Some people never buy travel insurance to protect their investment in a trip.  And frankly, there is a small chance that you will ever need trip delay, lost luggage or trip cancellation insurance.  In fact, with over 30 years of international travel, The Traveling Professor has only made 4 travel insurance claims:

1. We were traveling from Philadelphia to Dallas during the winter time, our late afternoon flight was cancelled due to weather and rescheduled to the next day.  We booked a hotel at the airport and had dinner there.  We filed and received a claim of over $400 to cover our costs.
2. We were traveling in Peru and Linda suffered a twisted ankle.  A doctor came to our hotel for treatment.  The $150 bill was covered by insurance.
3. Last year, we had non-refundable international airline tickets with a cost of over $2500 we needed to cancel due to medical reasons.  We made a claim and were fully reimbursed.
4. In London last year, our flight was delayed overnight due to air traffic control issues.  Our overnight hotel, meals, and transportation to/from the airport during the delay was covered in the amount of over $425.

So, why do we pay for travel insurance to protect flights, hotels, and medical issues?  The answer is:  we don't.  And here, we tell you strategies for getting "free" travel insurance:

Get a Premium Travel Credit Card:  The ones we like with travel protection are Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) and the Citibank American Airlines Executive cards.   They both come with hefty $600+ annual fees (the CSR provides an annual $300 travel credit that somewhat offsets the fee) but provide travel insurance and lots of other travel benefits including lounge access, baggage fee waivers, preferred seating, and points/award mile bonuses.  When considering it can cost $400-$500 to cover a single trip, these credit cards provide continuous travel insurance benefits as long as the card is used to pay for at least some of the trip cost.  It is strongly advised to read and understand the coverage benefits, restrictions and coverages offered by any credit card.   Here is a link to CSR travel insurance and Citibank Executive Master Card benefits can be found online.  

Buy Non-Refundable or Fully Creditable Flights:  American Airlines lets you cancel a flight and get a credit for the amount spent.  Not exactly your money back but the next best thing.  Southwest Airlines has a similar policy.  Check with the airlines and go with the one offering good cancellation benefits. 

Buy Airfare with Miles:  On most airlines, if a ticket is purchased with miles and the flight is cancelled, the miles are redeposited into your account and the fee is refunded.  But when buying flights with miles, always book one-way flights.  On flights booked as round trip, if one segment is cancelled, the entire ticket gets cancelled. As an example, we had an awards flight booked on April 15 to LHR and a return from LHR on May 1.   We only needed to cancel and rebook the return flight.  But if it was booked as a round trip ticket and I cancelled the return, the whole round trip would be cancelled.  If I then went to re-book the outbound, it may have not been available on award miles or the miles required may have changed. But if I cancelled my return flight only, my outbound would remain intact if they were booked as separate tickets.

Buy a "Safety" Flight with Miles:   The Professor once had a tight connection (30 minutes) from Iceland to RDU (Raleigh Durham) then on to a 6:30 pm Dallas DFW flight.   With miles I also booked the 9:30 pm RDU to DFW flight.  So, if I missed my 6:30 pm connection, I did not have to purchase an expensive last-minute flight, I could use the flight I had booked with award miles.  And if I did not need the award miles flight, I could cancel with no penalty.  

Book Hotels and Car Rentals with No Cancellation Fees:  That's kind of self-explanatory.   You might get a small discount for paying in full upfront, but if there is a chance your plans might change, pay the no cancellation fee rate.  

What You MUST Have Insurance For:  There is no reason to fool around with your health.  Medicare does not cover health care overseas.  At best, your health insurance plan covers overseas medical cost as an out-of-network provider.  But what if your medical emergency requires you to be sent back home on a special medical evacuation flight that could cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.  That would only be covered on a policy that covers medical evacuation flight.   The cost of an annual travel health and medical evacuation insurance policy is often less than $200.  For that, we recommend the GEO Blue Trekker annual plan.