Travelore Tips: Spend $25 To Stop Worrying About Flight Delays Or Cancellations With A Flight Protection Plan Called AirCare

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Few travelers would want to relive last winter’s record level of flight cancellations and delays—by all accounts, it was a nightmare season for frequent fliers. But if future seasons are as turbulent, there’ll be at least another form of protection: A new type of travel insurance launching today is designed to ensure that put-upon fliers can get relief without having to depend on an airline to deliver it.

The flight protection plan, called AirCare, is a novel take on conventional travel insurance policies, which typically are designed to cover individuals who might have to cancel big ticket trips, like tour packages or cruises, for medical or other emergencies. But AirCare’s protection is designed exclusively for airline-related snafus. For a fee of only $25 per trip (payable up to an hour before departure), the traveler qualifies for an immediate payment for an array of flight horrors, starting with $50 for a delay of more than two hours. The payment rises in proportion to the inconvenience: For a missed connection caused by a flight delay, you get $500; ditto for luggage that’s delayed for more than 12 hours. For fliers stuck on the tarmac for more than two hours (one hour less than the federally mandated trigger for penalties on the airlines), you get $1,000. While some airlines do offer partial refunds or vouchers for some of these circumstances, the AirCare protections are in addition to whatever the airline eventually ponies up—assuming they do at all.

The plan is offered by Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, part of a larger insurance company under billionaire Warren Buffett’s vast umbrella of investments. The travel insurer is headed by John Noel, who founded Travel Guard and is a well-known figure in the field. In an interview, Noel described the new venture as a “real game-changer,” saying that the goal is to keep it “simple and inexpensive,” offering protection for situations that rarely get covered. "We're starting a whole new industry," he notes. Although the program currently extends only to domestic travel, plans are afoot to offer protection for international flights; a more extensive suite of services are also available for an extra fee. You can also download a mobile app (for iOS and Android devices) for easy access when you’re inevitably stuck at the airport.

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Contributed by Barbara Peterson, www.cntraveler.com