You’re covered if storms loom or the boss calls

IT’S been an unsettling season for tourists, who have contended with a foiled London terror plot, the Lebanon-Israel conflict and hurricanes.

Troubled travelers who bought insurance have found help with rescheduling trips and recovering costs -- or they have found disappointment. Trip-cancellation policies typically exclude war; they may cover terrorist incidents but not conspiracies, hurricanes but not warnings. As with all insurance, there are exceptions.

But those who buy travel insurance today will find surprising new choices. In the last few months, insurers have added coverage for golfers, adventure travelers and pet owners. Eschewing traditional exclusions, some policies pay if your boss makes you work, and others will let you cancel for any reason.

“The industry has gotten away from one-size-fits all,” said Dan McGinnity, spokesman for Travel Guard International, a large insurer based in Stevens Point, Wis.

Here’s a look at some recent changes:

Cancel for any cause: Several years ago, cruise lines began selling waivers that allowed customers to cancel for any reason and get back at least part of their trip deposits. Some tour companies and vacation packagers began doing this too.

Now several independent insurers offer this option.

“The cancel-for-any-reason policy has been the most interesting turn of events in the last two years,” said Tully Lehman, spokesman for the Insurance Information Network of California, a private, nonprofit association based in Los Angeles and funded by the insurance industry.

Unlike waivers sold by cruise lines and other suppliers, cancel-for-any-reason insurance is typically regulated by state boards and may be part of a wide-ranging package that pays if your cruise line or airline goes out of business, you are injured or ill, weather delays your flight or in dozens of other circumstances, Lehman said.

The main disadvantage is the price. You may pay $200 or so, depending on trip cost and other factors, for a cruise waiver. An independent insurance policy with a cancel-for-any-reason clause may cost as much as 50% more than one without this clause.

Waivers may require you to apply your deposit to a future trip; insurance typically won’t. But with either a waiver or insurance, you may not get all of your money back and you may need to cancel a day or two ahead -- or not. It depends on the policy.

For instance, TravelSafe, sold through the Chester Perfetto Agency in Wyomissing, Pa., will reimburse 75% of prepaid, nonrefundable deposits under its “Cancel for Any Reason Benefit,” if you cancel at least two days before your scheduled departure.

The TravelSafe coverage is an optional add-on; cost varies. When I priced one of the company’s package policies online for a 35-year-old taking a seven-day, $1,500 trip, the premium was $45 without Cancel for Any Reason and $63 with that provision.

Besides TravelSafe, www.travelsafe.com, some other companies that offer cancel-for-any-reason on one or more policies are Travel Guard International, (www.travelguard.com; M.H. Ross Travel Insurance Services in Northridge, (www.tripinsurance.com); and Travel Insurance Services in Walnut Creek, Calif. (www.travelinsure.com). Internet travel seller Expedia (www.expedia.com) offers a “Package Protection Plan” for air-hotel packages only.

“Cancel for any reason” may save you from dickering with your insurer over definitions and fine print, a sore point with some travelers.

Work-related reasons: Travel insurance traditionally hasn’t covered you if you cancel your vacation because your employer requires you to work (unless, of course, you have cancel-for-any-reason coverage).

But in July, Access America, based in Richmond, Va., began offering BizPack, an optional add-on to its comprehensive plan that costs $19 extra per adult. It pays if you cancel or interrupt your trip because you’re required to work, your company is undergoing a merger or in case a serious event such as a fire or natural disaster hits your workplace.

Customized policies: Travel Guard International, which already had a dozen types of package policies, last month launched My Travel Guard, a plan that can be customized for adventure trips and other added coverage.

In this new program, you start out with a basic policy for trip cancellation/interruption, travel delay, medical expenses, medical evacuation and baggage loss/delay. Then you add options at extra cost.

For example, spokesman McGinnity said, a 49-year-old taking a $2,000 trip to Switzerland and buying insurance a month in advance would pay a basic premium of $84. For $7.27 more, the traveler could add coverage for high-risk sports such as skydiving and mountain climbing; for $4.18 more, the limit on baggage claims could be increased from $500 to $1,500; and so on.

A caveat: Coverage for events such as financial default, terrorism and air accidents, which are included in many package policies, must be bought as options under My Travel Guard.

Golf, pets and more: If bad weather closes the course where you planned to play your 18 holes, you may be reimbursed for prepaid greens fees under Travel Guard’s Tee, Tour & Travel policy. It covers you for good fortune too: If you make a hole in one, it will pay up to $250 for the traditional round of drinks at the clubhouse.

If illness or a natural disaster delays your return home, a policy from CSA Travel Protection, www.csatravelprotection.com, based in San Diego, may pay up to $150 in kennel fees for your pet.

Like some other insurers, CSA may pay if you cancel a trip because a participant’s military service was extended beyond the expected date. It may also cover you if the school year is extended into the date of your family vacation, which spokesman David Craychee said could happen because of snow closures.

One policy for all: Bucking the industry trend, CSA this month got rid of multiple polices and now focuses on one package, called Freestyle. The premium, which varies by age, time of year and other factors, is typical for package polices in the industry: about 5.5% to 7% of the trip cost.

Besides the pet, military and school-year coverage, Freestyle includes traditional clauses on trip cancellation/interruption, baggage loss, medical and other expenses. It can be upgraded, at extra cost, to Freestyle Luxe to obtain financial-default coverage and more medical benefits.

“Customers have told us, ‘Just give us the best plan,’ ” Craychee said.

After sifting through the ever-growing options in travel insurance out there, I suspect many vacationers may welcome such simplicity.

jane.engle@latimes.com

Next week: A sea change in hurricane coverage.