Is Travel Insurance Worth It? Expert Insights to Help You Decide

October 8, 2025 - Meagan Palmer

Travel is one of life’s greatest joys—but it’s also unpredictable. Flights get delayed, bags go missing, and sometimes the unexpected happens with your health or family. That’s where travel insurance comes in. But the big question remains: is travel insurance worth it?

In this guide, we’ll break down how travel insurance works, its benefits and limitations, real-life scenarios, and expert insights so you can confidently decide if it’s right for your next trip.

Key Takeaways

• Travel insurance is worth it when your trip involves high costs, international destinations, or limited medical coverage abroad.

• It protects against common travel disruptions like cancellations, medical emergencies, baggage loss, or delays.

• Medical evacuation coverage alone can save you from paying tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket.

• Even if you expect your trip to go smoothly, travel insurance provides peace of mind and 24/7 global support when things don’t.

• For short, low-cost, or refundable trips, travel insurance may not be necessary—but it’s always worth comparing plans to know your options.

• Using a trusted comparison site like Yonder Travel Insurance helps you find coverage tailored to your trip type and budget.

Jumping Ahead

• What Is Travel Insurance and How Does It Work?

• When Do You Need Travel Insurance?

• Benefits of Travel Insurance

• Travel Insurance Pros and Cons

• Real-Life Scenarios Where Travel Insurance Provided Value

• When You May Not Need Travel Insurance

• How to Choose the Right Travel Insurance Plan

• Where to Buy Travel Insurance

• Frequently Asked Questions About Travel Insurance

What Is Travel Insurance and How Does It Work?

At its core, travel insurance is a safety net for your trip. It helps protect the money you’ve invested in your travel plans and provides support when the unexpected disrupts your journey.

Here’s how it works:

1. You buy a plan before your trip.
2. Coverage activates once your trip begins (and sometimes before, depending on the benefit).
3. If something goes wrong, you file a claim and get reimbursed for covered losses or receive emergency assistance.

Coverage can include trip cancellation and interruption, medical emergencies, evacuation, baggage protection, and 24/7 travel assistance.

When Do You Need Travel Insurance?

Travel insurance isn’t a must for every single trip and may not always feel necessary. After all, when it comes to insurance coverage of any kind—home, travel, auto—the hope is that you’ll never need to use it. Which would mean that you’d end up paying upfront for nothing but reassurance.

But it’s especially valuable when:

• You’re traveling internationally

• You’ve prepaid for expensive flights, tours, or accommodations

• You have multiple connections or are traveling during storm season

• Your health coverage doesn’t extend abroad

Scenario: Imagine you’ve planned a $4,000 European vacation. Two days before departure, you come down with pneumonia and can’t travel (doctor’s orders). Without insurance, you’d lose the full cost. With cancellation coverage, you’d likely get reimbursed –yay!

“Travel is increasingly expensive and delays or cancellations for a variety of reasons are increasingly unpredictable”.

says a Yonder customer

Benefits of Travel Insurance

Travel insurance offers a wide range of protections. Let’s break down the most common benefits and how they help in real life.

Trip Cancellation & Interruption Coverage

Does travel insurance cover cancellations and interruptions of your trip? Yes—if the reason is covered, like illness, severe weather, or family medical emergencies.

Of Yonder Travel Insurance customer claims, 32% of claims are due to cancellations from medical issues, and 25% are due to disruptions like flight delays, weather cancellations, or missed connections.

Scenario: A winter storm cancels your flight, causing you to miss two prepaid nights at your hotel. Trip interruption coverage reimburses those lost nights and helps with rebooking costs.

“Without travel insurance, a last-minute cancellation could result in the loss of thousands of dollars from your trip cost”.

says Terry Boynton, co-founder and president of Yonder Travel Insurance.

Medical Expense and Medical Evacuation Coverage

Why it matters: Most U.S. health insurance plans don’t cover international medical emergencies.

Of Yonder’s customer claims, 20% of claims are related to medical attention needed during a trip.

Cost to consider: Medical evacuations can cost $50,000 or more, depending on where your destination is.

Scenario: While hiking in Costa Rica, you break your ankle. Travel insurance covers treatment at a local hospital and the costly emergency evacuation back home if it’s necessary for you to be treated back in the U.S.

“Even if your health insurance offers some international coverage, it rarely includes the cost of an emergency medical evacuation,” says Boynton. “Those flights can cost tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket, which is exactly why having travel insurance is so important”.

