Travelex Travel Insurance: What You Need to Know

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

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Updated · 3 min read
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Travelex Insurance Services

4.0

NerdWallet rating 
Travelex is a decent option for stand-alone flight insurance, which might be suitable for short trips.

Pros

  • Top-tier plan doesn’t break the bank and provides more customization opportunities.
  • Offers a plan specifically for domestic travel.
  • Sells a post-departure medical coverage plan.

Cons

  • Fewer customization opportunities on the Basic plan.
  • Though perhaps a plus for domestic travelers, keep in mind the Travel America plan only covers domestic trips.

Travelex Insurance Services

4.0

NerdWallet rating 
Travelex is a decent option for stand-alone flight insurance, which might be suitable for short trips.

Pros

  • Top-tier plan doesn’t break the bank and provides more customization opportunities.
  • Offers a plan specifically for domestic travel.
  • Sells a post-departure medical coverage plan.

Cons

  • Fewer customization opportunities on the Basic plan.
  • Though perhaps a plus for domestic travelers, keep in mind the Travel America plan only covers domestic trips.

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. Travelex is more affordable than its competitors and offers a variety of flexible plans for any type of traveler.

What is Travelex?

Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, Travelex has been providing insurance to travelers for more than 25 years. Its policies are underwritten by two companies.

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance is one of the underwriters and holds an A++ financial strength rating (FSR) from AM Best, an insurance company rating firm. A++ is the best rating possible.

Zurich Insurance Group is the other underwriter for Travelex and holds an A+ rating from AM Best.

What does Travelex cover?

Travelex travel insurance coverage varies based on the plan you purchase. Generally speaking, however, you can expect to enjoy Travelex travel insurance medical coverage as well as benefits such as trip cancellation coverage and baggage insurance.

  • Travelex health insurance coverage: Covers expenses related to accidents and illnesses that happen during your travels. 

  • Trip cancellation and trip interruption: Reimburses prepaid, nonrefundable costs in the event your trip is canceled or interrupted for a covered reason. 

  • Baggage insurance: Replaces the value of your lost luggage and reimburses you for costs in the event your luggage is delayed. 

  • Emergency medical evacuation and repatriation: Covers the costs of moving you from one location to another during a medical emergency. 

Note that not all of Travelex’s policies offer the same protections. For example, Travel Med, Travelex’s post-departure plan, doesn’t include trip cancellation coverage but does provide protection for medical emergencies as well as reimbursement for lost or delayed luggage, among other benefits.

Travelex policies

Travelex has six policies from which to choose.

Trip cancellation

Trip interruption

Medical coverage

Luggage

Travel Basic

100% of trip cost (up to $10,000).

100% of trip cost (up to $10,000).

Up to $15,000.

Up to $500 for lost, $100 for delayed.

Travel Select

100% of trip cost (up to $50,000).

150% of trip cost (up to $75,000).

Up to $50,000.

Up to $1,000 for lost, $200 for delayed.

Travel America

100% of trip cost (up to $750).

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

Up to $50,000.

Up to $2,000 for lost, $1,000 for delayed.

Travel Med

-

100% of trip cost (up to $1,000).

Up to $10,000.

Up to $1,000 for lost, $500 for delayed.

Flight Insure

-

-

-

-

Flight Insure Plus

-

-

Up to $10,000.

Up to $1,000 for lost, $500 for delayed.

Add-on options

Travelex allows you to customize your policies in a few ways. Most of these apply exclusively to the Travel Select plan, though Travel Basic policyholders can opt to add on rental car insurance:

What’s not covered by a Travelex plan

Travelex plans have plenty of options for customization, but there are certain situations that won’t be covered by your policy, no matter which plan you purchase.

  • Known storms (ones that have already been named).

  • Reasonably foreseeable events.

  • Dangerous activities.

  • Acts of war.

  • Any unlawful acts. 

How Travelex compares to its competitors

On a five-star scale, NerdWallet rated Travelex four stars. This beats out many competitors, especially when you consider that a Travelex policy is among the cheapest available.

Company

Star rating

Basic plan cost

Premium plan cost

Generate a quote

GeoBlue Travel Insurance

4.5

NerdWallet rating 

$10.

$18.

Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection

5.0

NerdWallet rating 

$26.

$75.

Tin Leg

3.0

NerdWallet rating 

$36.

$188.

WorldTrips Travel Insurance

5.0

NerdWallet rating 

$47.

$66.

World Nomads

Currently being rated and reviewed.

$63.

$115.

Trawick International

5.0

NerdWallet rating 

$100.

$194.

AXA Assistance USA

1.5

NerdWallet rating 

$114.

$159.

Generali

1.5

NerdWallet rating 

$123.

$164.

Travelex Insurance Services

4.0

NerdWallet rating 

$135.

$198.

AEGIS (GoReady) Travel Insurance

3.5

NerdWallet rating 

$139.

$208.

HTH Travel Insurance

4.0

NerdWallet rating 

$146.

$233.

Seven Corners

3.0

NerdWallet rating 

$154.

$225.

Travel Insured International

4.0

NerdWallet rating 

$164.

$218.

Allianz Global Assistance

3.5

NerdWallet rating 

$166.

$291.

USI Affinity Travel Insurance Services

1.0

NerdWallet rating 

$169.

$297.

AAA

Currently being rated and reviewed.

$183.

$222.

IMG

3.5

NerdWallet rating 

$183.

$252.

Travel Guard by AIG

Currently being rated and reviewed.

$135.

$236.

