Create I Surely Need Trail back and forth Insurance protection?

So this morning in our consumer confidential the ins and outs of travel insurance with holiday vacations in full swing a lot of folks watching and listening right now want the security and peace of mind but others they don't want to spend extra so what should you know our senior consumer investigative correspondent uh Vicki Wynn is here.

We've got a helpful checklist this morning so let's just start there I mean a lot of folks wrestle with us frequently especially during the holidays when do you need travel insurance well the answer is it depends and it is expensive it can cost anywhere from four to ten percent of your overall trip so first travel insurance what does.

It cover it covers lost luggage if your trip is canceled or interrupted and if you get that medical insurance it really covers Health Emergency so that is important but you want to check what you already may have with your home insurance your car insurance your health insurance even your credit cards sometimes offer some coverages so go.

Back read the fine print to see what you need and what you might want to buy it for we talked to a travel expert named Chris Elliott who you know it was a consumer Advocate as well and he said if you're going on a little small trip to Kansas to visit the family you're probably okay right anything five thousand dollars or more or an.

International trip with multiple stops a lot on your itinerary or maybe you're doing some Adventure travel he has the craziest story he was literally talking to us from recovery of breaking his pelvis and some ribs from a skiing incident in the Swiss Alps so here he is traveling experiencing things to write about them for his travel blog and hits.

A small rock hadn't been skiing in two years and realized you know what I was going too fast to my skill level and I've learned a lot but he did have coverage which covered the helicopter ride in the couple of days he spent in the hospital so there are definitely times where you may want that extra health coverage when you're in foreign.

Country especially I feel better Chris if you're watching yes yes absolutely goodness so say you're at the airport and your flight gets canceled you're at the hotel and something goes wrong with the room I mean do you immediately call the travel insurance company or how do you navigate that ideally there are two things happening yes you should.

Absolutely call your travel insurance company and get them working for you that's why you paid but you can also directly call your airline as well to figure out what exactly they can do for you some travel companies will actually monitor your trip for you and these benefits kick in automatically you don't want to wait and rely on that and just.

Remember there are no federal laws that require an airline to reimburse you in some way for lodging or for food okay they do reimburse you for your ticket fees and your ticket costs if they cancel the flight so there is you know some recourse there but it is really important to know what your rights are and what your coverage is and finally a.

Tip for your luggage because that was a big issue over the summer remember people lost like yeah you know that whole nightmare take pictures of your luggage and what's inside it in case it's lost it can help track it down or if you have to file a claim you have to add these great shoes in there or this purse or whatever on on that note if you.

Have to file a claim is it like an insane amount of paperwork and then it takes forever to get your money back like how does that work it can be typically takes four to six weeks right okay but what you want to do is make sure you know what your coverage has so if you broke your ankle on a trip you don't want to call the travel insurance.

Company and ask for reimbursement if you didn't buy the medical coverage then you want to ask exactly what they need of you do they need invoices do they need photos do they need receipts I have doctors no line up everything submit it all at once and create a paper trail that says hey I talked to Craig on this day at this time then I talked to Chanel.

Then I talk to Dylan that way you just have a record this is good advice for customer service in general not just travel insurance and always always get everything in writing everything in writing thank you those are great tips thank you thank you Vicky hey thanks for watching don't miss the Today show every weekday at 11 A.M.

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