Do you need trip cancellation insurance? What to know before buying

What to know about trip cancellation insurance before deciding if you should buy it before your next holiday, according to experts.

Noah Meyer-Delouya, 25, only bought trip cancellation insurance once – and it paid off.

The Toronto-based accountant did it because he, his mom and his brother bought cheap tickets to Los Angeles this past January. They figured $67.89 for trip cancellation insurance for all three of them wasn’t too much extra money to protect their trip.

They also liked that this trip cancellation insurance policy explicitly included the ability to receive a full refund for their airfare if somebody contracted COVID-19.

“With COVID, it’s become so much more normal to be more cautious and be aware of the chance of getting sick and it impacting your trip,” Meyer-Delouya said.

Five days before the trip, his mom tested positive for COVID. Two days later, his brother tested positive too. Meyer-Delouya got lucky and didn’t contract COVID. But the family decided to cancel all their tickets and cash in their trip cancellation policy.

Trip cancellation insurance is different from medical travel insurance. It means that if something unexpected happens and you need to cancel your trip, you can get your money back for non-refundable items, like plane tickets, any time “before you set foot on the plane,” said Will McAleer, Executive Director of the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada.

Meyer-Delouya’s circumstance perfectly illustrates how trip cancellation insurance works: the trip was cancelled because of illness before the plane took off.

According to McAleer, not only does trip cancellation insurance cover flight fare if a ticket holder becomes ill and can’t fly, but also if a family member gets sick, an accident before the trip or some other unforeseen circumstance. Other non-refundable trip purchases, like accommodations, may also be included under the policy.