you’ve already paid for covered travel expenses – airfares, hotel reservations, event tickets, and so forth.

You’ll have to supply proof that your (grand)parent died as well as receipts for your prepaid travel expenses, and that can be hard at such a difficult time. If you’re having trouble filing a claim and making alternative arrangements, our 24/7 travel assistance can help.

Repatriation of remains

If a parent/grandparent dies when they’re on vacation, and they have travel insurance from Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, the company will pay to have their remains shipped appropriately to a burial site.

Note that this only applies to the policyholder, not their traveling companion. The traveling companion needs their own policy.

Accidental death

If your parent dies in an accident while they’re traveling and they have travel insurance from Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, there is an accidental-death benefit. While it doesn’t help you through this difficult period, it can help with expenses related to their death.

Emergency cash transfer

Speaking of those expenses, BHTP travel assistance can arrange for an emergency cash transfer to pay for expenses related to their death. You have to pay back the money, of course, but this is a reasonable and fast way of getting cash when you need it.

Emergency message relay

If you’re having trouble reaching someone or don’t have the time or bandwidth to keep trying to reach them, BHTP can take over and pass a message to that person.

Vehicle return

BHTP will also arrange for someone to return your vehicle to the closest rental agency if a relative’s death keeps you from driving the vehicle.

Deaths seem to hit home a little harder when you’re traveling. Fortunately, travel insurance is there to help in a myriad of ways.