amadeus travel insurance

Travel Insurance

What is travel protection? Why Would I need it?

Travel protection is a combination of insurance coverages and travel assistance services packaged to provide comprehensive protection for you and your family before and during your trip. You invest a lot of time and money when you travel. Doesn't it make sense to protect that investment? Remember, no matter how well-planned your trip is, the unexpected can and does occur.

• Many primary health plans exclude coverage outside your home country, even outside your home state or region, and very few plans cover medically supervised emergency evacuation, emergency reunion, or repatriation. Travel protection plans offer coverage for medical expenses and emergency evacuation and repatriation in the United States and abroad.
• If you have prepaid the cost of your trip or even paid a deposit on your trip and find you have to cancel or return home early, a travel protection plan can offer trip cancellation and trip interruption coverage which can help you protect your investment by reimbursing you for nonrefundable fees and expenses due to trip cancellation for a covered reason. 
• Travel protection plans offer additional baggage coverage over and above that provided by the airlines or your credit card, and may also provide benefits if your baggage is delayed. 
• Travel protection plans offer worldwide 24-hour emergency assistance in multiple languages so you can access legal assistance, prescription drug refills and eyeglasses replacement, emergency cash, and more. 

May I purchase coverage up until the date of my departure?

Yes! You can purchase online or over the phone, however policy wordings related to coverage for pre-existing conditions vary between providers. Often, when a waiver for the pre-existing conditions exclusion is available, the insurance must be purchased within one or two weeks of paying the first deposit.

If I change my mind after purchasing travel medical insurance or enrolling in the protection plan, is it refundable?

Yes. Generally, the providers will provide refunds as long as you have not departed, have not filed a claim or sent a written request prior to the policy's effective date.

Can I purchase on behalf of a relative or friend?

Yes. Before purchasing a plan on behalf of a minor under the age of 14, you must first register yourself as an adult on the Travel Insurance Center website. After creating your user ID and password, just hit the “continue” button to reach the purchase page. There, click “edit information” and enter the child’s information. The premium will automatically adjust, and you can complete that purchase.

Do I need to have primary health insurance to be covered by travel insurance?

Having primary insurance is not an eligibility requirement for most plans. However, you should check the plan details for further information on a specific product. There are a few plans that do require applicants to have primary health insurance to be eligible for coverage.

Do you offer plans with cancellation coverage?

One of the most common reasons people consider travel insurance is the worry that they may have to cancel their trip and lose money they’ve already paid for it. Life is unpredictable and it’s impossible to know what might happen between planning a trip and leaving. If you think you're spending more on your vacation than you can afford to lose, you may want to consider buying travel insurance with Travel Insurance Center.

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Mobility & Insurance

• Press Releases
• Jennifer Axness

Trip.com Expands Partnership with Amadeus to Include Amadeus Mobility

Originally published on Amadeus Insights  By incorporating Amadeus Mobility into their portfolios of solutions, international online travel group Trip.

Amadeus Launches Value Cars – a Seamless Experience for Travel Sellers to Offer Mobility Content

Originally published on Amadeus Insights Amadeus Value Cars™ will provide travel sellers with more choices for customers when booking car rental   March 5, 2024 – Amadeus’ new car rental of…

• Distribution
• Alison Guillot

Take a Sneak Peek at the Technology Shapeshifting the Car Rental Industry

Originally published to Amadeus Insights By: Peter Altmann, Vice President, Mobility and Travel Protection, Hospitality, Amadeus   The car rental industry is in the midst of a remarkable technolo…

The Power of an “Ecosystem Approach” in Hospitality

Originally published to PhocusWire Exploring today’s traveler expectations as catalysts for change and how the hospitality industry can adapt in the coming years to deliver more seamless journeys &n…

• Johanna Lim

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Revealed as Top Trend for Future of Car Rental Market, Finds Amadeus and Microsoft Report

Originally published to Amadeus Insights New report explores the top trends and challenges in the car rental market, including the shift towards MaaS, strategic alliances, autonomous vehicles, and big…

• Central Reservation Systems (CRS)

Amadeus and Pattern Announce Travel Protection Integration to Help Travelers Book with Confidence

June 6, 2023 – The pandemic raised awareness to the criticality of trip insurance – giving travelers peace of mind to leave home knowing they would not be expensively stranded if the unthinkab…

Amadeus Hospitality’s Ecosystem Approach to Deliver Personalized Journeys in New Era of Travel

Originally published to Amadeus Insights Research finds travelers today expect personalized, flexible, and sustainable journeys as new data shows the sector continuing to rebound New report explores h…

Tackling Bleisure Travel Trends at ITB Berlin

Originally published to Amadeus Insights By: Joerg Schuler, Executive Vice President, Hospitality Media & Distribution, Amadeus   Some exciting – and sometimes challenging – trends have e…

• Booking Engine

2022: A Year of Renewal and Growth

As we draw closer to turning the page into a new year, naturally we reflect on the past twelve months and realize just how remarkable 2022 has been for us, both as a company and an industry.

• Business Intelligence

Amadeus Data Alert: The US Sees Continued Travel Demand Through Holiday Season, Ending 2022 on a High Note

US hotel occupancy for Christmas and New Year’s mirrors 2019 (pre-pandemic) trends, with warm destinations proving popular   Amadeus, a global leader in travel technology, with its unique abili…

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Price freeze and cancel for any reason trip insurance could be coming to more travel providers

Now more than ever, flexibility is the name of the game when it comes to the travel industry. It's an area travel book app Hopper has focused on, offering features such as price freeze and "Cancel For Any Reason" trip insurance alongside its price prediction tools to help travelers save money and have peace of mind during the booking process.

Until now, those features have been exclusive to trips booked through Hopper, but thanks to an expanded partnership with travel industry giant Amadeus, that could be about to change.

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Hopper and Amadeus expanded partnership

Hopper created a B2B initiative earlier this year called Hopper Cloud, where it offers the company's fintech products to partners. Capital One was the first to partner up with the travel booking app, and Hopper technology will power Capital One's new travel portal set to launch later in 2021.

