Travelex Travel Insurance: What You Need to Know

Travelex offers travel insurance plans, post-departure coverage and flight insurance policies to its customers.
Carissa Rawson
By Carissa Rawson 
Updated

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Purchasing travel insurance can make a lot of sense when you’re planning a trip, especially since its coverage can reimburse you for unexpected — and sometimes costly — expenses.

Travelex is an insurance provider offering a variety of plans to travelers, including coverage for things like medical expenses, trip delays or issues with your flights. Let’s take a look at Travelex travel insurance, what its policies cover and whether purchasing a plan is the right move for you.

About Travelex coverage

Travelex offers six different policies to travelers. Three of these are focused on comprehensive travel benefits, one is only for post-departure coverage and the other two provide coverage primarily for flight-related incidents.

Travelex insurance plans

Each of Travelex’s plans has different coverage levels, costs and benefits. Let’s take a look at what each plan includes.

Domestic and international trips: Travel Basic, Travel Select and Travel Med

To compare the costs of Travel Basic, Travel Select and Travel Med plans, we generated a quote for a 43-year old traveler from Texas heading to Switzerland for two weeks with a total trip cost of $5,000.

The Travel Basic plan came in at $167 (3.34% of the total trip cost) while the Travel Select plan was $243 (4.86.% of the total trip cost). The Travel Med plan, which only covers expenses incurred after you’ve started your trip, costs $41 (0.82% of the total trip cost).

Let’s take a look at what each plan includes.

Note: Early purchase benefits are available if you purchase the policy within 15 days of making your initial trip payment.

Travel Basic

The Travel Basic plan is pretty comprehensive on its own, though its limits may be a little low depending on where you’re traveling. It’s possible to add on some upgrades:

Travel Select

Travelex’s most comprehensive plan includes coverage for your children as well as higher limits for most services. It also includes the ability to add on these options:

As of summer 2023, Travel Select also includes unique additional coverage options like:

  • Adoption.

  • Organ donating.

  • Attending childbirth.

  • School extension.

  • Cancel for business reasons.

  • Theft of travel documents.

Travel Med

This option is for travelers who make plans last-minute or who don't need benefits like trip cancellation because they have few prepaid expenses.

While it still provides coverage for unexpected travel situations, its limits are lower than the more robust Travel Basic and Travel Select plans. This plan’s coverage begins on the day you depart for your trip.

The Travel Med plan also allows you to add on rental car coverage if you need it.

Domestic trips: Travel America

Travelex has a United States-specific insurance plan, Travel America, which is valid for a maximum of 14 days. Here’s how coverage for this policy breaks down.

Benefit

Travel America

Maximum trip length

14 days.

Trip cancellation

100% of trip cost up to $750.

Trip interruption

150% of trip cost up to $1,125.

Trip delay

$2,000 starting at five hours.

Missed connection

$2,000 starting at three hours.

Baggage delay

$1,000 starting at 12 hours.

Lost luggage

$2,000.

Sporting equipment delay

$2,000 starting at 12 hours.

Rental car coverage

$35,000 per policy (with a $100 deductible).

Emergency medical expense

$50,000.

Emergency medical evacuation & repatriation

$100,000.

Accidental death and dismemberment

$25,000.

Kids-included pricing

Coverage is shared between primary traveler and up to 7 traveling companions.

Early-purchase benefit: Pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver

Available (when purchased within three days of final trip payment).

Flight insurance plans: Flight Insure and Flight Insure Plus

If you’re looking for a policy that’ll reimburse you primarily for unexpected flight incidents, the Flight Insure or Flight Insure Plus options may be more your speed.

For these quotes, we used the same 43-year-old Texan heading to Switzerland. The Flight Insure policy came in at $19 (0.38% of the trip cost), while the Flight Insure Plus plan charged $25 (0.5% of the trip cost) for the vacation.

Here are the plan’s benefits and coverage limits.

Coverage

Flight Insure

Flight Insure Plus

Maximum trip length

180 days.

30 days.

Missed connection

Coverage not included.

$50 starting at three hours.

Baggage delay

Coverage not included.

$500 starting at 12 hours.

Lost luggage

Coverage not included.

$1,000.

Emergency medical expense

Coverage not included.

$10,000.

Emergency medical evacuation & repatriation

Coverage not included.

$100,000.

Travel assistance

Included.

Included.

Flight accidental death and dismemberment

$300,000 to $1,000,000.

$300,000 to $1,000,000.

What isn’t covered by Travelex

While many situations are covered by Travelex’s insurance policies, there are some events that aren’t. These include:

  • Bad weather, including hurricanes if the policy was purchased after the storm was named.

  • Traveling for the purpose of receiving medical treatment.

  • Pre-existing medical conditions (unless you purchase a plan with a waiver).

  • Intentionally-inflicted injuries or suicide.

  • Psychological disorders. 

  • High-risk or irresponsible behavior, including drug or alcohol use or committing illegal acts.

  • War, civil unrest and pandemics.

To find the full list of exclusions for your specific policy, be sure to review the plan’s benefits schedule.

How to choose a Travelex plan online

Picking a Travelex plan online is simple. To do so, you’ll want to navigate directly to Travelex’s website. The homepage will include a search bar into which you can input your information.

Once done, clicking the Get Quote button will generate plan options from which to choose. Here you’ll be able to toggle through the different plans, whether you’re looking for comprehensive coverage, post-departure coverage only or just flight accident coverage.

After you’ve chosen your plan, you’ll be given the option to select add-ons, including things like rental car insurance, Cancel For Any Reason coverage and adventure sports waivers. You’ll then go through the checkout process, which will include filling in your personal information and providing details about your travel plans.

From there, you’ll be taken to the payment page. Once you’ve paid, your policy becomes active.

Which Travelex plan is best for me?

With several plans from which to choose — and even more add-on options — it may be overwhelming trying to pick a policy that suits your needs. Here are some recommendations:

  • For family vacations. The Travel Select plan includes coverage for your children as well as you, which can save you a lot of money if your plans are interrupted. 

  • For short-term domestic travel. The Travel America plan is low-cost and provides comprehensive benefits, including emergency medical coverage. 

  • For moderate coverage and cheap costs. The Flight Insure Plus plan still offers emergency medical, baggage delay and missed connection coverage while charging a bare minimum. 

  • For those without many prepaid expenses. The Travel Med plan is great for those who don’t need trip cancellation protection but still want coverage while traveling.

Travelex may offer a plan that makes sense, but many travel credit cards also offer complimentary travel insurance. Before buying travel insurance, do your due diligence to decide which option is the right move for you.


How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2024, including those best for:

Cards for Travel Insurance from our Partners
Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card

on Chase's website

Chase Sapphire Reserve®
5.0
NerdWallet Rating
Rewards rate

1x-10x

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Points

Intro offer

60,000

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

Points
Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card

on Chase's website

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
5.0
NerdWallet Rating
Rewards rate

1x-5x

5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases.

Points

Intro offer

60,000

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

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Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card

on Chase's website

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
4.2
NerdWallet Rating
Rewards rate

1x-2x

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Intro offer

50,000

Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Points
See more cards
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