Is "Travel Protection" the same as "Travel Insurance?" Buyers Beware!

[d&a Delaware]

This NYTimes article tells a cautionary tale:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/your-money/28haggler.html?8dpc

 

I'm a huge believer in proper insurance, but we need to be very careful of what we purchase.

 

David

[olemissreb]

Funny that you should post this. I was contemplating transferring my booking from RCI to a TA. The TA assured me that I could do that and that I would be able to purchase travel insurance through Travel Insured and I would be able to get the "cancel for any reason and get 100% money back" clause included in the price. Since I've read so many of the CC boards about insurance, I was skeptical. I had made my first payment over 21 days prior and the TA assured me that this would have no bearing as it would be a new reservation in her system. I did my research and found out that the only way this would work is if I cancelled my current reservation and made a totally new reservation at a different time. Obviously, I didn't make the transfer and surprisingly, the TA hasn't called me either to find out why!

 

Kind of makes me go HMMMMMM!

[jshli]

I am a little confused. I booked a cruise months ago directly with Celebrity and bought travel insurance through Travel Insured within 21 days to ensure coverage of pre-existing conditions. I plan on transferring our booking before final payment is made to a travel agent. Does this affect our our pre-existing or any coverage we might have?

[olemissreb]

I am a little confused. I booked a cruise months ago directly with Celebrity and bought travel insurance through Travel Insured within 21 days to ensure coverage of pre-existing conditions. I plan on transferring our booking before final payment is made to a travel agent. Does this affect our our pre-existing or any coverage we might have?

 

I wouldn't think so. From my understanding insurance companies base their coverage on when the down payment was placed. If you got your coverage within the 21 day window after your down payment, then you should be ok no matter who has your reservation.

 

My problem was that my reservation was made 24 days prior to my talking to the TA. The TA's misunderstanding (trying to give her the benefit of the doubt) was that because my transfer would appear as new in her system, the insurance company would be able to cover "pre-existing". The insurance company actually would have contacted RCI to determine when the original deposit was mad and so in my case "pre-existing" would not have been covered. I've had a couple glasses of wine - does this make sense???:D

 

To be doubly sure, contact steve at tripinsurancestore.com. He is the one that gave me my information.

[jshli]

Thank you for your response. This makes perfect sense. I will double check but I too am pretty sure that I will be covered even after transferring to a travel agent.