Whether you're taking a family vacation to Disney World or a romantic cruise through the Mediterranean, travel insurance could help protect your trip from the unexpected. From trip cancellations and flight delays to medical emergencies, travel insurance could protect you financially and give you peace of mind.
There are several different types of travel insurance plans to choose from when shopping for a policy. Here are a few of the common coverage types:
- Trip cancellation coverage: Helps recoup travel expenses if you can't travel, though generally limited to specific reasons.
- Travel delay coverage: Helps cover expenses if your travel is delayed due to a covered reason.
- Trip interruption coverage: Helps if you need to cut your trip short. Covered reasons may include an injury or illness on the trip, or a family emergency at home.
- Medical expenses and emergency evacuation coverage: This covers unforeseen medical expenses when traveling outside the U.S. where your health insurance may not work. Emergency evacuation could help get you home if medically needed while overseas.
- Baggage loss: Covers baggage lost, damaged or stolen during your trip.
You'll also want to consider the prospective insurer's epidemic-related coverage. Each insurance company covers epidemic-related issues, such as Covid-19, differently, so check the fine print on a policy you're considering.
CNBC Select analyzed dozens of different U.S. travel insurance products and narrowed down the top six for all sorts of travelers. (Read more about our methodology below.)
Best travel insurance companies
- Best for lost baggage and personal belongings: AXA Assistance USA travel insurance
- Best for customization: Travel Guard travel insurance
- Best for cancellation coverage: Allianz travel insurance
- Best for travel medical plans: USI Affinity travel insurance
- Best for cruise insurance: Nationwide travel insurance
- Best for luxury travel: Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection
Best for lost baggage and personal belongings
AXA Assistance USA Travel Insurance
Cost
The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote
Policy highlights
AXA Assistance USA offers several travel insurance policies that include travel interruption, trip cancellation, and the option of cancel for any reason (CFAR) coverage.
24/7 assistance available
Yes
Pros
- Three tiers of plans available
- Highly rated for financial strength
Cons
- Cancel for any reason only available on highest-tier coverage
AXA Assistance USA’s travel insurance offers three different plans for travelers to choose from, with the most basic plans including trip interruption and cancellation and baggage and personal effects coverage. The platinum plan offers coverage for lost ski days and golf rounds, ideal for trips centering around those activities.
Best for customization
Travel Guard® Travel Insurance
Cost
The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote
Policy highlights
Travel Guard offers a variety of plans to suit travel ranging from road trips to long cruises. For air travelers, Travel Guard can help assist with tracking baggage or covering lost or delayed baggage.
24/7 assistance available
Yes
Pros
- A variety of plans are available to help cover different types of trips
Cons
- Not all products are available for purchase online
For those wanting to cover an upcoming trip, Travel Guard is a strong option because of its variety of coverage types. With three base packages available online and more options available through a representative, there are a variety of ways to customize your policy. The deluxe, preferred and essential plans include coverage for one related child age 17 or younger.
Best for trip cancellation coverage
Allianz Travel Insurance
Cost
The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote
Policy highlights
10 travel insurance plans make it possible to customize your coverage. For families, Allianz's OneTrip Prime package covers children age 17 and younger when traveling with a parent or grandparent.
24/7 assistance available
Yes
Pros
- Trip cancellation benefits can reimburse your prepaid, nonrefundable trip payments if you have to cancel your trip for one of the covered reasons stated in your plan documents.
Cons
- Limited coverage for risky sports
Travelers who want the ability to cancel their trips will find 10 different travel insurance policies through Allianz. You can either purchase coverage for a specific trip or purchase an annual plan that covers an entire year's worth of trips. Instead of basic cancel for any reason coverage, Allianz offers a Cancel Anytime policy that can reimburse up to 80% of prepaid, non-refundable trip costs, while many other companies we reviewed cap "cancel for any reason" (CFAR) coverage at 75%.
Best for travel medical plans
USI Affinity Travel Insurance
Cost
The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote
Policy highlights
USI Affinity has travel medical policies in addition to trip cancellation policies. Travel medical plans include an option for frequent travelers to cover multiple trips. Trip cancellation options include coverage for road trips and group travel.
24/7 assistance available
Yes
Pros
- Wide variety of plans for both trip cancellation coverage and travel medical insurance
Cons
- CFAR only covers up to 70% of non-refundable trip costs
People who are traveling out of the country can find medical plans from USI Affinity to cover them during their travels. Frequent travelers can get an annual medical plan that covers them on multiple trips of 30 days or less. This company also has trip cancellation insurance policies in addition to global travel medical plans.
