USAA Travel Insurance Review 2024

USAA’s travel insurance policies—offered in partnership with Travel Insured International—package together valuable benefits that can compensate you when the unexpected derails your trip.

• Trip cancellation insurance: Trip cancellation insurance reimburses you for prepaid and nonrefundable trip expenses if you need to cancel your trip for a reason listed in the travel insurance policy.
• Travel medical insurance: Travel medical insurance pays for the cost of emergency medical care if you get sick or injured while traveling. Some of the expenses that are typically covered include hospitalization, prescription medication and surgery, up to your policy’s limit.
• Emergency medical evacuation: If you get sick or injured during your trip and require care beyond what’s available locally, emergency medical evacuation insurance can pay for medevac transportation to the nearest adequate medical facility, up to your policy limits.
• Travel delay insurance: Travel delay insurance pays for expenses such as accommodations and meals if your trip gets delayed due to a reason listed in your policy. It also lets you recoup prepaid, nonrefundable costs for things like a hotel stay and guided tour if you miss a portion of your trip because of the delay. Note there are required waiting periods, such as six hours.
• Travel interruption insurance: Trip interruption insurance pays for a flight home if you need to leave early because of a problem listed in your policy. You can also get reimbursed for the money you lose on nonrefundable deposits paid in advance for activities you miss.
• Baggage and personal effects: Baggage insurance reimburses you for the depreciated value of your luggage and personal items if your baggage gets lost, stolen or damaged during travel. If your bags show up late, baggage delay can pay for the personal essentials you need, like toiletries, up to your policy’s limit. Required waiting periods apply to baggage delay benefits.

USAA sells three travel insurance policies from Travel Insured International. There are two single-trip policies and one multi-trip policy that provide useful benefits that safeguard your trip investment.

Coverage type	Worldwide Trip Protector	Worldwide Trip Protector Edge	Annual Multi-Trip Protector
Trip cancellation	100% of insured trip cost	100% of insured trip cost	Optional
Trip interruption	150% of insured trip cost	100% of insured trip cost	Optional
Frequent traveler reward	$250	$250	N/A
Emergency medical expense per person	$100,000	$10,000 (option to upgrade to $40,00)	$100,000 per trip
Medical evacuation per person	$1,000,000	$100,000 (option to upgrade to $200,000)	$100,000 per trip; two occurrences per plan term
Travel delay per person	$200 per day; six-hour delay; up to $1,500	$100 per day; 12-hour delay; up to $300	$200 per day; 12-hour delay; up to $5,000 per trip
Change fee	$250	$250	No
Missed tour/cruise connection	Up to $500; three-hour delay	Up to $300; 12-hour delay	$500 per trip
Itinerary change	$500	No	No
Baggage and personal effects per person	$1,000	$750	$2,500 per trip
Baggage delay per person	$500; three-hour delay	$200; 12-hour delay	$750 per trip; three-hour delay
AD&D per person	$10,000	N/A	$50,000 per trip
“Cancel for any reason”	Optional	No	Optional
“Interruption for any reason”	Optional	No	No
Travel inconvenience	Optional	No	Optional
Pet kennel coverage	$50 per day; up to $500	No	No
Rental car damage/theft coverage	Optional	Optional	Optional
Political/security and natural disaster evacuation	Up to $150,000	No	$150,000 per trip; two occurrences per plan term
Pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver available	Yes	Yes	Yes

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Worldwide Trip Protector and Worldwide Trip Protector Edge are the two single-trip plans sold by Travel Insured International.

Worldwide Trip Protector has significantly higher coverage limits for travel medical expenses and emergency medical evacuation than the Worldwide Trip Edge plan. You can also buy cancellation and interruption upgrades for the Protector plan that are not available for the Edge plan.

These plans provide compensation for trip delays, trip interruptions, medical expenses and evacuation, baggage delays, change fees and more.

USAA sells one multi-trip travel insurance plan, called the Annual Multi-Trip Protector, which covers all the trips you take during the policy period. It Includes travel medical expense insurance and medical and non-medical evacuation insurance, along with other standard post-departure benefits. “Cancel for any reason,” travel inconvenience and rental car coverage upgrades are available for an extra charge.

Your age, trip cost and the type of plan you purchase generally affect how much you pay for travel insurance. Here are examples of prices for the Travel Insured’s Worldwide Trip Protector plan.

Travelers and trip	Cost per trip for the Worldwide Trip Protector plan
Two travelers age 30, $3,000 trip cost, traveling to Mexico for 8 days	$140
Two travelers age 40, $6,000 trip cost, traveling to Italy for 17 days	$378
Family with two parents age 40 and two children, $15,000 trip cost, traveling to Italy for 17 days	$456
Family with two parents age 40 and two children, $15,000 trip cost, traveling to France for 17 days	$456
Family with two parents age 40 and two children, $15,000 trip cost, traveling to U.K. for 17 days	$456
Two travelers age 65, $6,000 trip cost, traveling to the Italy for 17 days	$438
Two travelers age 70, $3,000 trip cost, traveling to the Mexico for 8 days	$268

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The type of trip you’re taking, the scope of coverage you want and how much you want to spend will help determine which USAA travel insurance plan from Travel Insured International best suits your needs.

Low Cost and Low Limits

The Worldwide Trip Protector Edge policy checks all the boxes for standard types of benefits that you need if things go wrong before or during your trip. It’s more budget-friendly than the Worldwide Trip Protection policy, but it provides less coverage. It can be a good fit if low medical expenses and emergency evacuation limits are sufficient for you. It’s also worth checking out if  you’re not concerned about canceling your trip for reasons other than those listed in your policy.