Now, Amadeus is also partnering with Hopper to offer price freeze and Cancel for Any Reason trip coverage to customers.

In return, Hopper will have access to Amadeus' global car rental inventory — which spans 40 car rental companies in more than 3,500 cities and almost 200 countries worldwide. Currently, Hopper works with Amadeus for global flight booking, so this is a significant expansion of the working relationship between the brands.

"Hopper has been a valued customer and partner for Amadeus, particularly in North America, which is a key growth market for us," said Peter Altmann, head of mobility and insurance at Amadeus, in a press release . "As travel technology leaders like Hopper and Amadeus collaborate to rebuild travel, delivering services that boost traveler confidence is critical."

What this could mean for travelers

For anyone unfamiliar with Amadeus, it's a travel industry giant that offers a global distribution system alongside IT solutions for the travel and hospitality industries. Most relevant to this partnership with Hopper, Amadeus provides reservation systems for global travel brands including Air France , British Airways , Qantas and more.

This partnership could lead to travel providers — from OTAs to international airlines and hotel brands — offering the price freeze and Cancel for Any Reason trip insurance.

According to Hopper, customers save an average of $80 when they use the price freeze tool — which allows you to lock in a flight or hotel price for up to 14 days before booking for only a small deposit that you can then apply to your booking.

Cancel for Any Reason trip coverage is another useful offering — especially in the era of travel during COVID-19 . Generally, independent providers offer the best coverage for the cost. Most credit card trip insurance won't cover cancelations due to hesitancy to travel because of COVID-19 risk and oftentimes the protections offered by airlines and hotels themselves are lacking.

However, if brands that use Amadeus start offering Cancel for Any Reason coverage at a reasonable price through this partnership, our tune could change.

Related: TPG's comprehensive guide to independent travel insurance

When I sat down with Hopper's head of hotel fintech, Anwesha Bhattacharjee, back in June to discuss the price freeze feature, it was clear Hopper is only just getting started in its development of tools and products that aim to empower travelers to book trips confidently while saving money.

There's no guarantee that airlines, hotels, travel agencies and other Amadeus customers will take advantage of the new Hopper-developed products now offered. But this does open the door for it to be possible.

As domestic and international destinations reopen and people continue to get vaccinated against COVID-19, it's very possible we'll start to see more brands embrace these fintech trip insurance products to entice customers to book those long-awaited trips.

Photo by izusek/Getty Images.

How to Choose a GDS: Amadeus vs Sabre vs Travelport

• 15 min read
• Business ,   Engineering ,   Travel
• 11 Aug, 2023
• No comments Share

GDS is one of the first abbreviations you learn in the travel business. Global distribution systems are responsible for providing booking websites with unified access to a massive  inventory of flights, hotel rooms, car rental companies, cruises, and much more.

On our own TravelTech forum , we regularly get questions about the pros and cons of different GDSs, integration issues, and basic API information. We've tried to load our best intel about flight connectivity and hotel APIs into separate articles, but the GDS topic is relevant to everyone who's entering the travel booking world.

Here's our guide for understanding the three main GDSs and connecting to them.

What is GDS in travel?

A global distribution system , or GDS , is a computer network operating as a middleman between travel agents and numerous travel service providers. It collects inventory, schedules, and fares from suppliers and gives OTAs and other resellers an opportunity to search and book them using connectivity APIs or agent platforms.

The idea of a global distribution system first appeared due to the necessity to distribute flight tickets. To get a better understanding of how it emerged, how it works, and how to handle it, be sure to watch our video.

How airline distribution works.

There are various large and local GDSs, but we will talk about the three main ones, covering almost every part of the world. They are  Amadeus , Sabre , and Travelport (which combines Apollo, Galileo, and Worldspan).

Amadeus vs Savre vs Travelport compared.

Travel content and coverage

The future success of your agency partially depends on the diversity of options that you can suggest. After all, a GDS’s main advantage is providing a one-stop shop for various travel services. Here you can compare how broad the industry coverage of each GDS is.

Hotels, flights, or cruises – choose the one that fits your business needs better.

Amadeus inventory and coverage

Headquartered in Madrid, Amadeus was created in 1987 by four leading European airlines — Air France, Lufthansa, Iberia, and SAS. So, initially, its main area of distribution was the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, and Africa). Today, this GDS has a presence in 190 markets, with over one hundred offices worldwide.

Flights . Amadeus covers 82 percent of the world’s scheduled flights, consolidating over 400 airlines, including 130+ hybrid and low-cost carriers (LCCs), with the number one European LCC, Ryanair, among them. Additionally, more than a hundred airlines are available via interline agreements.

Besides bare seats, travel agencies can book ancillaries and fare families from over 150 and 100 suppliers correspondingly. Sellers also enjoy real-time access to unique deals from 120 airlines that host their inventory in Altéa Reservation — a passenger service system (PSS) run by Amadeus.

Hotels. The GDS amasses over a million unique properties derived from leading bed banks and 350 hotel chains. It also provides access to thousands of alternative accommodations partnering with short-term rental aggregators such as Booking.com and TrustedStays. By the way, two of the world’s three largest hotel companies — Marriott International and IHG — chose a cloud-based central reservation system built by Amadeus to streamline booking processes.

Other content. Travel agencies can also take advantage of deals from

• 44 car rental brands delivering services across about 42,000 locations worldwide;
• 90 railways in 170 countries;
• 300,000+ tours and activities;
• over 30 bookable and over 100 searchable cruise companies and ferry lines; and
• 21 insurance providers.

All travel content is available on the Amadeus Travel platform, supported by 16,000 professionals (developers, industry experts, local market specialists, etc.) and can be displayed via online self-booking tools, travel agency front office solutions, mobile apps, and more.

Sabre inventory and coverage

Sabre descended from a computer reservation system initially developed by American Airlines. No wonder the GDS mostly works for the Americas, headquartering in Texas and having 7 other offices in the US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and Uruguay. Yet, Sabre is also widely represented in the EMEA and APAC (Asia-Pacific) regions, with 30+ and 17 offices respectively. Overall, Sabre serves over 400,000 travel agencies in more than 160 countries globally.

