High summer travel costs coupled with unrest around the world from natural disasters, civil revolts and terrorism worries have led more consumers to look closely at travel insurance.

You better look very closely. Travel policies come in handy for unexpected illnesses and typical air-travel weather fiascoes, but they are usually filled with exclusions that often negate coverage for many cancellations. Most policies exclude coverage if a trip is canceled because of a pregnancy, pre-existing medical issues or an injury from playing organized sports, scuba diving or skydiving. If a hurricane damages your hotel but doesn’t render it “uninhabitable,” the policy may not reimburse you if you cancel. Terrorism protections may only cover you if an attack happened in your destination city within 30 days of your trip. And there’s typically no coverage in standard policies for cancellations because of war, nuclear disasters, epidemics or civil unrest.

See the full article from the Wall Street Journal:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704281504576331252643248680.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Related press releases:

• Wall Street Journal, April 30th 2009 – Swine Flu and Travel: Will Insurance Cover Swine-Flu Cancellations?
• Wall Street Journal February 1 2010 – Exodus out of Egypt: Lessons of Travel Insurance Limits
• The Wall Street Journal, March 12th 2010 – Choosing a Travel Insurance Policy
• Tampa Bay Business Journal June 16, 2011 – Fast 50 Finalists Named
• Tampa Bay Business Journal March 18, 2011 – Travel insurance field open for Squaremouth