Chubb

1.0

NerdWallet rating 

$185.

$312.

TravelSafe

4.0

NerdWallet rating 

$200.

$468.

Arch RoamRight

4.5

NerdWallet rating 

$202.

$225.

These star ratings are based on a separate analysis of each travel insurance provider’s offerings. For more detailed scoring, see our recommendations for the best travel insurance companies, read each individual provider's NerdWallet review or view our methodology at the end of this article. Pricing is subject to change based on your specific trip details. You can verify the latest price by clicking through to Squaremouth (a NerdWallet partner).

How much is Travelex travel insurance?

How much does Travelex travel insurance cost? A sample trip for a 36-year-old traveler from Indiana to Canada for five days found that the cheapest Travelex plan cost $135. If you were to spring for the premium plan, which increases your coverage limits, expect to pay $198.

The same sample trip costs $10 to $202 when looking across multiple providers. Note that price isn't the only differentiating factor. Coverage is not identical across plans; each company offers various levels of scope, limits and exclusions.

How to buy a Travelex policy

Purchasing a Travelex policy can be done online. To do so, you’ll first want to navigate to Travelex’s website. On the homepage, you’ll be able to generate a quote using your travel information.

Once you’ve put in your information, you’ll be presented with all the plans available to you as well as their costs.

You can then pick a plan that suits your needs and go through the checkout process.

Consider comparison shopping

If you're not 100% sold on purchasing a plan from Travelex, you can use a travel insurance aggregator to compare policies across multiple companies at once.

Which Travelex travel insurance plan is best for me?

Because there are so many Travelex options, it’s important to figure out which ones best suit your needs. To do so, you’ll want to consider what type of vacation you’re planning.

Do you need comprehensive coverage? Are you renting a car? Do you want to save as much money as possible? Answering these questions will help you decide on a Travelex plan.

Does Travelex offer 24/7 travel assistance?

Travelex offers 24/7 emergency assistance on all its plans.

How to file a claim with Travelex travel insurance

Filing a claim with Travelex can easily be done online through the site’s self-service portal. Otherwise, you can call or email to file a claim:

Is Travelex travel insurance worth it?

Yes, if you're looking for an affordable plan. While it doesn’t provide the most comprehensive coverage around, it has solid policy options and won’t break the bank.

Note that 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.

Why trust NerdWallet?

Our Nerdy editorial team aims to be a starting point in your travel insurance research. We default toward transparency and follow a comprehensive methodology for rating and reviewing travel insurance companies. Advertisers and advertising relationships do not influence our ratings. Learn more about our strict editorial guidelines.

Frequently asked questions

If your flight is canceled due to a covered reason, you may have coverage via the trip cancellation or trip interruption on your Travelex policy.

Travelex doesn’t publish a timeline for its refund process, but to make it go as smoothly as possible, be sure to provide all requested documentation upfront.

Travelex insurance is primary.

Yes, Travelex medical insurance covers COVID-19.

Star rating methodology

Travel insurance

NerdWallet's ratings for travel insurance companies take into account the following details about each insurer:

  • Scope of coverage.

  • Customizability.

  • Consumer experience and complaints.

  • Cost.

The best travel insurers excel in all of these categories. They provide the information people need to make a purchase without any surprises along the way. They offer insurance at a fair price and allow customers to customize plans to meet their coverage preferences. They're also able to keep their customers happy throughout the relationship.

Data collection and review process

NerdWallet collects over a dozen data points for each insurer we analyze from their public-facing websites and third-party analyses. These data points are then compared against one another and against NerdWallet's standards for good travel insurance companies to determine a star rating.

Data is collected on a regular basis and reviewed by our editorial team for consistency and accuracy. Final star ratings are presented on a scale of one to five stars, where a one-star score represents "poor" and a five-star score represents "excellent."

The reviews team

The writers and editors behind NerdWallet's travel insurance reviews are insurance specialists who have had their work featured by or appear in The Associated Press, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Chicago-Sun Times, U.S. News & World Report and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Each writer and editor follows NerdWallet’s strict guidelines for editorial independence.

In addition to travel insurance, the team covers travel rewards programs, airlines and hotels.

Rating specifics

Our star ratings are weighted based on our editorial and professional opinions. We use the following weightings when rating travel insurers:

  • Scope of coverage (25%).

  • Customizability (25%).

  • Consumer experience and complaints (25%).

  • Cost (25%).

Scope of coverage ratings are based on assessments of a company’s standard protections, including:

  • Travel medical insurance.

  • Trip cancellation.

  • Trip interruption.

  • Trip delay.

  • Baggage and personal belongings, lost luggage.

  • Emergency medical assistance.

  • Emergency medical evacuation.

  • Emergency medical repatriation.

  • Accidental death and dismemberment insurance.

  • Rental car coverage.

Customizability ratings factor in whether coverage limits are fixed prices or a percentage of the trip cost (the percentage is generally better), whether a policy has customizations available, and the number of bonus features.

  • 24-hour assistance.

  • Pre-existing medical conditions coverage.

  • Extreme sport coverage.

  • CFAR add on availability.

  • Travel health insurance.

  • Interruption for Any Reason.

  • Travel Inconvenience.

  • Cancel for Work Reasons.

  • Electronics coverage.

Consumer experience ratings are based on provider reviews on Squaremouth.com. If the company is not in the Squaremouth database, we default to Google reviews.

Affordability ratings are based on the percentage of total trip cost a plan costs a policyholder. Less than 4% is considered excellent, whereas over 9% is considered poor.


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