Flights. Sabre links travel agencies to over 400 full-service and low-cost carriers, with 170 of them providing ancillaries and branded fares. Similar to Amadeus, Sabre runs its own passenger service system SabreSonic.

Hotels . Sabre agents have access to over 1.6 million lodging options. The company is chosen to serve as a central reservation system provider for Hyatt hotels — the inventory migration will start in 2024.

Other content. Sabre capitalizes on content from 38 car rental brands delivering services across 160 countries, 9 major national rail networks and over 50 rail operators, 20 ocean and river cruise lines , and tour operators from Canada, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Travelport content and coverage

Travelport , the smallest of the Big Three, actually combines three GDSs — Galileo, Worldpsan, and Apollo. With the head office in London, it operates in 180 countries and is almost evenly represented across the world, outperforming in Eastern Europe and Africa while growing in Asia and the Americas.

Flights . Travelport gives access to 460 airlines, 340 branded fares, and ancillaries from 150 carriers.

Hotels . After striking up a partnership with Booking.com, Travelport added pre- and post-pay rates across 140,000 properties and increased the number of accommodation options to over a million.

Other content. Travelport offers content from 46 car rental brands, including Hertz pre-paid rates, 25 rail operators, and packages from leading cruise lines and tour operators. In 2022, Travelport integrated with Trainline, Europe’s leading rail booking platform, enabling GDS clients to reserve and manage cross-European travel by train.

NDC support

New Distribution Capability , or NDC is an industry initiative to drive a rich shopping experience across the air market. With major carriers like Lufthansa, American Airlines, and United withdrawing their offers from indirect channels powered by legacy EDIFACT protocol, GDSs can do nothing but accept the new reality and slowly introduce NDC capabilities.

NDC offerings from GDS and verified ARM capabilities as system providers for sellers.

All three major GDSs participate in the Airline Retailing Maturity (ARM) index program launched by IATA in 2022 to replace its 4-level NDC certification. The ARM index encompasses 76 NDC capabilities divided into six groups: Shop, Order, Pay, Settle, Account, and Setup. GDSs differ in the number of verified NDC features and live integrations with airline NDC content available. 

Travelport is proud to be the first GDS to introduce the GDS channel. Currently, agencies can source NDC content from Qantas, United Airlines, American Airlines, Singapore Airlines, and Air France-KLM using APIs or the Travelport + retail platform. The GDS verified 13 NDC capabilities as a system provider for sellers.

Sabre maintains access to NDC offers from Avianca Group (Columbia), Qatar Airways, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, and American Airlines. Its REST/JSON Offer and Order APIs support shopping, booking, fulfillment, and several servicing features. Overall, the GDS verified 22 ARM capabilities as a system provider for sellers and 18 capabilities as a system provider for airlines.

Amadeus delivers NDC content from 19 airlines as a part of their Enterprise subscription meant for large travel players. This includes American Airlines, United, Singapore Airlines, Air France-KLM, Qantas, Qatar Airways, British Airways, Lufthansa, Finnair, and others, with more integrations in the queue. The NDC content is available via XML-based SOAP APIs and Selling Platform Connect. The GDS supports 23 ARM capabilities for sellers and 36 features for airlines in Altéa Reservation PSS.

To understand what NDC is, its benefits, and implementation challenges, read our articles explaining NDC in air travel and NDC for airlines .

GDS API functionality

If you have been working in this business long enough, you know that API connectivity is one of the main methods of data exchange in the travel industry. All three GDSs have a wide assortment of travel APIs to power travel agency software , tour operator tools , B2B travel platforms , car rental reservation systems , and other solutions.

Amadeus APIs

Amadeus was the first GDS to launch APIs back in 2000. Today, Amadeus APIs, powering thousands of web and mobile applications, fall into two large categories — Self-Service for newcomers and travel startups and Enterprise for big players.

The Self-Service subscription comes with APIs based on modern REST architecture and supporting JSON format for data exchange. Currently, around 40 APIs in seven categories are available for the development of booking engines and other types of travel software.

Flight APIs enable automating the flight booking process , from offers search to branded fares upsell. You can also take advantage of additional features such as travel recommendations, flight delay predictions, finding all destinations served by a particular airline, and many more. The number of APIs in this category exceeds 20. Note that APIs in the Self-Service catalog don’t allow for airline ticketing , so you need to complete the booking process with a partner host agency or air consolidator.

Cars and Transfers APIs facilitate transportation arrangements by standardizing content from global providers, completing bookings, and allowing you to manage and cancel reservations easily. Car rental APIs cover private transfers, taxis, airport express trains and buses, private jets, transfer helicopters, and more.

Hotel APIs cover search and booking across 150,000 hotels and help you find accommodations in a particular area. The search is facilitated with autocomplete functionality. You can also enrich results with travel ratings — the correspondent API applies sentiment analysis to hotel reviews .

Destination Experiences APIs return

• a ranked list of attractions for a specific area, with coordinates, categories, and popularity scores calculated by the AVUXI TopPlace algorithm, processing millions of online comments and photos; and
• a list of top activities for a given location with links to complete booking with a provider. The deals come from leading experience aggregators like Viator owned by TripAdvisor and Holibob .

Another feature in this category is finding cities that start with a specific string of letters.

Itinerary Management APIs fulfill two tasks: building a complete itinerary from different booking confirmation emails and predicting the purpose of the trip to deliver a more personalized experience.

Market Insights APIs enable you to make decisions based on information about the most traveled and booked destinations and the busiest travel periods. The insights are extracted from Amadeus's historical flight data, including traffic summary and the total number of passenger name records (PNRs) created.

COVID-19 and Travel Safety APIs deliver detailed information on restrictions and safety situations for above 40,000 cities across the world. It encompasses scores for women’s safety, health, theft, political freedom, physical threats, and LGBTQ safety.