Best for cruise insurance
Nationwide Travel Insurance
Cost
The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote
Policy highlights
Nationwide's wide coverage for travel insurance allows many different types of travelers to find coverage that fits their needs. Three levels of cruise insurance coverage gives extra options to cruise passengers.
24/7 assistance available
Yes
Pros
- 10-day review period on cruise insurance policies to make sure the plan meets your needs (not available in NY or WA)
Cons
- Most basic cruise plan doesn't offer CFAR coverage
Those planning a cruise in the future might find cruise-specific travel insurance helpful. Nationwide offers cruise-specific insurance that can cover things like emergency accidents, sicknesses, itinerary changes and trip interruptions to start. Nationwide offers three tiers of cruise insurance (universal, choice and luxury) to get the right level of coverage for every type of trip. Nationwide offers a 10-day review period on its cruise policies (though unavailable in NY or WA), giving you extra time to look over the policy and ensure it’s a good fit.
Best for luxury travel
Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection
Cost
The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote
Policy highlights
Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection has multiple plans to cover vacations from luxury travel to adventure travel. The brand's LuxuryCare offers the highest limits of travel insurance coverage offered by the company. Quotes and policies are available online.
24/7 assistance available
Yes
Pros
- Wide variety of policies available
- Strong financial strength rating by AM Best
Cons
- Cancel for any reason only provides reimbursement for up to 50% of non-refundable trip payments
Since a luxury vacation is a large investment, insuring it could ensure that cost is covered if you have to cancel or have your trip interrupted. Berkshire Hathaway’s LuxuryCare travel insurance has high limits of coverage for trip interruption coverage, medical expenses, and coverage for things like sporting equipment. Berkshire Hathaway also covers cruises and adventure travel with other separate plans.
Travel insurance FAQs
How do I choose the best travel insurance?
The best travel insurance is one that will meet your needs, cover the type of travel you’re doing (and the experiences you’re planning) and will give you the peace of mind you need.
Shopping around for travel insurance can help you make sure that you get the best deal possible. Since policies and coverage can vary by company, it could be helpful to get several quotes and compare the coverage limits and types available from several companies to find the best deal for your specific needs and trip.
To simplify the shopping process, a travel insurance comparison site like InsureMyTrip or Squaremouth could help you understand how much you’ll spend and what types of insurance coverage are available for your trip.
Is travel insurance worth it?
Whether or not travel insurance is worth it could depend on the types of coverage you already have, including whether or not an existing travel credit card you hold could provide similar coverage, and whether that would cover your concerns.
Some travel credit cards offer car rental insurance, baggage insurance, trip delay insurance, and trip cancellation and interruption insurance. In addition, others offer more coverage like travel accident insurance.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve®, for example, offers travel accident insurance, emergency evacuation insurance, and coverage for baggage delays and lost luggage reimbursement. Several of CNBC Select’s top travel credit cards also offer some credit card travel insurance that could cover potential travel issues.
How much does travel insurance cost?
The average travel insurance costs between 4% and 10% of your prepaid, non-refundable trip costs, according to travel insurance marketplace InsureMyTrip.
However, travel insurance costs vary based on the cost of the travel you’re insuring, as well as the age of the travelers and any extra coverage that’s added to the policy.
Bottom line
Travel insurance can cover a range unexpected events on your trip, from lost baggage to emergency medical expenses. While costs vary based on age, type of coverage and trip costs, it can be useful if you need to cancel or cut your trip short.
Money matters — so make the most of it. Get expert tips, strategies, news and everything else you need to maximize your money, right to your inbox. Sign up here.
Why trust CNBC Select?
At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every travel insurance review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of travel insurance products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics. See our methodology for more information on how we choose the best travel insurance.
Our methodology
To determine the best travel insurance companies, CNBC Select analyzed dozens of U.S. travel insurance companies that come with a wide variety of policies and offer coverage for many situations.
When narrowing down the best travel insurance companies, we focused on the coverage available, including the number of plans available, 24/7 assistance availability and cancel for any reason (CFAR) coverage availability. We also considered financial strength ratings from AM Best and Better Business Bureau ratings for customer satisfaction.
From there, we sorted our recommendations by the best overall and runner-up, best for cancellation coverage, best for travel medical plans, best for cruise insurance and best for luxury travel.
Note that the premiums and policy structures advertised for travel insurance companies are subject to fluctuate per the company’s policies.
Catch up on CNBC Select’s in-depth coverage of credit cards, banking and money. And follow us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date.