KANSAS CITY, Mo. —

The upcoming Thanksgiving weekend is expected to be the busiest travel holiday in more than two years. Experts, like travel insurance expert Omar Kaywan, say travelers need to plan ahead.

“This particular Thanksgiving weekend we are expecting about 80 to 90% pre-COVID traffic,” Kaywan said.

As things start to get back to normal, the travel expert says it will be some time before airline travel gets there.

“The last couple of weeks we’ve seen thousands of people stranded in airports and not know what to do,” Kaywan said.

He says airlines are doing all they can to handle the return to normal levels, but it’s been a struggle.

“Flights are getting delayed. Airlines are dealing with a lot of different issues, shortage of staff is just one of them. The vaccination mandate, although it has been delayed until January 1, it’s still out there and still a problem for them to be dealing with,” Kaywan said.

He says travel insurance makes more sense now than ever.

“One thing that COVID has been teaching us more so than ever before is that you need to travel with travel insurance,” Kaywan said.

Kaywan says insurance can get you rooms in local hotels if flights are canceled. It can also get refunds you might not get from the airline.

“We also recommend using a flight tracker or Flight Aware so you know exactly where the origin of your flight is,” Kaywan said.

The expert says this year, if possible, travel a day before or a day after the peak on Thanksgiving weekend. He says the most important thing is to stay patient before the flight.

Kaywan says the best bet is just to download a travel insurance app and use it as you need it.

Travel insurance is becoming more and more important as people look to book future trips during this uncertain time. Whether you’d like to know more about what type of policy to get or are just new to the concept of travel insurance, we’ll walk you through the basic coverage options, including trip cancellation, trip interruption, travel medical insurance and cancel-for-any-reason coverage.

What is travel insurance?

Trip (or travel) insurance provides coverage for unexpected events that can go wrong before or during your trip, such as inclement weather that prevents you from departing or breaking your leg on a ski trip and needing to fly home early.

According to the U.S. Travel Insurance Association, in 2018, roughly 65.8 million people had trip insurance protections, reflecting a 49% increase from 2016. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, those numbers are likely to continue to grow.

In addition to being offered on certain premium travel credit cards, many companies offer travel insurance plans, and the policies can vary from state to state, so choosing a plan can be confusing.

As part of NerdWallet’s Best-Of Awards for 2021, we evaluated various travel insurance providers across several states, considering single and annual trips. Based on our analysis, the World Nomads Explorer Plan was the winner with its robust all-around coverage for pre- and post-departure trip benefits.

What does travel insurance cost?

Based on data from the U.S. Travel Insurance Association, the price of a travel insurance policy usually ranges from 4%-8% of the trip cost. The cost of the policy is usually based on the following factors:

• Duration and cost of your vacation: The more expensive and longer the trip, the higher the price of the policy.
• Cost of local medical care: High medical care costs in your destination can increase the cost of travel insurance.
• Breadth of coverage: Policies that include higher limits and more covered events will be pricier.
• Your age: Generally, the older you are, the more expensive the policy.

Trip cancellation and trip interruption

Trip cancellation insurance is a pre-departure benefit that covers prepaid, nonrefundable reservations, such as flights, hotels and other bookings as long as the trip is canceled because of an unforeseeable event. The covered amount is usually 100% of the total trip cost. To qualify for coverage, the cancellation must be due to a covered reason (e.g., jury duty, job termination, extreme weather).

Imagine you booked a nonrefundable two-week vacation to Costa Rica for $3,000 ($800 flight, $1,700 hotel and $500 in excursions), and three days before departure, you are injured in a car accident. You spend two days in the hospital and your doctor advises you not to travel. If you’ve purchased a policy that includes trip cancellation coverage, you’ll receive a refund for the entire prepaid amount since accidental injuries that result in medically imposed restrictions certified by a doctor qualify as a covered reason.

Trip interruption coverage, however, is a post-departure benefit that covers prepaid, nonrefundable reservations if a portion of a trip is missed or a traveler has to return home due to an extraordinary circumstance. Similar to trip cancellation, to be covered, the reason must be unforeseen.

Using the same vacation example as above, imagine that you fly to Costa Rica and on the fourth day of your trip, you fall while running, hurt your foot and, as a result, can barely walk. A trip to the hospital for X-rays reveals that you have a fracture and the doctor advises you to stay off your feet. As the pain becomes worse, you decide to fly home. If your travel insurance policy includes trip interruption coverage, you will be reimbursed for the unused portion of your hotel stay, your unused return flight and the new return flight. Depending on the plan, trip interruption coverage may range from 100%-200% of the trip cost, which can be extremely helpful as the cost of a last-minute flight home can be quite pricey.