The Enterprise subscription encompasses the Self-Service catalog and old-style SOAP APIs, which still prevail in Amadeus's portfolio. Totally it contains over a hundred APIs and offers the following key capabilities unavailable in the Self-Service tier:

• air ticketing at booking time,
• NDC flight booking,
• travel insurance booking,
• generating virtual credit cards and paying with them, and
• rail booking.

Besides rich functionality, enterprise clients enjoy 24/7 technical support, customized pricing, and the services of a dedicated manager, but to join the club, you must be IATA/ARC-certified.

Note that Amadeus doesn’t reveal cruise content via APIs making it available only on its cruise portal .

To dive deeper into business and technical details, read about our hands-on experience with Amadeus API integration .

Sabre leverages both SOAP APIs and REST APIs , with the former offering richer functionality and the latter being more developer-friendly. The connectivity suite encompasses

• Air APIs, including REST/JSON Offer and Order APIs to integrate NDC, ATPCO, and low-cost deals;
• Hotel APIs;
• Cruise APIs; and

Besides separate endpoints, Sabre offers orchestrated APIs that join multiple operations into a single call. For instance, you can search for air options, check availability and prices, and book a flight (create a PNR ) in one request. Other pre-built workflows are air ticket issuing, NDC air offer fulfilment, car reservation, and more.

To better understand how to tap into Sabre APIs, read about our hands-on experience with Sabre API integration .

Travelport APIs

Like Amadeus and Sabre, Travelport offers RESTful/JSON and SOAP/XML APIs to create booking apps and travel websites. There are four API groups available:

• Air APIs with access to EDIFACT/ATPCO, NDC and LCC content;
• Hotel APIs connecting to properties across 180 countries;
• Car APIs to reserve cars across 38,000 locations; and
• Rail APIs to book tickets from five global carriers.

You can try and test REST APIs using 90-day trial credentials. The trial period for SOAP APIs is 30 days.

Today, GDSs work not only as content aggregators: They are also the largest tech providers in travel. In addition to APIs, Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport offer a wide range of ready-to-use software products for retail travel agencies, travel management companies (TMCs), tour operators , airlines, hotels, and other players. Here, we’ll do a short review of key off-the-shelf solutions for travel sellers built on top of their content APIs.

Amadeus Selling Platform Connect, Cytric, and Outpayce

A major product of Amadeus — Selling Platform Connect — enables travel agents to work from any device and any location with an Internet connection. Targeting small and medium businesses, the cloud-based platform requires no installation and enjoys automated updates, so everyone in the organization uses the same version.

Amadeus also has a separate suite of solutions for in-house corporate travel booking — Cytric Travel and Expense . It comes with a mobile app for traveling employees, expense management tools, intuitive dashboards, CO2 compensation reports, and more.

In 2022, the company launched the B2B payments platform Outpayce , fully integrated with the Amadeus tech ecosystem. It allows travel sellers to pay their suppliers with virtual cards and create and manage B2B wallets. The solution connects travel businesses with over 50 card issuers.

Sabre Red 360, GetThere, and Conferma Pay

Sabre agents can take advantage of Sabre Red 360 , a marketplace connecting sellers to suppliers. It covers the content accessible via APIs, including NDC offers. In 2023, platform users started to receive carbon offset data when searching for flights. This option enables them to identify the biggest air polluters and make bookings with sustainability in mind.

Sabre’s offering for TMCs and corporate clients is called GetThere . It works on top of Sabre Red 360, serving thousands of global and mid-size enterprises, including Visa and JTB Business Travel, across 11 countries. The cloud-based software covers travel booking and reporting functionality, being available on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

Similar to Amadeus, Sabre owns a B2B payment platform — in 2022, the GDS acquired its longstanding partner Conferma Pay . It links travel businesses with over 50 banks capable of releasing virtual credit cards in 100 currencies.

Read our article on virtual credit cards in travel to learn about the benefits and drawbacks of this payment method.

Travelport + and Deem

Since 2021, Travelport has been actively developing its retailing platform Travelport+ . It’s estimated that the software saves agents 1.5 hours a day — if compared to booking through the traditional GDS green screen (we’ll talk about it later on.) According to Travelport CEO Greg Webb, over 80 percent of the company’s travel agency customers used Travelport+ in 2023.

In 2023, Travelport upgraded its flagship product with Smartpoint Cloud, a technology helping travel agents to create tailored travel packages. Another development is the recent integration of Travelport+ with a corporate booking tool Deem which is expected to double the GDS’s global footprint in 2024.

As for B2B payments, Travelport doesn’t follow the trend. Instead of purchasing a platform to streamline transactions, the company got rid of one in 2020. Namely, it sold its payment business eNett and parent company Opal to rival brand WEX.

Pricing and time-to-market

One of the primary concerns of any business is the price of integrated technology. None of the three major GDSs will give you a straight answer. Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport want you to contact them directly to get the details.

The pricing on any GDS will likely be shaped based on the following factors:

• the market you would like to expand on;
• the technologies you’re going to use;
• your selling volumes (which directly impact the number of API calls); and
• the quality and quantity of content you want to obtain.

Subsequently, for any of the three GDSs, it’s impossible to predict the time to market. We can at least say that it depends on how fast you are ready to pay the quoted amount of money, how well your product strategy is built, and whether a suggested technology is easily compatible with your existing system.

GDS systems: how to connect to them

Thanks to the rise of Internet booking engines , you no longer need to know all ins and outs of a GDS to buy travel. However, working directly with a global distribution system gives you a lot of benefits over non-GDS agents — especially when it comes to flights. First-hand access to GDSs remains the fastest and most efficient way to find and reserve airline tickets at attractive prices. Here are standard steps for tapping into a GDS of your choice.

Apply for acceptance

To become a GDS agent, contact a provider and complete an application form. For this step, you have to submit information about your business, such as proof of past performance and industry certifications. For example, if you’re going to handle air ticketing , it’s mandatory to have IATA accreditation (or IATAN / ARC numbers for US travel agencies.)

