Does Travel Insurance Provide Coverage for Tornadoes?

Looking forward to your trip to or from a tornado-prone destination? Maybe you’ll be exploring Texas or venturing to Southeast Asia. But unlike Dorothy’s experience in “The Wizard of Oz,” a tornado won’t whisk you away to a dreamy destination. Instead, it could keep you from going on your trip or prevent you from enjoying yourself while you’re on it — but don’t let the chance of a tornado take away your vacation excitement.

At Travelex, we’re here to help if a tornado turns your vacation plans upside-down. With our travel insurance, you can get expert travel assistance, reimbursement for canceled flights, and more.

What is a tornado and how could it impact my trip?

Tornadoes are natural disasters that can cause widespread damage. With wind speeds sometimes reaching over 300 mph, tornadoes can have devastating effects along their path — and on your vacation plans.

There’s a higher chance of a tornado affecting your trip if you travel during the spring and summer in the central plains of the U.S. But tornadoes also happen all over North America and in parts of Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa, and South America. These are all popular places for travelers to visit, so it’s smart to consider insurance for travel if you’re heading to any of these destinations during tornado season.

For more information on tornadoes and how they may affect your next trip, check out the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s tornado page.

Does Travelex offer tornado insurance coverage?

Yes, both our Travel Basic and Travel Select plans can give you tornado insurance coverage during your vacation.

But how can our plans help you when your trip plans go awry? They can help prevent you from dealing with out-of-pocket costs that come with unexpected trip cancellation, trip interruption, trip delay, missed connections, issues with luggage, emergency medical expenses, and more.

Want to ask us more about our travel insurance plans with tornado-related benefits? You can call our customer service team for support.

What are the benefit limits for Travelex’s tornado coverage?

Your benefit limits depend on which of our travel insurance plans you choose.

Here are the maximum amounts you could be reimbursed for each benefit:

Don’t forget, our travel protection plans with tornado insurance coverage can offer support if an unexpected, covered situation impacts your trip itinerary. So, you can only be reimbursed if you make a claim because of an event that took you by surprise — not an incident you already knew about.

What counts as an unforeseen covered event when it comes to tornadoes?

If you have a Travelex travel insurance policy, you can get reimbursed after filing a claim for an unanticipated tornado-related incident that happens before or during your trip, such as:

• A tornado destroys your or your travel companion's primary home and makes it uninhabitable.
• You or your travel companion can’t get to your destination because of debris from a tornado.
• Have a specific question about our coverage? Call our customer service team at 1-800-228-9792.

Does Travelex’s tornado insurance coverage include flight disruptions?

Yes, if you have our Travel Basic or Travel Select plan and a tornado changes your flight schedule, you are eligible for coverage for your flight.

Here's how our plans can help if a tornado impacts your flight:

Trip Cancellation coverage

If you can’t go on your trip because a tornado causes your primary residence to become uninhabitable before you leave, our travel insurance plans can help reimburse you for your prepaid, nonrefundable trip costs.

You can also get reimbursed for other reasonable expenses that come up while you’re going to your destination, plus the prepaid nonrefundable and insured parts of your trip that you won't be able to use because of the tornado.

Important: If you want to make a claim, remember to tell our Travelex team within 72 hours of canceling your trip.

Trip Interruption coverage

If a tornado twists your trip plans into a knot and interrupts your itinerary, our team can help you get back the money you spent on your prepaid, nonrefundable, and insured trip cost, and unused expenses. Also, if you need to return home early or rejoin your trip, or you're delayed in reaching your destination, we can help reimburse you for your additional travel expenses.

Plus, if the person you're traveling with suddenly can't come on the trip and you're stuck with the extra costs, our team can offer financial relief. Yes, if your travel companion cancels their part of the trip, we can help you pay for their portion of the vacation accommodations you were sharing.

Important: Just like with trip cancellations, if you want to make a claim, remember to tell our Travelex team within 72 hours of canceling your trip.

Trip Delay coverage

Think a tornado could push back your flight departure time? If you’ve been delayed for five hours after your original departure time, we can provide tornado coverage for your trip delay. This means we can help refund you for the things you needed while waiting for your delayed flight to depart, such as meals, local transportation, and hotel stays.

Tip: Don’t forget to hold onto all your receipts for anything you buy while you’re delayed — you’ll need to include with your claim.

Important: We can only give you one reimbursement for tornado-related delays during your trip. If you have more than one delay during your vacation, we can help reimburse you for the most expensive delay.

Missed Connection coverage

Imagine this: You organized your flight schedule with more than enough time between connections for a smoother trip, but then a tornado cancels your first flight.

