Thinking about traveling and pondering the best way to protect your investment? Cue the shark music and be afraid. Be very afraid.
I am mixing movie metaphors ("Jaws," 1975; "The Fly," 1986), but it's to put you on high alert: What you thought you knew about travel insurance may not be true anymore. The pandemic has turned everything on its head, including the way to protect your travel investment.
When it comes to insurance, the best surprise is no surprise. But many people were surprised anyway.
Many travel policies, they learned to their dismay, don't cover pandemics. Other policies were purchased after coronavirus became a known event, sometimes as early as mid-January, so travelers weren't covered after all. And others learned that trip cancellation insurance didn't cover them if a group tour was canceled; the customer had to be the one who was canceling as a result of an illness or worse.
Sigh. So what's the point of spending the money?
Experts offered insights on why travel insurance is complicated but perhaps more necessary than ever and what may be the only, if painful, way to know what you don't know. Here's what to ask about, know or contemplate before you hit the "buy" button.