Look through our comprehensive guides on how to get IATA accreditation , ARC accreditation options , and Airline Reporting Corporation and IATA Billing and Settlement Plan.

Small businesses and individual travel agents that can’t afford pricey industry accreditations can book travel under the umbrella of a host travel agency or an air consolidator . In this case, you need to submit your host’s credentials.

To grasp how this scenario works, read about host travel agencies , airline consolidators overview , and booking and ticketing for non-IATA travel agencies .

Pass the GDS terminal training

Unlike modern booking platforms, a native GDS workspace, commonly called a green screen or terminal, has a command-line interface with text-based inputs and outputs. So navigating Amadeus, Sabre, or Travelport is a complex technical skill that involves proficiency in operating and understanding a lot of domain-specific commands and codes. No wonder becoming a GDS expert takes intense training and constant practice (daily booking under mentor supervision for six months to a year .)

That’s what a Sabre green screen looks like.

While all global distribution systems are very much alike, each of them has its own distinctions so you must focus on the one you will actually use. There are a lot of relevant courses provided by GDSs, IATA, and educational platforms like Udemy. The price varies depending on duration, level (basic, advanced, etc.), particular knowledge areas covered, and other factors.

Besides old-school terminals, GDSs offer more modern, user-friendly interfaces for travel agents, such as Sabre Red 360 , Amadeus Selling Platform Connect , and Travelport+ . They significantly cut training time and enhance productivity. Yet you still need to switch from GUI to manual commands to complete the reservation. That’s why global distribution systems require users to accomplish a GDS-provided or approved training course to get access to their innovative products. Note that even the slightest errors made during the booking result in debit memos — fines paid by travel agencies.

Negotiate competitive deals

The success of your GDS cooperation depends on the relevancy of data being submitted by suppliers. So, to obtain the most profitable and beneficial deals from suppliers via GDSs, you should arrange them yourself. GDSs, in turn, allow you to establish the rates negotiated with providers.

Integrate with GDS APIs

Instead of a manual search routine via GDS interfaces, online travel agencies can automatically source and book travel content using GDS APIs. The process of API integration requires a skilled tech workforce and involves additional contracts and negotiations. It may take from several weeks to several months to develop and test connections as well as certify them with a GDS.

If not GDS, then what? Alternatives to keep in mind

Generally speaking, GDSs have two main use cases:

• Travel agencies, OTAs, and TMCs that are striving to cover all travel management needs; and
• Travel agencies, OTAs, and TMCs where air flight distribution is an integral part of the business.

That being said, GDSs are the main source of inventory for flight distribution. So, if your main focus is hotels, consider other options.

Anyone working in the travel industry can hardly deny the power of OTA mammoths Expedia and Booking.com. Being dominant in the market, they can also provide distribution support to a smaller business, taking their own profit from it.

Expedia Group has over 1 million properties across its subsidiaries. They can be accessed via Expedia Partner solutions . Also, it has a REST-based Rapid API fueling end-to-end accommodation booking flow for OTAs and other players. It provides

• access to 700,000 global accommodations and over 25 different property types, and
• over 29 million property images, 21 million room images, 82 million travel ratings, and 57 million reviews.

The user-generated content is updated and becomes available via the API every day.

Booking.com currently has over 2 million properties listed in an affiliate program allowing for different types of services. It includes multiple widgets, banners, search boxes, and many more. The platform also exposes Demand API that supports both XML and JSON formats and covers:

• live rates and availability,
• hotel content, and
• booking processing capabilities.

The API not only provides the widest variety of accommodations online but also enables you to choose which options will appear on your website in the first place. It also helps with keeping track of your earnings.

Wholesalers

For many OTAs, wholesalers or bed banks are the main source of inventory. Some large players, like Hotelbeds, tend to offer high-level customer service, advanced APIs, large inventory, and further expansion in the market.

In this distribution model, a wholesaler signs a contract with a hotel for a particular period of time to sell a set of its rooms for a fixed price. The rooms are then sold to OTAs and TMCs. Hotels and wholesalers are striving to keep their rooms filled to capacity and resort to having to negotiate special room rates.

Direct connection to providers

Direct connectivity to transport and hospitality providers is also one of the appropriate options to focus on. Usually, it’s available via two-way API communication that allows exchanging data between different systems. With the direct connection, an OTA avoids middlemen and gets relevant and updated content. The fewer third parties there are, the more competitive pricing you have.

Which GDS system is the best?

No doubt, GDSs are the best at... globally covering distribution for travel networks. Sure, they have drawbacks like extensive requirements, long confirmation processes, and abundant resource consumption. And there’s still room for growth for GDS adoption of low-cost carriers and NDC content.

Apart from that, there’s no straight answer to the question of which GDS is better: Amadeus, Sabre, or Travelport. The answer is more complicated, and we hope this article helped clarify things.

If your travel company is not that tech-savvy, employ a travel technology consultant, and consider other options.

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Travel Insurance

Cheapest travel insurance of April 2024

Mandy Sleight

Heidi Gollub

“Verified by an expert” means that this article has been thoroughly reviewed and evaluated for accuracy.

Updated 9:52 a.m. UTC April 11, 2024

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WorldTrips is the best cheap travel insurance company of 2024 based on our in-depth analysis of the cheapest travel insurance plans. Its Atlas Journey Preferred and Atlas Journey Premier plans offer affordable travel insurance with high limits for emergency medical and evacuation benefits bundled with good coverage for trip delays, travel inconvenience and missed connections.

Cheapest travel insurance of 2024

Why trust our travel insurance experts

Our team of travel insurance experts analyzes hundreds of insurance products and thousands of data points to help you find the best travel insurance for your next trip. We use a data-driven methodology to determine each rating. Advertisers do not influence our editorial content . You can read more about our methodology below.

• 1,855 coverage details evaluated.
• 567 rates reviewed.
• 5 levels of fact-checking.

Best cheap travel insurance

Top-scoring plans

Average cost, medical limit per person, medical evacuation limit per person, why it’s the best.

