Is Travel Insurance Really Necessary?

Last week I had an eye-opener.  My trusted, my true, my never fail airline went kaput.  A total meltdown.  We're not talking about an over extended soccer mom with too many screaming kids in the back seat of her Capri Sun-stained minivan.  We are talking a complete meltdown--a complete systems failure.  The Southwest heart: for years a symbol of fidelity to its ever-faithful customers was in full cardiac arrest. 

Union leaders report that the main cause of Southwest's problems were inadequate computer systems that they said failed to efficiently match crews with flights when cancellations started to accumulate.  Now, there are plenty of terrible airline carriers which I will not mention but the reason why this is so relevant is because Southwest has for years been my "go to" airline.  I could depend on the pricing, I could depend on the service, I could depend on the timing and not once, have they ever lost my bag.

My cousin Priscilla booked a quick holiday for herself and her husband.  Rick is still a little freaked out about Covid-19, so a cruise or anything that left the lower 48 was out of the question.  They settled for a quick getaway to Las Vegas and then on to Orlando.  The magic number at the bottom of their invoice for air, hotel, and rental car equaled more than the value of my first car.  Mind you, that was a long time ago...but we're talking more than $2,000.00.  Now, we can't predict the weather and we all know that Mother Nature has a sense of humor but what was to come was unprecedented.

They arrived at their departing gateway to find that their Southwest Airlines flight was cancelled.  Because they live two hours outside of Las Vegas they decided to drive themselves.  A day into their vacation they checked on the flight to Orlando and more importantly, the flight from Orlando home...all canceled.  Do you fly east knowing you have no way of getting home?  I think not.  They had no choice but to drive home and abort the remainder of their vacation.

Priscilla and Rick did not have travel insurance.  Adding this to their vacation package would have totaled $238.00.  They say math is hard.  In this case, it's pretty simple.  
Even the tried and the true, have bad days.  Protect your vacation with travel protection every single time.