What summer vacation should be: blissful, relaxing, a total joy.

What summer vacation can be: aggravating, stressful, a total disaster.

We hope your next vacation is the blissful kind! But for those times when something goes wrong, having travel insurance can make all the difference.

Don’t wait to purchase summer travel protection. The sooner you buy, the sooner your trip is protected. Get a quote today.

1. When the weather gets wild, travel insurance can protect you.

You and your boyfriend have planned a week of hiking, snorkeling, and sailing on the beautiful island of  Dominica. But as your departure date approaches, so does a hurricane: a category 3 storm is swirling in the Caribbean. Will it hit the island or veer off in another direction? You don’t know what to do. Help!

Without travel insurance, you don’t have any good choices. If you cancel ahead of time, you could lose all your nonrefundable prepaid trip costs. If you go on the trip, you risk getting stranded by the storm.

With travel insurance, you can relax and know you’re protected.

• If you must cancel the trip for a covered reason, such as a mandatory evacuation in effect within 24 hours before your departure date, then your trip cancellation benefits can reimburse you for the nonrefundable, prepaid cost of the trip.

• Following a covered trip interruption caused by a natural disaster, trip interruption benefits can reimburse unused prepaid trip costs, and additional accommodation and transportation expenses during the interruption, and transportation expenses you incur to return home.

Weather and natural disasters are an especially important consideration for summer vacation planning. The Atlantic and Central Pacific hurricane seasons both run from June 1 to November 30. Hurricane season extends from May 15 to November 30 in the eastern Pacific.¹ In the western United States, the largest wildfires usually occur in the summer months.²

Trip insurance can help in many scenarios when severe weather or a natural disaster affects your vacation. However, it’s important to read your plan documents so you understand what’s covered.

Read more: When a Hurricane Hits, What Does Travel Insurance Cover?

2. Travel insurance can save you from losing all the money you’ve spent on your big summer vacation.

For months and months, you’ve saved up your PTO days and put away cash for your summer beach trip. You rented a cottage on Ocracoke Island, NC, your favorite place to escape. Then, a few days before you depart, your mom has a bad fall and is hospitalized for a fractured hip. You rush to her side… but you’re devastated to cancel your hard-earned vacation.

Without travel insurance, you’ll probably forfeit some or all of the money you spent on the beach rental because of the late cancellation.

With travel insurance, you can file a trip cancellation claim to be reimbursed for your nonrefundable, prepaid trip costs, as the serious illness or injury of a family member can be a covered reason for trip cancellation. That way, you can get your money back and reschedule your trip for another time. On average, Americans expect to spend $2,644 on summer vacation —no small sum!³ That’s why trip cancellation insurance is vital to protect your vacation.

3. When air travel goes wrong, travel insurance helps make things right.

For summer vacation this year, you’re taking your daughter to Paris and Marseille. You’re both so excited! But you weren’t prepared for the absolute chaos of the airport during the summer travel rush. First, your flight is delayed by six hours. When you arrive, you wait forever by the baggage carousel before realizing that your daughter’s bag never made it.

Without travel insurance, you just have to take a deep breath and deal with the delays. You may be eligible to file a claim for compensation under the EU air passenger rights program, but expect that to take a long time to process.

With travel insurance, travel and baggage delays can actually put money in your pocket. If you have the OneTrip Prime or OneTrip Premier plan (both of which can cover kids 17 and under for free - though not available on policies issued to Pennsylvania residents), you can receive a fixed inconvenience payment of $100 per insured person, per day, for a covered travel and/or baggage delay (up to the maximum no-receipts limit). No receipts required—just proof of a covered delay. In this situation, that’s $300 you could use for shopping in Paris! Learn more about SmartBenefits^SM.

You can also file a standard travel delay and baggage delay claim to be reimbursed for:

• Any lost prepaid trip expenses.
• Additional expenses for meals, accommodation, communication, and transportation during a covered delay.
• Expenses for purchasing essential items you need until your baggage arrives, following a covered delay.

4. Summer vacation insurance can help you handle kid-related emergencies.

The day before you depart for your family’s long-awaited Disney cruise, you hear your youngest say, “I don’t feel so good.” After a few bouts of vomiting, you rush him to the pediatrician. She diagnoses viral gastroenteritis (stomach flu) and advises you to cancel the trip. Now what?

Without travel insurance, this is a no-win situation. Cruise lines have strict cancellation policies, so if you cancel at the last minute you’ll lose your entire fare. One parent could go with the remaining children, while the other stays home… but if everyone gets sick on the ship, it’ll be the worst summer vacation ever.

With travel insurance, you have options. You could cancel the cruise and file a trip cancellation claim, so you can be reimbursed for the nonrefundable costs and your family can go another time. Or, you can send the healthy members of the family, knowing that if they do fall ill—or if something else happens to disrupt the trip—your trip interruption benefits can reimburse the cost of the unused portion of the trip.

If you’re planning a summer vacation with kids, travel insurance is crucial. Get free coverage for children 17 and under (who are traveling with a parent or grandparent) when you buy the OneTrip Prime or OneTrip Premier plan (not available on policies issued to Pennsylvania residents).

5. If you experience a crisis during your vacation, travel insurance can take care of you.

Your family is loving every minute of your summer vacation in Cancún. You’re returning from a tour of the Mayan ruins at Chichén Itzá when your bus swerves to avoid an oncoming car and overturns. In a flash, your dream vacation becomes a nightmare. One of your kids has a broken arm, and your wife may have a serious head injury. Help!

Without travel insurance, you’ll have to navigate this scary situation on your own. American travelers are often surprised to discover that their U.S. health insurance does not cover them overseas. Instead, you’ll have to pay for emergency care up front and out of pocket—and that could cost tens of thousands of dollars.

With travel insurance, our team of travel and medical experts will ensure your family gets the high-quality medical care they need. Your emergency medical and dental benefits can reimburse the cost of care for covered medical and dental emergencies that occur during your trip.

In a medical crisis (or any other travel emergency) call 24-hour-assistance immediately or contact us via the Allianz TravelSmart^TM app. Your assistance coordinator can oversee your care, update loved ones back home, and even issue advance payments for your medical care, if you’re going to be hospitalized for more than 24 hours. If an insured traveler needs care that local medical facilities can’t provide, then your emergency transportation benefits can pay the cost of an emergency evacuation.

More than 70 million Americans a year trust Allianz Travel Insurance to protect their vacations and other essential travel. Find your perfect plan right now.

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