Best ‘Cancel For Any Reason’ Travel Insurance Of 2024 (2024)

• AIG – Travel Guard Preferred
• Seven Corners – Trip Protection Basic
• WorldTrips – Atlas Journey Preferred
• Aegis General Insurance Agency (formerly GoReady) – GoReady Pandemic Plus
• John Hanco*ck – Silver
• Tin Leg – Gold
• Travel Insured – Worldwide Trip Protector
• Travelex – Travel Select
• USI Affinity – Ruby
• WorldTrips – Atlas Journey Premier
• AIG – Travel Guard Deluxe
• Nationwide – Cruise Luxury
• Seven Corners – Trip Protection Choice

“Cancel for any reason” insurance lets you cancel a trip for a reason not listed under your trip cancellation coverage and receive partial reimbursem*nt. For example, if you get sick right before your trip and can’t go, that’s generally covered by standard trip cancellation insurance and you can make a claim for 100% reimbursem*nt of the trip costs you lose.

But if you want the flexibility to cancel for reasons not listed in the base policy, CFAR can help.

You will generally be reimbursed for 75% of your prepaid, forfeited and nonrefundable trip costs. The percentage for CFAR reimbursem*nt will be listed in the policy.

To get CFAR travel insurance you’ll have to purchase a base travel insurance plan and add “cancel for any reason” coverage within a certain time frame after your first trip payment. This is usually 14 days but make sure to check your plan. The deadline for adding CFAR will depend on the travel insurance company, and not all companies offer it.

You generally have to cancel your trip no less than 48 hours before your departure. For example, if you’re leaving tomorrow and you want to cancel the trip today, you probably won’t be able to make a CFAR claim.

Make sure to read the policy’s fine print and know the deadline for canceling the trip if you buy CFAR insurance.

CFAR covers insured prepaid, nonrefundable trip expenses, and reimburses you for a percentage of the total cost. If you file a CFAR claim, you can be compensated for the following types of trip expenses if you can’t get a refund for them:

• Airfare
• Boat charters or rentals
• Concert tickets
• Day trip excursions
• Hotel accommodations
• Museum tickets
• Theme park passes
• Private or guided tours
• Spa services

Here’s a look at how much you may get reimbursed by filing a CFAR claim: Let’s say you booked a nonrefundable round trip plane ticket for $1,000 and five nights of lodging at $200 a night, also nonrefundable. You would insure the trip for $2,000.

If you cancel your trip for a reason that’s not listed in your travel insurance policy, you would be out $2,000 without CFAR insurance. But a CFAR policy would reimburse you for a portion of the costs.

• If you have a CFAR policy with 50% reimbursem*nt, you would get $1,000 from a CFAR travel insurance claim.
• If the policy has 75% reimbursem*nt, you would get $1,500 back from a CFAR claim.

Remember that CFAR coverage is only for nonrefundable costs. Any prepaid costs that are reimbursed to you aren’t eligible for CFAR coverage.

You may need CFAR travel insurance if you plan an expensive trip with lots of nonrefundable costs. CFAR is also beneficial if you think it’s possible you may have to cancel your trip for a reason not listed in the policy.

For example, using CFAR coverage you could make a trip cancellation claim because:

• You’ve developed a fear of travel.
• It looks too rainy, or too hot.
• You’ve seen bad reviews of your resort.
• You’ve decided to visit family instead.
• Your child care arrangements have fallen through.
• You got into a fight with your travel companions.
• Your pet has fallen ill.

CFAR travel insurance is likely worth it if you want the peace of mind that your travel insurance policy will partially reimburse you if you decide to cancel your trip. This is especially true if your trip includes a lot of nonrefundable deposits.

If your airline, hotel or other travel service companies have generous refund policies, CFAR may not be worthwhile. CFAR also might be unnecessary if you can afford to lose your trip deposits.

You’ll also want to weigh the costs of a CFAR travel insurance upgrade. Buying CFAR usually hikes your travel insurance policy cost by half.

Carol Mueller, a spokesperson for Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, says ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage is worth the added cost if you want to protect your trip investment for reasons that aren’t covered for cancellation—like simply deciding you don’t want to go.

Mueller recommends that you weigh the cost of CFAR coverage against your own personal tolerance for paying penalties if you decide to cancel. “If you are skittish of losing the non-refundable payments paid for that trip of a lifetime, I recommend you look into travel insurance that offers a ‘cancel for any reason’ upgrade,” she says.

Travel insurance with “cancel for any reason” coverage costs an average of $723 per trip, based on Forbes Advisor’s analysis of costs for plans with a CFAR upgrade. CFAR usually adds about 50% to the cost of a travel insurance policy.

Here are average costs for travel insurance policies with CFAR.

If you want to cancel your trip due to the coronavirus, you can use CFAR coverage. Keep in mind, you’ll need to cancel your trip by the policy’s deadline for a claim (typically two days before your departure date).

For example, you could make a claim under CFAR if you don’t like your destination country’s Covid testing requirements, or simply because you think it’s a bad time to travel.

Some policies will cover Covid for trip cancellation and medical expenses. For example, if you’re diagnosed with Covid right before your trip, these plans can cover the money you lose under the regular trip cancellation benefits.

See our ratings of the best Covid-19 travel insurance to see who sells these plans.

Forbes Advisor analyzed travel insurance policies that include “cancel for any reason” coverage. We scored 23 policies on the following:

Cost (75% of score): Average prices for CFAR policies are based on rates for seven different trips for a variety of traveler ages and trip costs:

• Couple, age 30 for a Mexico trip costing $3,000.
• Couple, age 40, for an Italy trip costing $6,000.
• Family of four for an Italy trip costing $15,000.
• Family of four for a France trip costing $15,000.
• Family of four for a U.K. trip costing $15,000.
• Couple, age 65, for an Italy trip costing $6,000.
• Couple, age 70, for a Mexico trip costing $3,000.

CFAR reimbursem*nt level of trip cost: (25% of score): Policies providing 75% reimbursem*nt were awarded points.

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