Travel insurance?

[Austruck]

Howdy!

My finances are in sufficient order that I can start thinking about booking my big cross-country book-writing trip in the spring. I hope to go sometime in early May-ish.

When hubby and I have booked cruises far in advance, we've sometimes gotten trip insurance of one sort or another. Is this sort of thing possible when you purchase an Amtrak ticket months in advance like this?

Thanks for any advice on booking early (versus not booking early??) and how to handle possible worst-case scenarios!

Linda

 

[KmH]

It would help knowing what route(s) you plan to use.

Booking early generally means your trip will cost less and if you are traveling in sleeper accommodations the earlier you book the more likely the more sought after sleeper accommodations will still be available.

I booked a May '17 long distance trip last month.
• Galesburg, IL to Los Angeles via the Southwest Chief.
. . . . .I won't be staying in LA. The purpose of the trip is to ride the trains.
• LA to Chicago via the Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle and that is an Amtrak guaranteed connection.
• CHI back to Galesburg via the Illinois Zephyr, also an Amtrak guaranteed connection.

Because of the guaranteed connections I did not get the Travel Insurance offered when I booked the trip.

https://www.amtrak.com/at-the-station
Connecting Trains
Amtrak does not normally guarantee connections of less than 60 minutes (90 minutes between arriving long-distance trains and local trains in the Northeast Corridor). Please call Amtrak 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245) or your travel agent if your planned itinerary includes a shorter connection. A guaranteed connection does not ensure that such a connection will always be made. In the case of a missed guaranteed connection, Amtrak will provide alternate transportation on Amtrak, another carrier, or overnight hotel accommodations, at Amtrak's discretion.

 

[Maglev]

I'm not sure how much travel insurance costs, but for peace of mind perhaps the best investment is a night's hotel stay between trains.

 

[pennyk]

I am not sure if you are concerned about missing connections or illness preventing the trip altogether. If you cancel the trip, you may opt to receive a voucher for future travel in lieu of a refund (after being reduced by penalty).

I believe that Amtrak cancellation policies are more generous than cruise line cancellation policies.

 

[the_traveler]

If you cancel your reservation prior to the scheduled departure, you can received a refund (in cash or a charge back to your credit card) of the full amount less a 10% or 20% penalty, or a voucher worth 100% of the cost redeemable for future travel on Amtrak.

If the travel insurance is for a refund of the cost of the Amtrak travel, I personally would not obtain it. If however it's for other reasons, it's up to you.

 

[Austruck]

Thanks for all this info. I was mostly concerned about illness or injury changing my entire set of plans, not so much the connection issue. Though, since I'm a total newbie, apparently that's now something to worry about. :blink:

I want to decide on destination and routes in the next week and then book something so that I can get the accommodations I want. I was more concerned with what would happen if May came along and I got anthrax or something. :giggle:

It does seem as if Amtrak's policies for such things are far better than our cruises have been. (We've never gotten sick or injured, but since we sometimes book many months in advance, it always worries us as a possibility.)

 

[caravanman]

Problems can and do arise when you need to connect to another Amtrak service. For example in Chicago, when connecting on the same day. Most times it is fine, but not always. If possible, for a more relaxing time, I would suggest having a overnight in a hotel in Chicago, and booking onward travel for next day. Most connections do work, but I am never in a hurry to pass through Chicago!

I don't honestly know how frequently connections are missed, maybe some other folk here have access to that data?

Can you buy travel insurance from a broker that will cover your costs for cancellation for illness, etc? Paying a little extra for options on hotel rooms will also allow cancellation of the room if plans change.

As a senior with some health issues myself, and on a very low pension income, I choose to travel without insurance, even to India, due to the high cost of insurance premiums. I figure that the premiums saved will cover a quick flight home if required. Should I be comatose in hospital, I figure I won't care too much anyway by then.

Good Health!

Ed.

 

[tricia]

When making plans for travel with my elderly dad, he's lately insisted that we buy travel insurance--having reached an age where he's hesitant even to buy green bananas, as George Burns used to say.

When you buy trip insurance, you need insure and pay for ONLY the non-refundable expenses. For Amtrak, that'd be only the 10 or 20% penalty.

I'll leave the "when to book" question to other folks here; there's no simple answer and many opinions about that.

Whenever you book, though, if your travel dates are flexible do check out Amsnag to browse for which dates have lower fares.

 

[Austruck]

Sounds like I can opt out of the insurance deal if Amtrak has some sort of policy on this already that seems quite fair. (I'll read up more this week on all that.) I'm 55 and I do rarely get sick (I've had exactly 1 cold in the past decade and that's it). It's just that I rarely spend SO much on travel SO far in advance, and it occurred to me to ask you folks up front.

I am definitely flexible on dates so I'll check out that site! My whole purpose of this trip is to just BE on the train and write the book, so even my route and destination are somewhat flexible. I am trying for longer stretches at a time on the train rather than a bunch of train-changes along the way. The Kansas City stop is to see a school friend of mine.

 

[HP_Lovecraft]

Its worth checking to see if your credit cards have travel insurance as a free benefit.

I remember the old Chase Amtrak cards had pretty good travel insurance

 

[shelzp]

The way I look at travel insurance is that I seldom buy it because if I need to cancel or postpone a trip the 10% cancellation fee is cheaper overall than the cost for insurance if bought for each and every trip.

