2025 Update: Is Flight Insurance Included in Travel Insurance?

2025 Update: Is Flight Insurance Included in Travel Insurance?

Understanding Flight Insurance and Travel Insurance

Flight insurance is one kind of travel insurance that mainly covers problems with air travel. Conversely, travel insurance covers more ground for your whole trip, including but not limited to flights. Consider it this: vacation insurance covers all your equipment; flight insurance is more like insuring just your phone.

What Flight Insurance Typically Covers

Flight insurance often covers flight cancellals or substantial delays (usually 3+ hours), missed connections, lost, damaged, or delayed luggage, and occasionally flight-specific accidental death and dismemberment. The provider and the plan you decide upon substantially affect the coverage and amounts.

What Travel Insurance Typically Covers

Though it covers other travel-related issues, travel insurance sometimes includes flight-related coverage like flight insurance. Common coverages include medical emergencies overseas (including evacuation), lost or stolen items, travel delays, illness, natural catastrophes, etc., causing trip cancellation or suspension. Specific insurance also provides "cancel for any reason" coverage, which lets you postpone your trip for any reason and get a partial refund—typically 50–75% (with some restrictions like a 48-hour cancellation window before departure).

Is Flight Insurance Included in Travel Insurance?

As part of their more general protection, most complete travel insurance policies provide some flight insurance-like coverage. This typically includes airline delays, concealments, and baggage problems. However, the coverage limits for specific flight-related issues can be less under a complete travel insurance plan than they would be under a standalone flight insurance policy. For a travel delay, a travel insurance policy might pay $500; a flight-specific policy might pay $1,000 or more. Examining the policy text for specifics is vital. Though it varies greatly, Squaremouth's research indicates that the typical trip delay coverage is about $1,000.

When to Consider Separate Flight Insurance

Suppose your comprehensive travel insurance policy provides limited flight-related coverage. In that case, if you have a costly flight you wish to insure for a higher amount or are only concerned about flight-related risks and do not need the other protections offered by travel insurance, you could consider separate flight insurance. A separate flight insurance policy could be a good fit for a quick domestic trip when you live with family and only need to insure your flight.

Cost of Flight Insurance vs. Travel Insurance

Usually speaking, standalone flight insurance is less costly than all-encompassing travel insurance. While flight insurance can cost much less, depending on the coverage, complete travel insurance can cost between 4% and 10% of the entire trip cost (averaging roughly $300 in 2025). As reported from many sources. ValuePenguin claims that while basic flight insurance can be less expensive, complete trip insurance runs about 56% more.

Factors Affecting Travel Insurance Costs

Your age, the cost and length of your trip, your destination, the degree of coverage you select, and the number of people the policy covers will all affect the cost of flight and travel insurance. For instance, a journey to a far-off destination or one that includes adventure sports can raise the insurance price.

Where to Buy Flight and Travel Insurance

Direct flight and travel insurance purchases from insurance companies (such as Allianz, AIG, Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, Seven Corners, etc.), via travel agents, comparison websites (such as Squaremouth, InsureMyTrip, etc.), and occasionally as add-ons when booking flights online from airlines or third-party travel sites. Before making a purchase, evaluating rates and coverage specifics from several suppliers is strongly advised. Often secondary to other coverage, many credit cards also include travel insurance; thus, review your card advantages before purchasing a separate policy. A Business Insider article claims that while credit card travel insurance might not cover everything, it can be helpful for trip delays, misplaced bags, and trip cancellals.

Real-World Examples

For instance, a snowfall could delay your connecting flight, preventing you from catching your cruise departure. Travel insurance with trip delay and missed connection coverage could pay you back for accommodation, food, travel expenses, and the cost of catching up to your cruise.

For instance, on your international vacation, the airline loses your bags. Travel insurance, including baggage loss coverage, can pay you back for the worth of your misplaced items. Though the coverage would be the same, flight insurance would have a limited sum. A business insider piece explores the advantages and drawbacks of luggage insurance programs.

For instance, a family emergency calls for you to postpone your last-minute trip. Travel cancellation coverage in comprehensive travel insurance will help you to recoup non-refundable trip expenses paid for. Should you only have flight insurance, you would only be compensated for your airfare—not for other prepaid costs such as lodging or tours. Given the increased expenses and early planning pattern of international travel, a CNBC Make It piece recommends purchasing travel insurance.

Comparing Travel Insurance Plans

When evaluating policies, consider coverage limitations for particular occurrences (medical expenditures, trip interruption, etc.; covered causes for concealments or interruptions, exclusions, the claims process, customer evaluations, and general insurance provider reputation. Choose a plan that provides sufficient coverage for your location; for instance, some plans have reduced coverage for medical bills in specific locations. Before deciding, comparing proposals and closely reviewing policy language is imperative. Helpful comparing tools and information abound on websites like Squaremouth and InsureMyTrip.