Last reviewed: 3 October 2026
Home › United States › Travel protection plans vs. insurance
United StatesIs travel protection a warranty, a service contract, or insurance?
In the two state laws we read, a "travel protection plan" can be a bundle. Part of it can be insurance. Other parts are, by statute, not insurance. Neither law calls a plan a warranty or a service contract. This page reports what the statutes say and does not tell you what to buy.
The short answer
- A plan can be a bundle: Florida defines a travel protection plan as "a plan that provides one or more of the following: travel insurance, travel assistance services, and cancellation fee waivers."1 Virginia's definition is "any plan that provides travel insurance, travel assistance services, or cancellation fee waivers."2
- What is insurance: both states define travel insurance as insurance coverage for personal risks incidental to planned travel. Both say a cancellation fee waiver "is not insurance" and that travel assistance services are not insurance.12
- Warranty or service contract? neither statute's text uses those words. Where a particular plan fits depends on what it contains.
- Virginia rules: Virginia requires certain disclosures, and a full refund if you cancel within a stated window, unless the insured has started a covered trip or filed a claim.2
The parts of a plan
Both statutes split a plan into three kinds of part. The table sets out how each state describes them.
| Part | Florida (s. 647.02) | Virginia (s. 38.2-1887) |
|---|---|---|
| Travel insurance | Insurance coverage for personal risks incidental to planned travel, including interruption or cancellation of trip or event, loss of baggage or personal effects, damages to accommodations or rental vehicles, sickness, accident, disability or death during travel, emergency evacuation, and repatriation of remains.1 | Insurance coverage for personal risks incident to planned travel, including interruption or cancellation of trip or event, loss of baggage or personal effects, damages to accommodations or rental vehicles, emergency evacuation, and repatriation of remains.2 |
| Travel assistance services | "Noninsurance services for which the consumer is not indemnified based on a fortuitous event." Examples include security advisories, translation assistance, lost luggage assistance and passport replacement assistance. "Travel assistance services are not insurance."1 | Noninsurance services for which the consumer is not indemnified based on a fortuitous event, with a similar list of examples. "Travel assistance services are not insurance."2 |
| Cancellation fee waiver | A contractual agreement between a supplier of travel services and its customer to waive some or all of the nonrefundable cancellation fee provisions of the supplier's underlying travel contract. "A cancellation fee waiver is not insurance."1 | The same definition. "A cancellation fee waiver is not insurance."2 |
Both statutes also say what travel insurance does not include. Florida excludes "major medical plans that provide comprehensive medical protection for travelers with trips lasting longer than 6 months."1 Virginia excludes similar plans for trips "lasting longer than six months."2 The Florida definition also names "sickness, accident, disability, or death occurring during travel." Virginia's main list does not, though it adds that travel insurance "may include" provisions to pay medical, hospital, surgical and funeral expenses for death, dismemberment, sickness or injury.12
Where the documents come in
Both statutes define fulfillment materials as "documentation sent to the purchaser of a travel protection plan confirming the purchase and providing the travel protection plan's coverage and assistance details."12 That is where to look for what a plan includes.
Virginia's disclosure, claims and refund rules
Virginia's article sets rules for selling travel insurance and travel protection plans. Florida's definitions section does not contain these, and we did not read the rest of Florida's chapter 647 for this page.
| Topic | What the Virginia Code says |
|---|---|
| One-price plans | A plan may be offered for one price only if it clearly discloses, at or before purchase, that it includes travel insurance, travel assistance services and cancellation fee waivers, as applicable. It must give an opportunity to get more information on each feature and its pricing. The fulfillment materials must describe and separate each part.2 |
| Claims process | A limited lines travel insurance agent or travel retailer must give purchasers a description of the process for filing a claim, a description of the review or cancellation process, and the identity and contact information of the insurer and agent.2 |
| Pre-existing conditions | Where a policy has pre-existing condition exclusions, information and an opportunity to learn more must be provided any time before purchase and in the fulfillment materials.2 |
| Primary or secondary | The company must disclose in the policy documents and fulfillment materials whether the travel insurance is primary or secondary to other applicable coverage.2 |
| Full refund on cancelling | Unless the insured has started a covered trip or filed a claim, the holder may cancel for a full refund of the plan price until at least 15 days after delivery of the fulfillment materials sent by United States Postal Service mail, or at least 10 days after delivery by other means.2 |
| Opt-out boxes | A seller may not use a negative option or opt-out that would require a consumer to take an affirmative action to deselect coverage, such as unchecking a box.2 |
| "Free" blanket coverage | It is an unfair trade practice to market blanket travel insurance coverage as free.2 |
| Policies that cannot pay | Offering or selling a travel insurance policy that could never result in payment of any claims for any insured under the policy is an unfair trade practice.2 |
| Licensing | A person may not sell, solicit or negotiate travel insurance unless licensed and appointed as a limited lines travel insurance agent. A travel retailer may offer and disseminate it only under that agent's license and registration.2 |
Virginia also says the article applies to travel insurance and "shall not apply to cancellation fee waivers or travel assistance services except as expressly provided in this article."2 It says travel insurance is classified and filed for rates and forms under the inland marine line of insurance.2
What a travel retailer's staff may and may not do in Virginia
Virginia says an unlicensed travel retailer employee may not "evaluate or interpret the technical terms, benefits, and conditions of the offered travel insurance coverage," may not evaluate or advise on a buyer's existing coverage, and may not hold out as a licensed insurer, agent or insurance expert.2 Travel retailers must make available written materials explaining that "the purchase of travel insurance is not required in order to purchase any other product or service from the travel retailer."2
Who to ask
Florida's statute names the Department of Financial Services as "the department" for travel insurance.1 Virginia's article refers to "the Commission."2 Your own state's insurance regulator is the right place to ask how your state treats a plan. The Register currently reports on home warranty and vehicle service contract providers only, so it does not cover sellers of travel protection.
Where this fits our standard
Our standard is written for home warranty and vehicle service contract providers, and the Register reports only on those. Sellers of travel protection are outside what they assess. This page describes statutes. It is not a recommendation of any plan or seller.
How to verify this yourself
- Open the Florida Statutes section 647.02 (reference 1) and the Virginia Code article (reference 2). Every statement above comes from them.12
- Find the fulfillment materials for a plan you hold or are offered. See which parts are insurance, which are assistance services, and which are cancellation fee waivers.
- Ask your state insurance regulator how your state treats travel protection plans. Rules differ by state, and this page covers only Florida's definitions and Virginia's article.
What this page is not
This is general information about two state statutes, not legal or insurance advice. It does not tell you whether to buy a plan, which plan to buy, or what a particular plan covers. It does not cover other states, Canada, credit card travel benefits, or the rest of Florida's chapter 647.
What to do next
Read the fulfillment materials of any plan you are considering, and ask your state insurance regulator how your state treats it. For the terms we use, see the warranty terms glossary. Start from the other warranties hub.