I think I've only had to cancel one Amtrak trip which happened because there was a huge fire in Montana and I didn't feel like looking at all the smoke. The trains were intermittent that week and on the day I was to go it did run but when there's a situation like that I figure I might find myself on a long bus ride instead of sitting on the train. I assume if I had asked for a voucher for the 10% fee they might have given it to me but I let that one go.

 

[cargo13]

Amtrak's insurance will not cover other parts of your trip. Same as with cruise lines. I recommend a 3rd party/independent travel insurance provider regardless because there is no conflict of interest in insuring the trip you just purchased from the operator (train or cruise). We have had great customer service and they paid our claim fast with CSA TRAVEL PROTECTION.

There are generally 2 types of coverages we look for:
1. Trip cancellation: if a big investment of $$ or far out when anything unexpected could occur to cause us to cancel.

2. IN TRIP issues: delays, weather, missed connections, medical (particularly if outside the US).

For the small % of trip cost that travel insurance is, its worth what your out of pocket costs could be.

 

[Austruck]

There really aren't going to be other parts of my trip. The purpose of this cross-country trip is to BE on the train as much as possible. I'll be writing a book en route (about the trip). One stop (probably) in Kansas City to see a friend and stay with her.

So maybe I can simply skip the insurance and deal with the Amtrak penalty if I have to reschedule (which is unlikely, but obviously within the realm of possibility).

 

[Lonestar648]

Personally, I have found that travel insurance is not necessary for Amtrak. For the airlines, buying the refundable fares has, in most cases been equal or cheaper than the insurance costs. When we booked a condo in Hawaii and bought the insurance the condo owner suggested, it would not pay when my wife became sick because she was NOT hospitalized even though the doctor would not let her travel. We were able to negotiate with the condo owner to pay for only the costs he was out which left us with paying for 3 days instead of 14 plus the many other fees. So be careful and read the fine print, and the hidden implied terms, like sick meaning hospitalized. My lawyer friend said our contract was written so the company would not have to pay in most cases.

 

[Austruck]

My main expense will be the train. My FEW stops will be with friends. Maybe I'll get a hotel during one leg. Maybe. But most of the time you can cancel those 24 hours in advance with no penalty. It's sounding more like I will not need to worry about this, for this trip.

 

[Lonestar648]

Hotels can be canceled sometimes 24 hours in advance, others by 6PM the day you were to arrive. Rental cars can be canceled anytime, and there is no penalty unless you opt for the pay in advance option then there is no refund.

 

[jis]

Just like with airline fares, it depends on the rules that apply to the specific room rate that you are using. There are a lot of non-cancellable, non-changeable, non-refundable cheap room rates around these days. So don't assume anything. Carefully read the room rate rules.

 

[Austruck]

jis, exactly! Hotels I know how to manage. I just wasn't sure how train reservations worked.

 

[andersone]

I almost always get travel insurance, especially for LD trips. Last year I had a big junket bought and then had a stroke, making travel impossible. My TA took care of many of the cancellations. I had to send verification of my hospital stay to Amtrak and they took care of everything. Some of the hotels were not as kind. If it is available, I buy it for LD trips. Enjoy your journey

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Just like with airline fares, it depends on the rules that apply to the specific room rate that you are using. There are a lot of non-cancellable, non-changeable, non-refundable cheap room rates around these days. So don't assume anything. Carefully read the room rate rules.

Exactly. These terms and conditions vary widely and change constantly. When it comes to long distance travel the best advice is to read the terms and conditions carefully and with a cynical eye. This is especially true when you're ponying up large deposits well in advance of your departure date. I've traveled a lot and over the years (for a Texan anyway) and I've caught myself making several erroneous assumptions that were true at the time but turned out to be false in other locations and situations.

 

[Austruck]

It sounds, though, as if I will be okay without insurance booking now for an early May trip if my main expense is going to be the train itself. The penalty for canceling is fair, and I'd probably not cancel but instead reschedule. So that's even better.

Seems like I need to be cautious with anything like a booked hotel room more so than with the train reservations/payment.

And that was my main question/concern anyway: the train, since I didn't know offhand what their policies are. Amtrak voucher/credit for future travel is what I'd prefer anyway.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Keep in mind that if you're booked in any sleeper for any portion of your trip the minimum refund penalty would be 20% of the total trip cost. If you've booked at least one sleeper segment and you need to cancel anytime within two weeks of departure (technically 15 days) due to sudden injury or illness (yours or anyone else) or other delay the refund penalty will 100% of the total trip cost (not just the sleeper portion). If you're willing (and able) to travel again sometime in the following year then you can use an e-voucher toward a new ticket during that window. If you are unable to travel again in the following year (due to an extended impact event) you will lose future use of your voucher with no further consideration or compensation from Amtrak. Or at least that's how it was explained to me under the terms of the current rule structure. Therefore, if you're planning on mixing and matching coach and sleeper travel I would consider splitting those mixed service segments into different itineraries.

 

[Austruck]

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't opt for the refund anyway.

And if I became so ill and/or injured in the next five months that I couldn't use a credit voucher within a year, I'd have bigger things to worry about than the money lost.