Should I Add Flight Insurance When Booking My Flights?

You have a vision of your perfect vacation and have spent weeks researching destinations, hotels, comparing activities and excursion opportunities. You’ve debated the options with your friends/family, fighting your case to ensure that your vision is fulfilled. Eventually, you come to an agreement and can start booking. It’s time to start comparing flight times, dates, and deciding on the best time to book your flights.

Up until this point, flight insurance might not be something that you’ve thought about. This is unless you’re a travel connoisseur and know that the majority of flights are non-refundable. Why does this matter? Well, you don’t want to find out the hard way. To have booked your flights, spent months getting excited about your upcoming vacation, only to be unable to travel due to an unforeseen circumstance completely out of your control. To have then contacted your airline, expecting a refund, only to be told that your tickets are non refundable and, as per the airline’s fare rules, you’re not going to be able to get your money back.

Purchasing a ticket that doesn’t involve a cancellation fee in order to get a full refund usually means spending a great deal more money. Flights can be expensive as it is, so it can be hard sometimes to justify that additional cost. That’s why the flight search and booking website Alternative Airlines offers flight insurance, allowing travellers to easily and quickly add flight insurance when booking flights through our website. Our flight insurance product — called ‘Cancellation Protection’ — only costs a small percentage of the cost of your flight tickets. By adding Cancellation Protection to your flights at checkout, you’ll be entitled to a full refund if you need to cancel for a variety of emergency circumstances that are out of your control.

Don’t get caught out — Here are some of the common unexpected circumstances that will be covered by flight insurance:

• When the Government warns not to travel due to adverse weather conditions, such as a storm or heavy snow
• The theft of your necessary travel documents, such as your passport, which cannot be replaced before your departure date
• An emergency at home, such as flooding, burglary, or fire
• If you’re unexpectedly summoned for Jury service
• If you’re a student and unexpectedly face changes to your exam dates
• In the instance of a medical emergency, including sudden or accidental death or injury

You can find the full list of circumstances in which flight insurance entitles you to a refund here. In all instances, terms and conditions apply.

Reasons to add flight insurance to your booking

For peace of mind

It’s worth adding flight insurance when booking your flights if you value complete peace of mind. There are many reasons out of your control that might result in you needing to claim a refund. Without flight insurance, you’ll unlikely be able to receive your money back. If you’re the kind of person who prefers to be in control, this can be a worrying prospect. By adding flight insurance to your booking, you can be reassured that you’ve covered, allowing you to relax and look forward to your trip. You can book your flights today, and not have to worry about losing your money if you can’t travel on your flights for reasons outside your control.

Because it makes claiming a refund easier

If faced with an emergency, you want it to be easy to claim a refund. Whether it’s a medical emergency, the sudden passing of a loved one, an injury, or any other significant personal emergency that means you’re unable to travel, the last thing you want is to be stuck on the phone, arguing your case with your airline. If your home is suddenly flooded or you have to deal with a burglary, there will be enough going on for you to manage, without having to try and claim a refund for your flights being added to your list. You’ll want the process to be quick and simple. By adding flight insurance to your flight booking, it will make the process of claiming a refund a lot easier.

Because flight insurance is an affordable option

Alternative Airlines lets you add flight insurance to your booking for just a small percentage of the cost of your flights. This makes it much more affordable than selecting a much higher ticket fare for a ticket that lets you receive a refund without a cancellation fee. Flight insurance is only about 10-30% of the price of your ticket, so much cheaper than buying a fully-refundable airline ticket (which might be as much as double the price of your ticket!).

Where can I purchase flight insurance?

Flight insurance can be purchased when you book your flights with Alternative Airlines, just by adding ‘Cancellation Protection’ (our flight insurance product) onto any booking. We offer flights from more than 600 global airlines, including American Airlines, Delta, United Airlines, Lufthansa, Emirates, British Airways, Norwegian, and many more worldwide carriers.

How can I add flight insurance?

Adding flight insurance to your booking is easy. To begin, use the Alternative Airlines website to find and select your flights. Then, when you reach the checkout page, you'll have the option to add Cancellation Protection to your booking. To find out more how you can add flight insurance to your booking, take a look at our full guide.