Does travel insurance cover missed connections?
Travel insurance covers a missed connection when it's caused by a covered reason, like an airline delay or a covered illness — not when you simply cut your own layover too close.
What flips the answer
- Covered when
The missed connection results from a covered cause — airline delay, mechanical issue, weather, or a covered illness/injury — with a reasonable layover originally scheduled.
- Not covered when
You booked a layover shorter than the policy's minimum required connection time, and the miss is effectively self-inflicted.
- Not covered when
The connection is missed for a reason not on the policy's covered list, such as personal oversight or arriving late to the airport.
Missed connection coverage in a comprehensive policy generally reimburses the cost of catching up with your trip — rebooking flights, additional lodging, meals — when you miss a connecting flight, cruise, or tour departure because of a covered delay, such as your inbound flight being delayed or canceled by the airline due to mechanical issues or weather.
This benefit is typically distinct from trip delay coverage, though the two overlap: missed connection coverage specifically addresses the scenario where the delay causes you to miss a subsequent, separately booked leg of the trip, like a cruise departure or a connecting flight with too little buffer.
Most policies require a minimum connection time to have been scheduled between flights or legs — if you booked an unreasonably tight layover to begin with, insurers can treat the resulting missed connection as self-inflicted rather than as a covered delay event.
That's the general answer. Yours is written in your actual policy.
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