If your flight is postponed or canceled and you miss your next flight after waiting for more than three hours, our plans can help. We can reimburse you for your extra and unused travel costs if the airline confirms the delay for a covered reason — so don’t forget to get proof!

Important: When you plan your flight schedule, you should give yourself plenty of time to switch to your connecting flight — or you may not have tornado coverage. At Travelex, we can only give you missed connection benefits if your flights inside the U.S. have at least a one-hour layover and your flights outside of the U.S. have at least two hours between them.

What are some other ways tornado insurance coverage can help me during my trip?

Travel insurance with tornado coverage isn’t limited to helping with flight issues; it can help with many things that could go wrong during your vacation if a tornado strikes.

If a tornado occurs while you’re on vacation, you could end up in any of these situations:

• You have the Travel Select plan, and because too much snow builds up on the roof of your rental home, it collapses and you can’t stay there.
• A tornado damages your rental home and you need to find another place to stay.
• You get injured by flying debris from a tornado and need urgent medical attention.
• Your luggage goes missing after a tornado cancels your second flight.

Thankfully, our travel insurance plans can help with unexpected payments if you have urgent medical expenses, issues with luggage, changes of plans, and more. Plus, you can customize our Travel Select plan by adding any of our optional upgrades to have extra protection that caters to your unique trip, like coverage for adventure sports.

How can I reach the Travelex 24/7 assistance team if my trip is impacted by a tornado?

Whenever you need us, you can reach us easily in a couple of ways:

• On our Travelex Travel On app, there's a button you can press to call for help. You should download the app before you go on your trip, so you can have all your policy info at your fingertips (as well as tap-to-call access to our team).
• You can also reach out to our Emergency Assistance team at any time. If you're in the U.S. or Canada, call us at 1-844-215-1672 (it won't cost you anything!). If you're somewhere else in the world, you can call us collect at 1-647-775-8042.

How can I receive tornado travel alerts during my trip?

There are a couple of ways you can get tornado travel alerts while on vacation:

1. Keep an eye on our travel alerts page, where we may list tornadoes that could affect your vacation plans.

2. You can also get real-time safety alerts, destination details, and more on our Travel On app. It’s designed to help our travelers travel smarter and safer on their trip — and it’s a good idea to set it up as soon as you buy a Travelex policy, so you are more prepared for your trip.

Will Travelex let me cancel my trip for any reason?

Both our Travel Basic and Travel Select plans offer coverage for canceling your trip, but only for certain reasons.

If you want the freedom to cancel your trip for any reason — not just because of tornadoes — you may want to purchase our Travel Select plan and include the Cancel for Any Reason upgrade in your policy. This optional upgrade allows you to call off your trip up to 48 hours before it begins, and you can get back up to 75% of your insured trip costs (up to $7,500).

To benefit from this upgrade, you need to insure all your prepaid nonrefundable trip costs (with a maximum trip cost of $10,000 per person) and your trip length must be 30 days or less. You also need to buy the Cancel for Any Reason upgrade at the same time as our Travel Select plan, and within 15 days of your first trip payment.

Why do I need tornado insurance coverage if my scheduled airline might refund me?

Most airlines have requirements for flight cancellations that could make it hard for you to get your money back, especially if you booked a non-refundable flight.

Even if your flight is canceled because of a tornado and your airline provides a refund, it’s still smart to have travel insurance with tornado coverage. Why? The airline's refund only covers the cost of your flight ticket, not other pre-paid expenses like your hotel room or tours at your destination that you can’t enjoy because of the canceled flight.

Is travel insurance with tornado coverage worth it?

When you're traveling, there's always a chance that severe weather — like a tornado — could threaten your trip itinerary, especially if you’re traveling during tornado season.

Our plans can help prevent you from losing the money you used to pay for your trip as a result of unexpected events like flight cancellations, delays, and missed connections.

How do I file a claim for a tornado-related travel incident?

The easiest way to file a claim under our tornado coverage benefit is through our online claims portal.

If you want help filing a claim or have any questions, you can contact our claims team:

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company

• Phone: 1-855-205-6054
• Email: [email protected]

Don’t let your trip funds blow away: Consider tornado insurance coverage

Knowing you have tornado coverage can feel like you were just whisked to safety from a swirling storm: a feeling of relief when things go awry, and support when it’s most crucial.

If you’re a Travelex policyholder, make sure you're well acquainted with all your policy benefits and exclusions before you set off on your trip, so you're well-prepared if something unexpected comes up.

Need more information on tornado coverage with travel insurance? Feel free to call our customer service team at 1-800-228-9792 from Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST.

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