WorldTrips tops our rating of the cheapest travel insurance with two plans:

• Atlas Journey Preferred is the cheaper travel insurance plan of the two, with $100,000 per person in emergency medical benefits as secondary coverage and an optional upgrade to primary coverage. It’s also our pick for the best travel insurance for cruises .
• Atlas Journey Premier costs a little more but gives you $150,000 in travel medical insurance with primary coverage . This is a good option if health insurance for international travel is a priority.

Pros and cons

• Atlas Journey Preferred is the cheapest of our 5-star travel insurance plans.
• Atlas Journey Premier offers $150,000 in primary medical coverage.
• Both plans have top-notch $1 million per person in medical evacuation coverage.
• Each plan offers travel inconvenience coverage of $750 per person.
• 12 optional upgrades, including destination wedding and rental car damage and theft.
• No non-medical evacuation coverage.

Cheap travel insurance for cruises

Travel insured.

Top-scoring plan

Travel Insured offers cheap travel insurance for cruises and its Worldwide Trip Protector plan gets 4 stars in our rating of the best cruise travel insurance .

• Worldwide Trip Protector offers $1 million in emergency evacuation coverage per person and a rare $150,000 in non-medical evacuation per person. It also has primary coverage for travel medical insurance benefits, which means you won’t have to file medical claims with your health insurance first.
• Cheap trip insurance for cruises.
• Offers a rare $150,000 for non-medical evacuation.
• $500 per person baggage delay benefit only requires a 3-hour delay.
• Optional rental car damage benefit up to $50,000.
• Missed connection benefit of $500 per person only available for cruises and tours.

Best cheap travel insurance for families

Travelex has the best cheap travel insurance for families because kids age 17 are covered by your policy for free when they’re traveling with you.

• Free coverage for children 17 and under on the same policy.
• $2,000 travel delay coverage per person ($250 per day) after 5 hours.
• Hurricane and weather coverage after a common carrier delay of any amount of time.
• Only $50,000 per person emergency medical coverage.
• Baggage delay coverage is only $200 and requires a 12-hour delay.

Best cheap travel insurance for seniors

Evacuation limit per person

Nationwide has the best cheap travel insurance for seniors — its Prime plan gets 4 stars in our best senior travel insurance rating. However, Nationwide’s Cruise Choice plan ranks higher in our best cheap travel insurance rating.

• Cruise Choice has a $500 per person benefit if a cruise itinerary change causes you to miss a prepaid excursion. It also has a missed connections benefit of $1,500 per person after only a 3-hour delay, for cruises or tours. But note that this coverage is secondary coverage to any compensation provided by a common carrier.
• Coverage for cruise itinerary changes, ship-based mechanical breakdowns and covered shipboard service disruptions.
• Non-medical evacuation benefit of $25,000 per person.
• Baggage loss benefits of $2,500 per person.
• Travel medical coverage is secondary.
• Trip cancellation benefit for losing your job requires three years of continuous employment.
• No “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) upgrade available.
• Missed connection coverage of $1,500 per person is only for tours and cruises, after a 3-hour delay.

Best cheap travel insurance for add-on options

AIG offers the best cheap travel insurance for add-on options because the Travel Guard Preferred plan allows you to customize your policy with a host of optional upgrades.

• Travel Guard Preferred upgrades include “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) coverage , rental vehicle damage coverage and bundles that offer additional benefits for adventure sports, travel inconvenience, quarantine, pets, security and weddings. There’s also a medical bundle that increases the travel medical benefit to $100,000 and emergency evacuation to $1 million.
• Bundle upgrades allow you to customize your affordable travel insurance policy.
• Emergency medical and evacuation limits can be doubled with optional upgrade.
• Base travel insurance policy has relatively low medical limits.
• $300 baggage delay benefit requires a 12-hour delay.
• Optional CFAR upgrade only reimburses up to 50% of trip cost.

Best cheap travel insurance for missed connections

TravelSafe has the best cheap travel insurance for missed connections because coverage is not limited to cruises and tours, as it is with many policies.

• Best-in-class $2,500 per person in missed connection coverage.
• $1 million per person in medical evacuation and $25,000 in non-medical evacuation coverage.
• Generous $2,500 per person baggage and personal items loss benefit.
• Most expensive of the best cheap travel insurance plans.
• No “interruption for any reason” coverage available.
• Weak baggage delay coverage of $250 per person after 12 hours.

Cheapest travel insurance comparison

How much does the cheapest travel insurance cost?

The cheapest travel insurance in our rating is $334. This is for a WorldTrips Atlas Journey Preferred travel insurance plan, based on the average of seven quotes for travelers of various ages to international destinations with a range of trip values.  

Factors that determine travel insurance cost

There are several factors that determine the cost of travel insurance, including:

• Age and number of travelers being insured.
• Trip length.
• Total trip cost.
• The travel insurance plan you choose.
• The travel insurance company.
• Any add-ons, features or upgraded benefits you include in the travel insurance plan.

Expert tip: “In general, travelers can expect to pay anywhere from 4% to 10% of their total prepaid, non-refundable trip costs,” said Suzanne Morrow, CEO of InsureMyTrip.

Is buying the cheapest travel insurance a good idea?

Choosing cheaper travel insurance without paying attention to what a plan covers and excludes could leave you underinsured for your trip. Comparing travel insurance plans side-by-side can help ensure you get enough coverage to protect yourself financially in an emergency for the best price. 

For example, compare these two Travelex travel insurance plans:

• Travel Basic is cheaper but it only provides up to $15,000 for emergency medical expense coverage. You’ll also have to pay extra for coverage for children.
• Travel Select will cost you a bit more but it covers up to $50,000 in medical expenses and includes coverage for kids aged 17 and younger traveling with you. It also offers upgrades such additional medical coverage, “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) coverage and an adventure sports rider that may be a good fit for your trip.

Reasons to consider paying more for travel insurance 

Make sure you understand what you’re giving up if you buy the cheapest travel insurance. Here are a few reasons you may consider paying a little extra for better coverage. 

