What to look for from insurance policies to cover a trip cancelled if my itinerary includes a city hit by the coronavirus?
From this related question/answer, I understand that if a flight is cancelled because the destination city is unfit for travel due to an epidemic, the airline itself should refund the price of the air travel.
My question has to do with travel insurance coverage for separately booked travel arrangements. Say my flight is cancelled, but that I've paid separately for other travel arrangements, will Trip Mate travel insurance honor this as a "trip cancellation", and cover my losses associated with non-refundable travel arrangements?
The only reason I'm using this specific travel insurance company is because the PDF is available and I thought wise people here could use this as an example to say why or why not losses would be covered. And possibly for what verbiage one should look for when selecting travel insurance that would indicate that an insurance product would cover non-airline travel expenses if the airline determined a place was too dangerous to fly into.
Link to PDF: https://www.worldnomads.com/pds?RegulatoryWordingTranslationId=1668
From the PDF:
Hazard means: (snip) c) Any delay due to lost or stolen passports, travel documents or money, Quarantine, hijacking, unannounced Strike, Natural Disaster, civil commotion or riot;
Then, under "Coverage > Trip Cancellation":
Natural Disaster at the site of Your destination that renders Your destination accommodations Uninhabitable. This benefit will not apply if the Natural Disaster has been forecasted or a storm has been named prior to purchase of this Policy.
You or Your Traveling Companion being hijacked, Quarantined, required to serve on a jury, or subpoenaed within ten (10) days of departure; having Your Home made Uninhabitable by Natural Disaster; or burglary of Your Home within ten (10) days of departure.
But I don't think the Natural Disaster definition applies:
Natural Disaster means earthquake, flood, fire, hurricane, blizzard, avalanche, tornado, tsunami, volcanic eruption, or landslide that is due to natural causes and includes an event that is directly due to naturally occurring wildfire, earthquake, windborne dust or sand, volcanic eruption, tsunami, snow, rain or wind, that results in widespread and severe damage such that either the government of the country where the Natural Disaster occurs issues an official disaster declaration or the U.S. Government issues advice to leave the country where the Natural Disaster occurs.
Best Answer
One option would be to get a Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR) policy. Then you can (as the name suggests) cancel for any reason.
Drawbacks are the expense of the policy, restrictions on when you can purchase the policy in relation to paying for your trip (i.e. if you already paid for your trip, it's probably too late to buy a CFAR policy now), and the policy won't cover 100% of your costs, 50% - 75% is typical.
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