Does Travel Insurance Cover Hurricanes and Natural Disasters?

Which policy this describes

This guide follows the policy sold in most states. Residents of Missouri, Montana, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington are covered by a different policy form with different natural-disaster terms. For example, the New York and Washington forms don't list a mandatory evacuation as a covered reason, and the Montana and Pennsylvania forms cover a carrier shutdown of 18 hours rather than 48. If you live in one of those states, read your state's policy on the Coverage page →

What counts as a natural disaster

The policy defines a Natural Disaster as a flood, tsunami, cyclone, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, mudslide, avalanche, landslide, volcanic eruption, sandstorm, sinkhole, named winter storm, severe hailstorm, fire, wildfire, or blizzard, due to natural causes. Severe weather that isn't a disaster, like a thunderstorm that grounds flights, is covered separately as Inclement Weather when it shuts down your carrier or roads long enough.

The named-storm rule

Every covered reason has to be Unforeseen, which the policy defines as "not known, anticipated or reasonably expected" and occurring after the coverage it's claimed under starts. Apart from the rental rule below, the policy doesn't say when an approaching storm becomes reasonably expected, so the earlier you buy, the less that question can come up.

For a rental made uninhabitable, the policy draws an exact line: a hurricane is foreseeable on the date it becomes a named storm, and the claim isn't payable if the storm was named before that coverage started. Cancellation coverage starts at 12:01 a.m. the day after you buy, so a storm named on the day you buy is already too late. For cutting a trip short, the storm has to be named after you leave. A plan bought earlier still covers storms that form afterward.

Hurricane season in the Atlantic runs from June 1 to November 30. If your trip falls in it, buy when you book: every day you wait is a day a storm can form. When to buy →

The same test applies to wildfires, earthquakes, and other disasters: an event that's already under way when you buy is known, so a claim it causes may not count as Unforeseen.

If a disaster hits before you leave

Trip Cancellation reimburses up to 100% of the prepaid, non-refundable trip cost you insure, up to $100,000, when a natural disaster causes one of these:

• A mandatory evacuation at your destination. Local government authorities order or recommend an evacuation because of a natural disaster, and it prevents you from traveling there.
• A 48-hour weather shutdown. Severe weather causes a complete stop of service by your airline or other carrier, or closes public roads on your route, for at least 48 consecutive hours, and you can't reach your destination.
• Your rental or your home is made uninhabitable. A natural disaster makes your accommodations, or your own home, uninhabitable or unreachable within 10 days of your departure date, and it stays that way during your trip. This one applies only if you bought the plan within 14 days of your first trip payment.
• Your workplace needs you. A natural disaster makes your place of business unsuitable for business, and you're on the disaster recovery team, responsible for policy and decision making, that's required to work.

The policy counts accommodations as uninhabitable when the building is unstable, when there's exterior or structural damage letting in rain, wind, hail, or flood water, when hazards like debris or downed power lines haven't been cleared, when there's no electricity, gas, sewer, or water, when there's a mandatory evacuation, or when you can't get there by the transportation on your itinerary. What to do if your rental is uninhabitable →

If a disaster hits during your trip

Trip Interruption reimburses the unused part of your prepaid, non-refundable trip cost, plus the extra cost of getting home, up to a one-way economy fare (or first or business class, if that's what your original tickets were), when a natural disaster cuts your trip short. Covered reasons include:

• A mandatory evacuation. Local authorities order or recommend an evacuation at your destination because of a natural disaster. You need at least 4 days, or 50% or more of your trip, left when the evacuation is issued.
• Your accommodations become uninhabitable. The same 14-day purchase rule applies, and the accommodations have to stay uninhabitable. For cutting a trip short, the named-storm cutoff moves to the day you leave: a hurricane that was already named when you departed isn't covered under this reason.
• A 48-hour weather shutdown of your carrier or the roads on your route that keeps you from getting where you're going.

If a storm only delays you, Trip Delay pays up to $600 for meals, lodging, and other reasonable expenses after a weather delay of 6 hours or more. And if your whole trip is insured and a disaster keeps you from getting home on time, your coverage is extended for up to 30 days past your scheduled return date.

Wildfires

Wildfire is on the policy's list of natural disasters, which it limits to ones due to natural causes. The same covered reasons apply: an evacuation order at your destination, and, if you bought within 14 days of your first trip payment, a fire that makes your rental or your own home uninhabitable or unreachable within 10 days of departure. Smoky air on its own isn't a covered reason. Unless a fire triggers one of those conditions, cancelling to avoid the smoke is a change of plans, which only a CFAR plan covers.

Want to cancel because of the forecast? That's CFAR

A storm in the forecast isn't a covered reason under a Standard plan. Your trip is covered once the storm actually forces an evacuation, shuts down travel, or damages your rental. If you want the choice to cancel before any of that happens, a Cancel For Any Reason plan reimburses 60% of your prepaid, non-refundable trip cost for a reason the plan doesn't otherwise cover. The CFAR benefit has two conditions, and neither is about storms: you buy it within 14 days of your first trip payment, and you cancel at least 48 hours before your scheduled departure date. CFAR isn't sold to residents of New York. No plan is sold to residents of Hawaii. How CFAR works →

Making a claim

• Tell your airline, rental host, or other travel supplier within 72 hours of the event that makes you cancel, and contact the plan's claims administrator. The plan doesn't cover extra penalties that build up because you waited. With CFAR, tell the supplier and the insurer as soon as you know you may need to cancel.
• Ask the supplier for a refund first. Insurance pays the prepaid, non-refundable amount you lose, less anything the supplier refunds.
• Keep the evidence: the evacuation order, the airline's cancellation notice, photos of damage, and messages from your host.