The important thing to remember about both benefits is that you will only get your money back if you cancel your trip for a covered reason. If you want more flexibility, you’ll want to get familiarized with cancel-for-any-reason coverage, or CFAR.

Cancel for any reason

CFAR coverage allows you to cancel your trip for any reason whatsoever and get a partial refund of your nonrefundable deposit as long as the cancellation occurs at least two days in advance of the trip date. This benefit is an optional add-on that is available when you purchase travel insurance; not all plans offer it.

Say, for example, you’re booking a trip and are worried that when the date gets closer, you may be scared to travel due to COVID-19. In this case, the cancellation will not be considered a covered reason under most standard trip cancellation insurance policies. If you’d like that layer of protection and want the freedom to cancel your trip and get some of your money back, you’ll want to get a policy that offers the CFAR add-on. CFAR reimbursement usually ranges from 50%-75% of the total trip cost, which can be meaningful for an expensive trip.

Travel medical insurance

Standalone travel medical insurance specifically protects you in the event of unexpected injuries or illnesses while you’re abroad. Covered benefits will usually include emergency medical evacuation/repatriation, accidental death and dismemberment and 24-hour assistance. Other trip insurance protections will be limited, and the policy will be cheaper than a comprehensive travel insurance plan because of reduced coverage for other events.

If you already have trip cancellation and interruption coverage through a premium travel credit card, or you’re not worried about insuring your flight or hotel because reservations are refundable, purchasing a standalone travel medical policy could be your best bet.

The bottom line

Knowing you have travel insurance can offer peace of mind in case something goes wrong on an upcoming trip. Travel insurance includes many important benefits and getting acquainted with them can empower you to make the right choice about which coverage type to consider for your next vacation.

More From NerdWallet

Elina Geller writes for NerdWallet. Email: egeller@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @elina_geller.

MASON, Ohio —

Travel insurance! Maybe you've never considered it before. After hearing the story of a local couple and their nightmare vacation, you might just change your mind.

Sissy Ralston of Mason, Ohio, and her husband Larry took off for Cancun, Mexico, in March.

A day and a half into the trip, they found themselves in an emergency situation.

Sissy Ralston describes her husband's condition, "He was delirious in a room and I kept walking back. What are we going to do? "

Sissy Ralston recounts the trip that could have ended with her planning a funeral for her husband of 40 years. She and Larry were on day one of their March trip to Cancun, Mexico. Larry started feeling pain in his midsection. Then he got sick. They got in touch with the on-call doctor at their resort.

Larry recalls the conversation, “He came in and checked me and decided it was gall bladder and it was very large, so I had to get rushed to the hospital for emergency.”

Here in the Cincinnati area, Larry has owned a lawn care business for many years. He's in his 60s, healthy, very active and always outside. But now, almost 3,000 miles away from home, he found himself outside his comfort zone -- in a foreign county, suffering through a medical episode getting worse by the minute.

"The stones had been blocking my gall bladder. It was twice the size. Could have burst at any time, which would have been very serious. Could have led to death," he said.

The clock was ticking. Larry was lying on a gurney in the hospital and he needed help and he needed it fast. Then came the news we never think about when we go on vacation. The doctors wouldn't do the life-saving procedure until the Ralstons came up with the money.

The hospital needed close to$35,000 upfront, otherwise Larry was out of luck.

Sissy was nervous.

"Your adrenaline is going and you don't want to think about it, but it's in the back of your mind and what do I do if I lose him over something like this?" she said.

Their story takes a drastic turn in the right direction. They were able to put together $19,000. Friends and family helped collect the rest.

Larry got his procedure.

And there was one simple decision made that could someday be a game changer for you as well. Before the trip, concerned about COVID-19 and how it could either cancel their fun or cut it short, for the first time ever, they got trip insurance.

Lisa Vermaak from Blu Skyy Travel was their agent.

"There's so many policies for so many different things and it's really trip specific," Vermaak said.

Trip insurance. Something 90% of us never think about. For $125 per person, Larry and Sissy got a $50,000 policy. Instead of taking a devastating financial hit, the Ralston's will recover the money lost.

Lisa is glad they were covered.

"It was one of those moments that you thank God, they made that choice and went ahead and got the insurance because if they wouldn't have, they'd be sitting with $35,000 that they wouldn't get back," Vermaak said.

Vermaak says $50,000 worth of coverage is what most clients go with, but there's really not a one size fits all policy. If you are going on vacation, especially overseas where often our medical insurance isn't exactly in network, she says do your homework online to find a policy you're comfy with or talk with a local travel agent you trust so you can feel the same way she did after her advice to the Ralstons saved heir savings.

"Amazing... amazing... it makes me feel like I've done my job," Vermaak said.

Larry couldn't agree more.

"It was only $250 and when you think about that small amount up against what we had to pay, there's no reason why I would think twice again," he said.