Qatar Airways Travel Insurance - 2024 Review

Qatar Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Qatar. Headquartered in Doha, the airline flys to over 150 international destinations across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania.

Travel insurance is not offered when we book a flight on the Qatar website. This is good news for travelers as they can shop the open marketplace for the best travel insurance to meet their needs.

Let’s book a flight on Qatar Airways then look for travel insurance for the flight.

Our Sample Flight – New York to Doha

For our sample trip, our two travelers are traveling from JFK to Doha, Qatar from December 9  - December 24. We were given the option of choosing the type of fare we want – Economy, Business, or First Class when we were inputting our trip details. We chose Economy for our trip and a grid is displayed with the Economy options for the departure date chosen. Economy fares start at $2374, while Business is $9,096 and up depending on the departure time.

Selecting ‘Economy’ from our choices, brings up an addition selection of the various Economy fares:

Economy Classic is the least expensive and allows one flight change and cancellation within 24-hours of departure without penalty fees and no seat selection choice.

Economy Convenience is similar to Economy Classic but allows a maximum of two flight changes.

Finally, Economy Comfort provides maximum flexibility with unlimited flight changes, cancel at any time without fees and preferred seat.

After reviewing our options, we stuck with the least expensive option – Economy Classic  for $2374 total for both travelers combined.

Next, we had the option of choosing our seats and adding a checked bag (for a fee) before proceeding to checkout and purchase. Total final cost for both travelers is $1,332.88.

Now that we have our flights booked and travel insurance is not available at checkout on the Qatar Airways site, let’s shop for travel insurance in the open marketplace through TravelDefenders.

TravelDefenders – The Travel Insurance Marketplace

TravelDefenders is a travel insurance marketplace. We work with some of the largest trip insurance carriers in the country. We provide your travel details to them, and they provide binding quotes back which we sort in price order then highlight a plan we recommend for your trip. You don’t have to waste time shopping for quotes from individual companies.

Using TravelDefenders’s quoting tool and inputting our trip details, we are presented with 21 policies to choose from.

For international travel, TravelDefenders recommends having at least $100,000 in medical coverage and $250,000 in medical evacuation coverage. A waiver of pre-existing medical conditions is also recommended if needed.

The least expensive plan for our trip with adequate medical coverage is the Trawick First Class at $233.02, which is the total cost for both travelers combined.

This policy provides $150,000 of medical coverage and $1 million of medical evacuation coverage as well as a waiver for pre-existing medical conditions if the policy is purchased within 14 days of the initial trip payment or deposit date.

If we need to cancel for a reason listed in the policy, such as illness or injury, we’ll receive a 100% refund of our non-refundable trip costs.

However, what if we want maximum flexibility to cancel for any reason NOT listed in the policy? What options do we have? The answer is a Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) policy.

Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) Policies

Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR) policies give us maximum cancellation flexibility by allowing us to cancel for any reason NOT listed in the policy and still receive a partial refund of our trip costs.

This is a super-powerful benefit that does exactly what it says. A traveler needs to have no reason at all to cancel and still receive a significant refund.

The least expensive CFAR policy on our list is the Trawick First Class (CFAR 75%) at $396.13.

The policy provides the same $150,000 of medical coverage and $1 million of medical evacuation coverage as well as a waiver for pre-existing medical conditions AND the addition of Cancel For Any Reason benefits if the policy is purchased within 10 days of the initial trip payment or deposit date.

If we cancel for a reason listed in the policy we’ll receive a 100% refund of our trip costs, but if we cancel for a non-listed reason, we’ll receive a 75% refund of the trip costs.

A Cancel For Any Reason policy is an excellent option instead of spending extra money purchasing a refundable airline ticket – and often less expensive! The use of Cancel for Any Reason insurance to lower ticket prices has been described as the Airline Ticket Hack. Refundable benefits, yet with Non-Refundable ticket costs.

Aardy – One Site – Many Carriers

Our job at TravelDefenders is remarkably simple. We are like Amazon for travel insurance. We compare the trip insurance policies from some of the largest travel insurers in the USA.

Your travel information is sent to each of them, anonymously. You will get travel insurance quotes from each carrier and can compare them to see which is the best policy for you.

Does TravelDefenders charge More?

You cannot find the same trip insurance plans available at a better price. In the USA this price guarantee comes from strong anti-discriminatory insurance regulation. We cover this in detail in our article - Travel Insurance Comparison.

A travel insurance marketplace like TravelDefenders will offer a multitude of different plans from some of the most respected travel insurance carriers in the country. You will only need a few minutes to check value for money, cover, and insurance carrier ratings.

Enjoy your next trip with Qatar Airways and don’t forget to pack your travel insurance.

Safe travels!