Is Flight Insurance Worth It?
Flying is a fact of life for most travelers. So when you ask whether flight insurance is worth it, you have to weigh its cost (generally $50 or less) against the question: What’s it worth for some of the major inconveniences of flying to be less inconvenient?
Obviously, if nothing happened to people when they fly, we wouldn’t need flight insurance.
However, flight mishaps are common. According to the U.S. Transportation Department, in 2023:
- Nearly 1 in 4 flights were delayed, diverted or canceled
- Nearly 1.4 million flight departures were delayed
- 2.8 million bags were lost, damaged or delayed
Those numbers are huge, and they’re indicative of the annoying inconveniences that can happen when you fly. Flight insurance can’t prevent your flight from being cancelled or your bag mishandled, but it can pay you for the inconvenience – and help you make alternative arrangements.
Is Flight Insurance Worth The Cost?
First of all, flight insurance isn’t very expensive. An AirCare® policy could cost less than $100, and the amount extra you pay for ExactCare Extra® isn't that much extra at all.
Is it worth the cost to have someone at your beck-and-call to help you rebook a cancelled flight, and pay you for your inconvenience?
Let’s consider some common scenarios.
Missing The Cruise
Suppose you’re flying to Florida in January to board a cruise ship headed for the Caribbean. The problem: a blizzard cancels your flights, and you have to wait a day and a half to catch another flight.
It’s bad enough that your flight is cancelled and you’re going to have to spend another day in the icy north and not onboard a ship sailing for the sunny south.
But that ship has sailed – literally. How are you going to catch up?
With flight insurance, you could be paid a flat amount for the inconvenience of a cancelled flight. Then the travel assistance included with the plan can help you work with the cruise line to arrange a time and place for you to catch up with your cruise.
Is flight insurance worth it in that scenario?
The Lost Bag
It wasn’t so much the value of the things that were in your bag that mysteriously went missing between Tulsa and Tacoma; it was the fact that they were things you needed.
The luggage benefit in AirCare isn’t based on the value of the individual items in your luggage. It’s a fixed amount – the same regardless of what was in your luggage.
And all it takes to start the claim process is a “pic and a click” – a picture of your baggage claim or your lost-luggage form, sent electronically via your phone.
Because the claim process and claim payment is so fast, many times you’ll be able to use the money from your claim to buy replacement items when you’re still traveling … which is sort of the purpose of a luggage benefit – right?
The Other Airport
It’s late, the weather is bad, and the airport you’re supposed to arrive at is now shut down. No more flights allowed to land.
Instead of landing where you were supposed to land, you’re being told you have to land at a different airport, hundreds of miles away from your intended location.
AirCare will pay you a fixed amount to compensate you for your inconvenience – maybe enough to rent a car to drive to the city where you were supposed to land, or rent a hotel room to spend the night so you can continue your trip in the morning.
And the travel assistance that comes with flight insurance can help with rental-car reservations or hotel arrangements.
Is that worth the cost of travel insurance? It certainly can be.
But What If You Already Have Credit-Card Insurance?
Some people think the “travel protection” they have through their credit card will protect their flights as well as flight insurance. In most cases, it doesn't.
When something goes wrong on a flight, you might get some reimbursement for some items you bought with that card if your luggage is lost … and that’s about it.
Credit cards weren’t designed to protect flights. The free coverage that cards may include is generally not as extensive as flight insurance.
Is It Worth Getting Travel Insurance For Flights?
Most travel insurance is meant to protect trips, not flights. There’s a difference.
Traditional travel insurance plans reimburse you for covered expenses (like non-refundable pre-paid trip payments) if you have to cancel or interrupt a trip, if you lose your luggage on a trip, or if you get sick on a trip.
They don’t pay you for being inconvenienced if you miss a connection or a flight is cancelled.
Now, ExactCare Extra combines traditional travel insurance with flight insurance, so it can protect your trip as well as your flights. It’s the most complete travel insurance plan you can buy.
Flight Insurance Is Worth It!
Flight insurance can pay you for your inconvenience, and the travel assistance that usually comes with flight insurance can help with lost passports and other issues.
So from that standpoint, and the perspective that you deserve to get reimbursed for inconveniences when you travel, travel insurance can be more than worth the small amount you pay.