• Emergency medical. The best travel medical insurance offers primary coverage for emergency medical benefits. Travel insurance with primary coverage can cost more than secondary coverage but will save you from having to file a claim with your health insurance company before filing a travel insurance claim.
• Emergency evacuation. If you’re traveling to a remote location or planning a boat excursion on your trip, look at travel insurance with a high medical evacuation insurance limit. If you are injured while traveling, transportation to the nearest adequate medical facility could cost in the tens to hundreds of thousands. It may make sense to pay more for travel insurance with robust emergency evacuation coverage. 
• Flexibility. To maximize your trip flexibility, you might consider upgrading your travel insurance to “ cancel for any reason” (CFAR) coverage . This will increase the cost of your travel insurance but allow you to cancel your trip for any reason — not just those listed in your policy. The catch is that you’ll need to cancel at least 48 hours before your trip and will only be reimbursed 50% or 75% of your trip expenses, depending on the plan. 
• Upgrades. Many travel insurance plans have optional extras like car rental collision and adventure sports (which may otherwise be excluded from coverage). These will cost you extra but may give you the coverage you need. 

How to find the cheapest travel insurance

The best way to find the cheapest travel insurance is to determine what you’re looking for in a travel insurance policy and compare plans that meet your needs.

 “Travel insurance isn’t one-size-fits-all. Every trip is different, and every traveler has different needs, wants and concerns. This is why comparison is key,” said Morrow.

Consider the following factors when comparing cheap travel insurance plans.

• How often you’re traveling. A single-trip policy may be the most cost-effective if you’re only going on a single trip this year. But a multi-trip travel insurance plan may be cheaper if you’re going on multiple international trips throughout the year. Annual travel insurance policies cover you for a whole year as long as each trip doesn’t exceed a certain number of days, usually 30 to 90 days. 
• Credit card has travel insurance benefits. The best credit cards offer perks and benefits, and many offer travel insurance-specific benefits. The coverage types and benefit limits can vary, and you must put the entire trip cost on the credit card to use the coverage. If your trip costs more than the coverage limit on your card, you can supplement the rest with a cheaper travel insurance plan.
• The coverage you need. When looking for the best travel insurance option at the most affordable price, only buy extras and upgrades you really need. A basic plan may only provide up to $500 in baggage insurance, but if you only plan to take $300 worth of clothes and accessories, you don’t need to pay more for higher coverage limits.

Is cheap travel insurance worth it?

Cheap travel insurance can be worth it, as long as you understand the plan limitations and exclusions. Taking the time to read your policy, especially the fine print, well before your trip can ensure there won’t be any surprises about what’s covered once your journey begins.

“If a traveler is looking for coverage for travel delays, cancellations, interruptions, medical and baggage — a comprehensive travel insurance policy will provide the most bang for their buck,” said Morrow. But if you’re on a tight budget and are only worried about emergency medical care and evacuation coverage while traveling abroad, stand-alone options are cheaper.

Before buying travel insurance, you should also consider what your health insurance will cover. 

“Most domestic health insurance plans, including Medicare, will not cover medical bills abroad,” said Morrow. Even if you’re staying stateside, you may find value in an affordable travel insurance plan with medical coverage if you have a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). 

A cheap travel insurance plan is better than none at all if you end up in a situation that would have covered some or all of your prepaid, nonrefundable trip expenses.

Methodology

Our insurance experts reviewed 1,855 coverage details and 567 rates to determine the best travel insurance . From those top-scoring travel insurance plans, we chose the most affordable for our rating of the cheapest travel insurance.

Insurers could score up to 100 points based on the following factors:

• Cost: 40 points. We scored the average cost of each travel insurance policy for a variety of trips and traveler profiles.
• Medical expenses: 10 points. We scored travel medical insurance by the coverage amount available. Travel insurance policies with emergency medical expense benefits of $250,000 or more per person were given the highest score of 10 points.
• Medical evacuation: 10 points. We scored each plan’s emergency medical evacuation coverage by coverage amount. Travel insurance policies with medical evacuation expense benefits of $500,000 or more per person were given the highest score of 10 points.
• Pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver: 10 points. We gave full points to travel insurance policies that cover pre-existing medical conditions if certain conditions are met.
• Missed connection: 10 points. Travel insurance plans with missed connection benefits of $1,000 per person or more received full points.
• “Cancel for any reason” upgrade: 5 points. We gave points to travel insurance plans with optional “cancel for any reason” coverage that reimburses up to 75%.
• Travel delay required waiting time: 5 points. We gave 5 points to travel insurance policies with travel delay benefits that kick in after a delay of 6 hours or less.
• Cancel for work reasons: 5 points. If a travel insurance plan allows you to cancel your trip for work reasons, such as your boss requiring you to stay and work, we gave it 5 points.
• Hurricane and severe weather: 5 points. Travel insurance plans that have a required waiting period for hurricane and weather coverage of 12 hours or less received 5 points.

Some travel insurance companies may offer plans with additional benefits or lower prices than the plans that scored the highest, so make sure to compare travel insurance quotes to see your full range of options.

Cheapest travel insurance FAQs

When buying travel insurance, cheapest is not always the best. The most affordable travel insurance plans typically offer fewer coverages with lower policy limits and few or no optional upgrades. Add up your total nonrefundable trip costs and compare travel insurance plans and available features that cover your travel expenses. This strategy can help you find the cheapest travel insurance policy that best protects you from financial loss if an unforeseen circumstance arises.

Get the coverage you need: Best travel insurance of 2024

According to our analysis, WorldTrips , Travel Insured International and Travelex offer the best cheap travel insurance. Policy coverage types and limits can vary by each travel insurance provider, so the best way to get the cheapest travel insurance plan is to compare several policies and companies to find the right fit for your budget.

A good rate for travel insurance depends on your budget and coverage needs. The most comprehensive travel insurance plan is usually not the cheapest. But cheap trip insurance may not have enough coverage or the types of coverage you want. Comparing different levels of coverage and how much they cost can help you find the best cheap insurance for travel. 

