How to file a travel insurance claim

Travel insurance can be a huge relief if something goes wrong on vacation.

From a canceled flight to lost luggage to a medical emergency that ends your trip abruptly, your policy can protect you from having to absorb major travel expenses if the unexpected happens.

But you'll need to file a claim with your travel insurance company to be compensated. Here's how.

Travel insurance covers unexpected expenses and delays while you're away from home. A good policy should include:

Trip cancellation: Reimburses airfare, hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises and other expenses if you have to cancel for a covered reason, including illness or injury, natural disasters, the death of a family member or job loss.

Trip delay:  Pays for food, lodging and local transportation if your trip is delayed by a set number of hours due to airline maintenance, severe weather or civil unrest.

Allianz offers trip delay coverage of up to $200 per person (or $800 total) for delays lasting five hours or more. If you link your flight info with your Allianz account, you can get reimbursed up to $100 per person with no receipts required.

Trip interruption: Pays for a flight home if you have to cut your trip short due to illness, injury or a family emergency.

Baggage delay: This benefit covers the cost of toiletries, clothing and other essentials if your luggage is delayed for a set period (usually at least 12 hours).

Baggage loss: While airlines are required to reimburse passengers for lost luggage, the limits can be low. Baggage loss coverage can ensure you get enough to replace what you've lost.

Medical expenses/emergency evacuation: Your health insurance won't apply outside the U.S., but this benefit can cover prescriptions, doctor visits, hospital stays and more. If you need to be sent home — or to an area with adequate medical facilities — emergency evacuation coverage can help, too.

It's a good idea to look over your policy details before you need to file a claim. When you purchase your plan, you should receive a certificate of insurance with a summary of the policy's key details.

If you're using your credit card's travel benefits, log into the card's portal and look for your card benefits.

In addition to making sure a situation is covered, you should review the details, too — like the minimum hours required to qualify for flight delay or lost baggage reimbursement — and any applicable coverage limits.

To file a claim, you'll want to get as much documentation as possible. The paperwork you'll need will depend on the type of claim, but can include:

• Receipts for expenses due to a loss or delay
• Receipts of non-refundable trip expenses
• Cancellation or delay notices
• Doctor or hospital bills
• Police reports
• Credit card statements
• Formal itineraries
• Police reports
• Death certificates

Keeping as much documentation as possible can help you back up your claim.

Most travel insurance companies will allow policyholders to file claims by phone or via their website or mobile app.

If you file online, you should be able to upload copies of documents supporting your case. As you go through the process, you may be contacted by your travel insurance company for additional information.

Filing as quickly as possible can help you get paid faster. However, you typically have 90 days after an incident to file a travel insurance claim.

If your claim is approved, you should be reimbursed by a direct deposit into your bank account or with a paper check in the mail.

Faye, one of our top picks for budget travel insurance, has a digital wallet that can be connected to your Google Pay or Apple Pay account so you can access funds immediately rather than paying out of pocket for meals, clothes or hotel stays.

The amount of time it takes to process a claim varies depending on the company and the nature of the claim. Typically, a successful claim can be processed and paid within two weeks.

Some companies pride themselves on working faster: Allianz states that no-receipt claims can be processed within seven days, while Faye says itaims to pay out claims within 48 hours of receiving all the necessary information.

If your travel insurance claim is denied, contact your provider and find out why. The most common reasons providers give for denying claims include:

• Insufficient or incorrect documentation 
• The incident or activity is not covered by your policy
• You waited too long to file a claim
• The incident was foreseeable or avoidable 
• Illegal behavior or substance abuse  
• Ignoring government travel advisories
• The claim is related to an undisclosed pre-existing medical condition and there was no waiver

If you dispute the denial, you can ask the company about submitting an appeal. For more serious issues, you may want to explore an external review from your state's insurance regulatory department or consider getting legal representation. 

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every insurance article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

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