Baggage Loss & Delay Coverage

What it does: Reimburses unexpected costs associated with lost, stolen, or delayed bags, as well as extra clothing and personal items if your bags are delayed upon arrival at your destination.

This coverage allows you to continue enjoying your travels, rather than re-wearing the same clothes days on end or worrying about your damaged personal items.

Scenario: Your luggage doesn’t make it to Rome with you. With baggage delay coverage, you’re reimbursed for essentials like clothing and toiletries until your bags are delivered to your hotel.

“Yonder has curated the travel insurance plan it offers for certain types of travel,” says Boynton. “That way, you can get the benefits you need that cover your top concerns.”

Other Benefits: 24/7 Support

Travel insurance goes beyond dollars and cents—it’s about knowing you’re never truly on your own. With 24/7 emergency assistance, help is always within reach. Imagine losing your passport in a foreign country, needing urgent medical care, or getting stuck after a flight cancellation. 

One call connects you to experts who can:

• Direct you to medical care

• Arrange emergency transportation

• Provide translation services

• Help replace important documents

• And more!

It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes support that turns a potential travel nightmare into a manageable hiccup. 

Travel Insurance Pros and Cons

Like any financial product, travel insurance has both advantages and limitations.

Pros:

• Protects your trip investment

• Covers medical emergencies abroad

• Provides peace of mind and 24/7 support

• Flexible upgrades for different travel styles

• Usually only costs 4-8% of your total trip cost

Cons:

• Usually requires you to pay out of pocket for unexpected costs and file a claim afterwards

• Requires extra coverage add-ons for pre-existing conditions, risky activities, or cancellations for reasons not listed in the policy

• May not be necessary for short, low-cost domestic trips

What does travel insurance not cover? Typically, exclusions include pre-existing conditions (unless you purchase a waiver), reckless behavior, or events like war and terrorism, unless you buy specialized coverage.

Real-Life Scenarios Where Travel Insurance Provided Value

Cancellation due to illness: A traveler recovers $5,000 in prepaid costs after falling ill before departure. Since their doctor advised against travel, that’s a covered event.

“I had to cancel, but I wasn’t out the money without enjoying the experience of our trip”.

says a Yonder customer

Medical evacuation: A broken leg abroad results in a $45,000 evacuation bill—covered by insurance.

Family emergency: A traveler cuts their trip short and is reimbursed for unused bookings and additional return airfare to get back home.

Lost baggage: Essentials replaced during a honeymoon after luggage went missing.

Travel Delay: Extra hotels, meals, and local transportation to and from the airport were reimbursed when a traveler’s flight was delayed.

“Travel insurance has become more and more important in recent years, due to the increased likelihood of illnesses and unreliability of airlines,”

says a repeat Yonder Travel Insurance customer.

When You May Not Need Travel Insurance

Although we always encourage travel insurance, there might be times when it doesn’t always make the most sense. Here are a few reasons why travel insurance may not be needed:

• If you already have domestic and international medical coverage

• If you plan on self-insuring your travel costs

• You’re taking a road trip without any other tour, hotel, or ticket costs

• If all your trip costs are fully refundable with no penalties

Essentially, if the risk is low for incurring extra costs or your travels are closer to home, you may not need travel insurance. But, if you want some extra assurance, our friendly humans can walk through any questions you have.

How to Choose the Right Travel Insurance Plan

Not all plans are created equal. To find the right fit:

• Compare travel insurance plans carefully using a site like ours

• Find coverage for your top concerns (cancellations, medical, baggage, etc.)

• Consider specialized upgrades (adventure sports, Cancel for Any Reason, vacation rental coverage)

• Think about your travel style (families may prioritize medical coverage, while touring trips may require higher trip delay coverage)

• Compare policies side by side before booking

Where to Buy Travel Insurance

If you choose to look more into travel insurance, we recommend using a comparison site like Yonder Travel Insurance. You can compare multiple comprehensive policies from the top-rated travel insurance companies and even use filters to make sure your coverage has specific benefits. 

No need to waste time going from site to site when you can do all your searching for curated and trustworthy coverage in one place.

“Yonder offers curated travel insurance plans for different types of travel,” says Terry Boynton, co-founder and president of Yonder Travel Insurance. “That way, you can get the benefits you need that cover your top concerns.”

Frequently Asked Questions About Travel Insurance