The average cost of travel insurance is between 5% to 6% of your total travel expenses for one trip, according to our analysis of rates. However, you may find cheaper travel insurance if you opt for a plan with fewer benefits or lower coverage limits. How much you pay for travel insurance will also depend on the number of travelers covered, their ages, the length of the trip and any upgrades you add to your plan.

Travel insurance covers nonrefundable, prepaid trip costs — up to the policy coverage limits — when your trip is interrupted or canceled for a covered reason outlined in your plan documents. Even the cheapest travel insurance policies usually provide coverage for:

• Medical emergencies.
• Trip delays.
• Trip interruption.
• Trip cancellation.
• Lost, stolen or damaged luggage.

However, if you’re looking to save on travel insurance, you can shop for a policy that only has travel medical insurance and does not include benefits for trip cancellation .

Even when you buy cheap travel insurance, you can often use upgrade options to customize your policy to meet your specific needs. 

Some common travel insurance add-ons you may want to consider include:

• Rental car damage coverage. 
• Medical bundle.
• Security bundle.
• Accidental death and dismemberment coverage.
• Adventure sports bundle.
• Pet bundle.
• Wedding bundle.
• “Cancel for work reasons” coverage.
• “Interruption for any reason” (IFAR) coverage.
• “Cancel for any reason” (CFAR) coverage .

Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy . The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.

Mandy is an insurance writer who has been creating online content since 2018. Before becoming a full-time freelance writer, Mandy spent 15 years working as an insurance agent. Her work has been published in Bankrate, MoneyGeek, The Insurance Bulletin, U.S. News and more.

Heidi Gollub is the USA TODAY Blueprint managing editor of insurance. She was previously lead editor of insurance at Forbes Advisor and led the insurance team at U.S. News & World Report as assistant managing editor of 360 Reviews. Heidi has an MBA from Emporia State University and is a licensed property and casualty insurance expert.

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I'm a financial planner, and I'd recommend annual travel insurance to anyone who loves to travel abroad

Affiliate links for the products on this page are from partners that compensate us (see our advertiser disclosure with our list of partners for more details). However, our opinions are our own. See how we rate insurance products to write unbiased product reviews.

• Frequent and spontaneous travelers will likely benefit from annual travel insurance policies.
• Your credit card may come with some travel protections, but it may not be enough.
• When choosing a policy, look at what it covers, not just what's cheapest.

Summer is just a few months away — and if you're planning a vacation this year, the last thing you want is an unexpected event to derail your plans (and cost you hundreds).

Flights get delayed or canceled constantly. Luggage disappears into the ether. Medical emergencies occur in remote destinations. Yet many jetsetters simply cross their fingers and hope for the best rather than prepare for the worst.

That's why, as a financial planner, I believe it's crucial to consider protecting your trips with the right insurance coverage. One option often overlooked, particularly by frequent travelers, is annual travel insurance .

Annual travel insurance covers all your trips within 365 days. Unlike stand-alone travel insurance, which only covers you for a specific trip, an annual policy covers any trips you take within the year.

That's why I tell clients who travel frequently that an annual policy is a good choice for their needs. By opting for an annual plan, you don't have to go through the hassle of booking multiple policies and potentially save money compared to purchasing individual trip coverage. Here's how it works.

What to look for in a policy

While specifics may vary depending on the insurer and plan tier, most include the following key benefits:

• Trip cancellations or interruptions: You may be able to get reimbursed for expenses (even nonrefundable ones!) related to an illness, injury, or natural disaster that forced you to cancel or cut your trip short.
• Emergency medical and dental care: If you fall ill or get injured while traveling, your insurance can help cover the cost of medical treatment.
• Emergency evacuation: In a serious medical emergency or security situation, your policy will arrange and pay for transportation to a hospital or back to your home country.
• Lost, delayed, or damaged baggage: If your luggage is lost, delayed, or damaged during your trip, you can get financial coverage for essential items while you wait for your stuff to be recovered or replaced.
• Trip delays and missed connections: When your travel plans are disrupted due to issues like mechanical problems or severe weather, you may get reimbursement for additional expenses incurred, like meals, lodging, and transportation.

It's important to note that annual travel insurance plans have limitations. Certain high-risk activities, pre-existing medical conditions, and travel to specific regions may be restricted or require additional coverage.

Some travelers may assume that their credit card's built-in travel protections are enough. While many travel rewards credit cards offer perks like rental car insurance, trip cancellation, and baggage reimbursement, the coverage limits are often much lower than a dedicated annual travel insurance plan.

Credit card coverage for emergency medical care is also particularly limited — capped at a few thousand dollars — which may not be enough in the face of a major international medical emergency.

How much travel justifies an annual plan?

For the occasional traveler who takes one or two trips a year, single-trip policies will probably work for you. But if you fall into any of these buckets, you may want to consider an annual policy:

• Regular international travelers (three or more trips abroad yearly)
• Road warriors frequently away for work
• Adventurers engaging in high-risk activities like heli-skiing, scuba diving, or mountain climbing
• Cruisers and tour group travelers
• Students or retirees taking extended trips throughout the year
• Those visiting developing countries with limited medical care

Annual plans cover all of your trips within a 365-day period after purchasing. They're basically a bundle of multiple policies into one package deal. This means you only have to buy one policy to manage, locking in your coverage for the year.

How to decide if an annual policy makes sense for you

Start by reviewing your travel plans this year — and your risk tolerance. Calculate how much buying individual travel insurance policies would cost you over the next year and compare it to the price of an annual plan.

Don't just focus on the premium — carefully evaluate coverage limits, exclusions, and deductibles to ensure you have enough protection for your needs.

An annual policy gives you the flexibility to take spontaneous trips without the hassle of obtaining last-minute insurance. More importantly, it provides peace of mind, knowing that you're covered for a wide range of travel disruptions and emergencies.

As the busy summer travel season ramps up, definitely explore protecting your trips with insurance, especially if you're jetting off internationally. Spending hours on the phone trying to rebook canceled flights or worrying about affording an overseas medical emergency is no way to vacation.

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