Flight delays and cancellations accounted for nearly two-thirds of travel insurance claims paid in 2022

During a year that was dominated by news of airline meltdowns, countless flight cancellations and delays, and general chaos, it should come as no surprise that travel insurance claims rose steeply.

A new report from the travel insurance marketplace Squaremouth, shows that flight delays and cancellations accounted for nearly two-thirds of travel insurance claims paid by travel insurance provider Tin Leg in 2022.

In fact, travel delays were the most commonly paid claim by the company last year, representing 25 percent of the total. Pre-departure cancellations weren’t far behind, however, at 21 percent of all claims paid by Tin Leg. Rounding out the list, one in five travel insurance claims were related to a medical emergency in 2022.

Here’s a closer look at how much travelers pocketed from their travel insurance claims last year:

• Trip cancellations: The average claim on this front was $6,448, while the highest claim maxed out at a whopping $207,894.
• Trip interruption: The average claim here was $1,992 and the highest claim for a trip interrupted was a steep $27,818. Trip interruption claims represented 18.48 percent of the total in 2022.
• Travel delays: These claims were far less costly. The average was about $610, while at the high end, delay-related claims topped out at about $3,600. However, travel delays made-up the largest number of claims overall by category at 24.69 percent.

Missed connections also factored into travel insurance claims received by Tin Leg last year. The average claim on this front was just $281. Even the most expensive claims related to missed connections only amounted to about $736. These types of challenges only accounted for 3.9 percent of all travel insurance claims.

And who can overlook the nuisance of having your baggage lost during air travel? The good news is that it seems baggage challenges may not have been as bad in 2022 as previous years. Baggage loss travel insurance claims represented only 4.91 percent of the total insurance claims for the year. And at 4.98 percent, baggage delay claims weren’t much more significant.

Squaremouth also reported that travelers spent an average of $266 per policy last year, and received an average reimbursement of $2,157 when filing a claim. Overall, Tin Leg claim payouts ranged drastically depending on the benefit, from an average of $213 to more than $80,000, exceeding policy cost by eight times on average.

With all of the logistical challenges and staffing shortages that airlines face these days, it’s important for travelers to not only have insurance, but to also know their rights regarding reimbursement.