When a family member dies, there can be a lot of upheaval and disruption. A death in the family can be very difficult for travelers since they may have to cancel their trip, interrupt it and return home early, or abandon or adjust their travel plans.
Even changing a single plane ticket these days is often prohibitively expensive, and it is up to the airline representative’s judgment whether or not to waive the change price. The same can be said for cruises and trips that have already been paid for.
Many travelers, particularly those who have elderly parents or sick family members, wonder if travel insurance covers death in the family.
How travel insurance helps with family death
- Travel insurance will reimburse you for pre-paid trip fees if you have to cancel a covered vacation due to the sudden death of a family member.
- Travel insurance will repay you for any unused pre-paid charges incurred as a result of your change in travel plans if you have to interrupt your trip and return home due to a family death.
Important exceptions
It’s vital to highlight that there are a few key exclusions that tourists should be aware of. These are some of them:
- The family member must be a ‘covered’ family member, which is defined differently by each plan. A sister or brother-in-law, for example, may not be deemed a covered family member in some instances. In the definitions part of your travel insurance plan documents, you’ll discover a list of covered family members.
- Unless you choose a plan that covers pre-existing medical issues, the death must not have been caused by a pre-existing medical condition (even if you or a family member were unaware of it).
- Suicide and mental illness are not covered by travel insurance, therefore the death could not have been the result of either.
Many people are taken aback when they discover that their travel insurance policy does not cover the loss of best friends, close acquaintances, or even pets. This is because essential people and pets may not be considered family members under the terms of the travel insurance policy.
You’ll need ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage and you’ll have to cancel your trip within the time frame provided by that coverage to be able to make a claim on your travel insurance policy if someone who isn’t a family member as defined by the travel insurance plan paperwork dies (sometimes as early as two days prior to your trip).
Does travel insurance cover cancellation due to family funeral?
The answer, as you might imagine, is that it depends. Every travel insurance company and plan, like every traveler, is unique. However, there are certain similarities amongst travel insurance plans that can be used to answer this issue.
In this scenario, you can cancel and be reimbursed your trip costs
Yes, you will be protected if your travel insurance plan has trip cancellation coverage that includes the death of a family member as a covered reason for canceling your trip.
Caution! According to your strategy, you’ll need to know what qualifies a family member. Some plans just cover the husband and children, while others include in-laws, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives.
The Travelex Travel Select plan certificate defines ‘family member’ as follows:
In this scenario, you cannot cancel and be reimbursed your trip costs
No, you will not be covered for canceling your trip if the family member who died had a pre-existing medical condition and you did not acquire a travel insurance plan that covered pre-existing medical conditions. Travelers frequently get trapped in this trap since they only consider their own pre-existing ailments, not those of family members. Unless you obtained a pre-existing medical condition waiver with your plan, you won’t be able to cancel your trip if your uncle dies from an existing heart condition.
As previously said, no insurance policy can cover every eventuality – that is not the essence of insurance. In their explanation of coverage or plan certificate, every travel insurance company meticulously specifies out the covered causes for cancellation. The most important thing is to read the coverage.
In addition, some travel insurance policies cover the death of a host as a basis for cancellation.
Does travel insurance cover family?
The same as single-person medical, trip cancellation, and trip interruption insurance, travel insurance coverage under a family rate operates the same way. The main difference is that it’s a single insurance that covers everyone in your immediate family, including your parents and children.
Does travel insurance cover funeral expenses?
Yes, as indicated in your travel insurance plan’s medical evacuation coverage, repatriation is covered by travel insurance.
The return of an insured traveler’s body home if they die while on the road is known as repatriation. For further information, see our repatriation coverage review.
The basic truth is that repatriating a person’s body is a time-consuming and costly procedure. Local rules and regulations govern how the body is handled and moved, and there are frequently fees, embalming expenditures, container costs, and shipping costs to consider, not to mention the bureaucracy involved in transferring human remains.
