Best Travel Insurance Policies

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It’s been a long few years, but most of us are ready to visit our favorite destinations again. Although most countries are lifting their COVID restrictions, getting sick still remains a threat to derail even the most detailed travel plans.

Even worse, airline and airport staffing shortages are causing major delays and tons of cancellations. Finding a good travel insurance policy that covers both COVID and trip cancellations/trip interruptions is a must, but it might not be as straightforward as it seems.

Not all travel insurance policies cover COVID-related losses or losses due to trip cancellations or interruptions. Because the pandemic has been a “known event” for several years, certain plans may not cover you at all – even if you get sick before or during your trip. Others may provide medical assistance only, leaving you holding the bag if your trip is effected by a flight cancellation or delay.

To help you find the best travel insurance for your trip, we’ve reviewed dozens of plans offered by nearly 20 different companies. Each plan was scored using 10 ranking factors, which included things like emergency medical coverage, “Cancel for Any Reason” options, plan costs, and more. Check out our top COVID travel insurance plans below!

(Disclosure: Some of the items appearing below include affiliate links. If you use these links to purchase travel insurance, Club Thrifty may receive compensation. We do not review all available offers. Additionally, this article does not represent an offer of travel insurance coverage. Please note that pricing, coverage amounts, and availability are subject to change.)

Top COVID Travel Insurance Plans

Travelex Travel Select

Travel Guard Deluxe

Atlas Premium

Travel Insured International World Wide Trip Protector

Trawick International Safe Travels Voyager

TravelSafe Classic

Tin Leg Gold

Tips for Finding Good Pandemic Travel Insurance

Are you wondering how to buy travel insurance and what to look for? The best travel insurance policies provide coverage before and during your trip.

Should you or a covered member of your party become ill prior to your trip, the top plans offer trip cancellation or interruption benefits. They also offer help if your flight is delayed or cancelled by the airline. These benefits help you recover the cost of non-refundable items related to your covered trip.

If you contract COVID during your trip, pandemic travel insurance plans offer important benefits like emergency medical treatment, emergency medical evacuation, and trip interruption coverage. We strongly suggest finding a policy that offers at least $50,000 to $100,000 in emergency medical coverage per person.

Keep in mind that many travel insurance plans consider the COVID-19 pandemic to be a known event and may not cover financial losses in certain situations. Your plans could easily come to a screeching halt due to changing entry and quarantine requirements, sudden COVID outbreaks, and more. Adding a “Cancel for Any Reason” option allows you to call off your trip for any reason and still get some level of reimbursement.

Finally, be sure to consider the cost of your plan and the reputation of the company. Higher costs do not always equal better quality. Additionally, some companies cover children at a discount or for no additional cost while others do not.

COVID Travel Insurance Benefits to Consider

As we’ve mentioned, some of the most important benefits to look for in pandemic travel insurance plan include:

• Emergency Medical Coverage – This is coverage for emergency medical treatments such as visits to hospitals and emergency rooms. We suggest at least $50,000-$100,000 in coverage. Be sure that COVID is covered prior to making a purchase.
• Emergency Medical Evacuation – This helps cover costs for evacuating you to your home country or other location, if medically necessary.
• Trip Interruption – This type of coverage can help you recuperate losses if your trip is interrupted by illness, injury, weather, or other circumstances. Again, be sure COVID is a covered.
• Trip Cancellation – Like trip interruption coverage, trip cancellation coverage helps get you reimbursed for expenses when you are forced to cancel your trip for a covered reason.

Methodology

To determine our rankings, we reviewed dozens of policies from nearly 20 of the best travel insurance companies. We then scored them across 10 weighted categories with the highest possible score being 100. Those categories included:

• Emergency Medical Coverage for COVID (10 points)
• Emergency Medical Coverage Limits (Up to 10 Points)
• Emergency Medical Evacuation Coverage (5 Points)
• Primary or Secondary Coverage (5 points)
• Trip Cancellation/Interruption Coverage for COVID (Up to 20 Points)
• Cancel for Any Reason Option (20 points)
• Company Reputation and Stability (Up to 10 Points)
• Customer Experience (Up to 5 Points)
• Policy Pricing (Up to 10 Points)
• No Deductible Plan (5 Points)

COVID Travel Insurance Complete Rankings

Here are our complete rankings for the top pandemic travel insurance plans. We’ve listed the top ranking plan for each company we reviewed. As mentioned in the methodology section, we used 10 weighted categories to grade each plan on a scale of 0-100.

Company and Policy Name	Score (Out of 100)
Travelex Travel Select	96
Travel Guard Deluxe	95
Atlas Premium	95
CF Travel Insured International World Wide Trip Protector	95
Trawick International Safe Travels Voyager	94
TravelSafe Classic	93
Tin Leg Gold	91
AXA Platinum Travel Plan	87
Berkshire Hathaway ExactCare	87
USI Affinity Travel Insurance Select Elite	85
Generali Global Assistance Premium	83
John Hancock Gold Plan	82
Cat 70 Travel Insurance	81
Roamright Pro Plus	74
Allianz OneTrip Premier	70
Seven Corners RoundTrip Elite	68
World Nomads	67
HTH Worldwide Trip Protector Preferred	60
IMG iTravelInsured Travel LX	38

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