Most Generous Benefits

The Worldwide Trip Protector policy is a better choice if you’re looking for more financial protection than the Edge plan. It has higher coverage limits across the board. You also get pet kennel and non-medical evacuation benefits, which are not included in the Edge plan. “Cancel for any reason” and “interruption for any reason” upgrades are also available for  the Trip Protector plan.

For Multiple Trips

The Annual Multi-Trip Protector policy is for travelers taking multiple trips within a year. Coverage begins the day after you buy your policy, and lasts 364 days. The maximum length for any one trip is 45 days, but there’s no limit on the number of trips you can take within your coverage period.

USAA members can get access to a number of travel-related perks. Through the Member Travel Privileges program, USAA members can get exclusive discounts on rental cars, hotels, flights, cruises and theme park tickets. The company also has personal travel concierges who can help book your travel and provide assistance during your trip.

You can purchase USAA travel insurance online. Visit USAA’s travel insurance website and click “get a quote.” You’ll be redirected to Travel Insured International’s website, where you can enter your trip details, choose a policy and see your quotes.

After selecting a policy, you’ll have the option to choose add-on coverages. Once you see the final policy cost, you can enter your payment information on the website and purchase the travel insurance.

Travel insurance doesn’t cover everything, and all policies have some exclusions. For example, here are some of the medical exclusions under the Worldwide Trip Protector plan:

• Elective procedures and treatments.
• Injuries or accidents due to drug or alcohol use.
• Injuries or accidents sustained during extreme activities or adventures.
• Intentional self-harm or injury.
• Medical tourism.
• Mental health and nervous disorders (not requiring hospitalization).
• Routine doctor’s visits and dental care.

USAA members can choose from a variety of add-on coverages to customize their Travel Insured International plan. Here are some of the optional upgrades available:

• Additional accident and sickness medical expense: This rider allows you to increase your policy limit for emergency medical and dental care beyond what the plan typically provides.
• Additional medical evacuation: This add-on will double your policy limit for medevac during your trip.
• “Cancel for any reason” upgrade: This add-on allows you to cancel a trip for any reason that is not covered under your policy. “Cancel for any reason” travel insurance compensates 75% of your prepaid, nonrefundable trip costs, as long as you cancel at least 48 hours before your departure time.
• Cancel for work reasons: If you need to cancel your trip due to a work-related reason, this add-on will refund you for prepaid, nonrefundable expenses.
• Electronic equipment coverage: You can add electronic equipment coverage to your baggage and personal effects insurance to get coverage for certain electronics that are lost, damaged, or stolen in your luggage.
• Event ticket registration fee protection: If you purchase an event ticket and can’t attend for a covered reason, this add-on will reimburse you for the money you spent.
• “Interruption for any reason” upgrade: “Interruption for any reason” travel insurance reimburses you up to 75% for prepaid, nonrefundable trip expenses if you have to cut a trip short. You must cancel at least 72 hours into your trip for benefits to apply.
• Rental car damage: This covers theft of your rental car and damage to your rental car due to severe weather, accidents, vandalism and other unforeseen events listed in your policy.
• Travel inconvenience: With this add-on, you can recoup money for unforeseen circumstances that impact your trip, such as closed attractions, canceled events, rainy weather, tarmac delays and more.

USAA members can get 24/7 travel assistance through Travel Insured International. The customer service team can assist with things like passport replacement, lost baggage, medical referrals and translation services.

For assistance while traveling, you can call (800) 494‑9907 in the U.S. or Canada, and ( 603) 328‑1707 outside the U.S. and Canada.

All USAA travel insurance claims are handled by Travel Insured International. Follow these steps to start a new claim:

1. Visit Travel Insured International’s website.
2. Select “File a Claim,” then select, “Start a Claim.”
3. Find the trip you’re filing a claim for, then select “Start a New Claim.”

Once you select the type of claim you want to file, you will be asked to provide a detailed description of what happened. You will also need to provide proof of the claim, such as medical records, proof of payment for canceled flights, or communication from your airline about lost baggage.

After submitting your claim, you can continue to check the status online. You can contact Travel Insured International’s claim department by calling  (855) 752-8303 or emailing [email protected] for questions or assistance.

Forbes Advisor researched and analyzed 39 policies to find the best travel insurance. When companies had more than one travel insurance policy we used the highest-scoring plan. Ratings are based on the following metrics.

Cost (25% of score): We analyzed the average cost for each travel insurance policy for trips to popular destinations:

• 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.

Missed connection coverage (10% of score): Travel insurance policies were awarded more points if they include missed connection benefits of $1,000 per person or more.

Medical expenses (10% of score): Travel insurance policies with travel medical expense benefits of $250,000 and up per person were given the highest points.

Medical evacuation (10% of score): Travel insurance policies with medical evacuation expense benefits of $500,000 and up per person were given the highest points.

“Cancel for any reason” upgrade (10%): Travel insurance policies received points if “cancel for any reason” upgrades are offered. More points were awarded for “cancel for any reason” upgrades with reimbursement levels of 75%.

Baggage delay required waiting time (5%): Policies with baggage delay benefits kicking in at 12 hours or less were given points.

Cancel for work reasons: (5%): Travel insurance plans that allow cancellations for work reasons were awarded points.

Hurricane and weather (5%): Policies received points if the required waiting period for hurricane and weather coverage was 12 hours or less.

“Interruption for any reason” upgrade (5%): Policies were awarded points if they offered an “interruption for any reason” upgrade.

Pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver (5%): Points were given to policies that cover pre-existing medical conditions (if purchased within a required timeframe after the first trip deposit).

Travel delay required waiting time (5%): Policies with travel delay benefits kicking in after six hours or less were given points.

Trip interruption travel insurance (5%): Points were given if trip interruption reimbursement is 150% or higher.