Regardless of the situation, a travel insurance provider that can handle, arrange, and pay for the repatriation is a huge aid to the traveler’s family.
What kinds of travel insurance plans include repatriation?
This coverage is included in many types of travel insurance plans (both package plans and travel medical plans), however it’s crucial to note that repatriation is almost always bundled with the medical evacuation coverage of the travel insurance plan.
The repatriation will be coordinated, managed, and paid for by the travel insurance provider, not the traveler’s family. The travel insurance provider, on the other hand, will inform the traveler’s family of their plans and progress.
What’s not included with repatriation coverage?
Funeral, burial, and cremation costs are not covered by a travel insurance plan with repatriation coverage. It also excludes similar containers like urns and coffins. The legal transportation of the body in an approved container to a funeral home near the traveler’s residence is the subject of the travel insurance coverage.
In other words, the traveler’s body cannot be buried where they died because of their travel insurance policy; instead, it must be carried home.
What is not covered by travel insurance?
Baggage delay, damage, and loss plans do not cover all of your belongings. Glasses, hearing aids, dental bridges, tickets, passports, keys, cash, and cell phones are all common travel insurance exclusions. These things are sometimes covered, but only up to a particular cost limit, so if you have several expensive electronic items (such as a laptop, tablet, and mobile phone), you may not have enough coverage to cover the loss of all of them.
Can you cancel a holiday due to bereavement?
A consumer watchdog has warned that travel companies will have to fairly compensate consumers if they have to cancel their vacation due to illness or a death in the family.
Customers can be charged a cancellation fee to compensate for their losses, but the amount must be fair.
For example, if a vacation is canceled at the last minute, they may be able to defer the costs of reselling the booking.
However, some vacation companies withhold significant advance payments for cancellations or refuse to refund any money to customers, even if the company is able to recoup costs by reselling the vacation.
According to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), cancellation prices are frequently not made clear enough to consumers, who may not realize how much money they would lose if they cancel due to illness.
Up to 89 percent of the 2,000 persons polled by the CMA incorrectly assumed that if the operator was able to resell the holiday, they would be reimbursed in full.
Does travel insurance cover death repatriation?
Most travel insurance policies include repatriation insurance as a standard feature. There will usually be a section labeled ‘Key Features’ where you can view a list of situations in which a travel insurance company will support repatriation.
The high levels of coverage reflect the true expenses of repatriation, particularly from remote locales and places with high costs. If you require more coverage than what is offered as normal, you might look for a policy with larger limits.
Does travel insurance cover death of elderly parent?
If you have to cancel your vacation due to the death of a family member and meet all of the coverage criteria outlined in your policy, you will be reimbursed for non-refundable, pre-paid expenses including hotels and airfare. The Trip Interruption and Trip Delay benefits are also covered under this policy.
How does family travel insurance work?
A family travel insurance coverage normally covers one or two people who live at the same home, as well as at least one child aged 18 or under who permanently lives with you (up to a maximum of eight children).
Always read the insurance specifics carefully, regardless of how your family is made up. Some insurance may not cover youngsters accompanied by a non-family member or family members traveling separately. Also, see what the policy says about children who don’t reside with you on a permanent basis, such as stepchildren.
What does the travel insurance cover?
Medical crises, trip cancellation, trip interruption, delays, medical evacuation, and lost, damaged, or stolen luggage are all covered by most travel insurance plans.
What is repatriation of mortal remains?
If an insured person dies while abroad, the costs of collecting their body and transporting their remains back to their home country might be a significant financial hardship. The cost of returning a loved one’s mortal remains to their homeland can be too expensive. The assistance department of your travel insurance company will make the appropriate arrangements, provide guidance, and communicate with foreign national authorities to assist you in the event of such an unanticipated catastrophe. Travel insurance companies offer multilingual professionals who are well-versed in the repatriation process and can assist in the transport of a body back home.
Return of Mortal Remains / Repatriation coverage is included in most comprehensive travel health insurance plans.