It’s a question we hear a lot: When you’re traveling with someone else, is that person automatically covered by your travel insurance?

The short answer is no. When you buy a travel insurance plan, it’s intended to protect only you, the insured person: your trip, your money, and your wellbeing.

However, travel insurance does provide many benefits that can affect travel companions… and if something happens to your companion, travel insurance can jump in to assist you. Let’s take a closer look at how travel insurance works for friends traveling together.

First: What is a travel companion?

It’s pretty simple. Allianz Travel Insurance defines a travel companion as “a person or service animal (as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act) traveling with you or traveling to accompany you on your trip.” (A group or tour leader doesn’t count as a travel companion, unless you’re sharing a room.)

A travel companion may be a family member or relative, but doesn’t have to be related to you. A stranger sharing your hostel room isn’t a travel companion, because they’re not traveling with you.

What about pets? A pet is not considered a travel companion. Only service animals fall under this definition—and, according to the ADA, service animals are working animals, not pets. Specifically, they are “dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.” Dogs that provide emotional support or comfort don’t qualify.

The quick guide to what travel insurance can cover when you’re traveling with a companion

• If something happens to your travel companion during the trip and they need help, you can call 24-hour assistance (or use the Allyz® TravelSmart app). Our team of expert problem-solvers will do their best to assist you.
• If something happens to your travel companion before the trip and they can’t go, that may be a covered reason for trip cancellation. The companion must cancel for a covered reason—that is, one specifically named in your insurance plan.
• If your travel companion becomes seriously ill or injured while traveling, that can be a covered reason for trip interruption. Your plan may also reimburse you for additional accommodation and transportation expenses while a traveling companion is hospitalized.
• If your trip is interrupted because of a covered reason involving your travel companion, trip interruption benefits can reimburse you for unused, non-refundable trip costs as well as eligible transportation costs and other expenses.
• If your travel companion’s trip is delayed for a covered reason, travel insurance with trip delay benefits can reimburse you for eligible expenses incurred because of the delay.

How does this work in real life? Let’s look at a few scenarios. Remember that plans vary, however, and you should read yours thoroughly to see what’s included.

Your travel companion gets sick or injured. What can travel insurance cover?

When you and your best friend take a trip to Patagonia, you go birdwatching while he takes an ATV tour. On your return to the lodge, a staff member comes running with some bad news: your friend crashed his four-wheeler. He may have fractured his femur, and it looks like he has a concussion as well. Can your travel insurance help?

If you purchased travel insurance that includes emergency medical and dental benefits, those benefits are only for you, the insured. So your travel insurance plan will not reimburse your friend for emergency medical expenses overseas, or help arrange payment to doctors and hospitals. The same goes for your emergency medical transportation benefits. Because those benefits are for you, they will not cover the cost of transporting your friend to a hospital or other appropriate medical facility.

However, there are a few ways your travel insurance plan may be able to help. One, because you’re an Allianz Travel Insurance customer, you can contact 24-hour assistance for guidance. Our multilingual travel experts can direct you to the nearest qualified medical facility; serve as interpreters if you need help communicating with local doctors; and help you obtain emergency cash or get a message home.

Two, travel insurance may also reimburse a traveler for additional accommodation and transportation expenses incurred because a traveling companion is hospitalized. So if your friend ends up in the hospital in Santiago, Chile, your travel insurance may pay to get you there and put you up in a hotel room. (A per-day dollar limit and time limit apply.)

Three, your travel insurance plan may consider the serious, covered injury of a traveling companion to be a covered reason for trip interruption. That means if you must cut your trip short because your friend got hurt, your travel insurance may reimburse you for your prepaid, non-refundable trip expenses and for reasonable transportation expenses to reach your final destination or to get back home. If you decide to continue your trip without your companion, travel insurance may reimburse you for the extra cost of single accommodation, if you prepaid for shared accommodation.

Your travel companion cancels the trip. What can travel insurance cover?

You’re packing your sundresses and swimsuits for a luxury Caribbean cruise with your sister. Then she calls you with bad news. The company where she’s worked for 10 years has announced massive layoffs, and she lost her job. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t go,” she says. “I just can’t afford it.” Now what are you supposed to do?

In this situation, your travel insurance may be able to help. If you or a traveling companion is terminated or laid off from a company after your plan’s effective date, that may be considered a covered reason for trip cancellation. A few requirements apply: Your plan must include job termination or layoff as a covered reason for cancellation, the termination or layoff can’t be your (or your companion’s) fault, and you (or your companion) must have worked for the employer as a permanent employee for at least 12 consecutive months (or at least three years, for some plans). Check your travel insurance plan documents to find out what’s covered and which requirements apply.

So what happens if you decide to cancel the cruise because your sister got laid off? If your travel insurance considers layoff/termination to be a covered reason for cancellation as described above, your plan can reimburse you for your lost prepaid, nonrefundable trip expenses. Note that we say “your” expenses—your sister would not get her prepaid trip expenses reimbursed unless she had her own travel insurance plan.

Other things that happen to a travel companion, or to you, may be covered reasons for trip interruption/cancellation. For example (specific requirements apply to each):

• The serious covered illness, injury or death of a traveling companion
• A traveling companion is quarantined
• A traveling companion is in a traffic accident on the departure date, and either needs medical attention or needs to repair the car because it’s unsafe to drive
• A traveling companion’s vehicle breaks down or is stolen during the trip
• A traveling companion legally separates from or divorces their spouse after the plan’s effective date and before your departure date
• A travel companion is hijacked
• A travel companion is called for military duty
• A travel companion is unable to receive a vaccination required for travel because of an illness, injury, or medical condition
• A travel companion gets a new permanent, full-time, paid job after your plan takes effect, and their job requires them to work during your trip dates.
• A travel companion must relocate 100 miles or more for work
• A travel companion gets called for duty as a first responder due to an accident or emergency
• A travel companion receives a legal notice to attend an adoption proceeding during the trip
• A travel companion’s passport or travel documents are stolen, or they’re refused a travel visa
• A travel companion is denied boarding based on a suspicion that they have a contagious medical condition
• A travel companion gets legally separated or divorced before the departure date

All plans do not have the same covered reasons, so please read your policy documents carefully.

Your travel companion gets delayed. What can travel insurance cover?

You and your old college roommate are meeting up in Croatia to do an 8-day cycling tour of the Balkans. But when you arrive in Dubrovnik, you learn that his flight was delayed by a full day. By the time he arrives, your tour group will have already departed. Is there anything your travel insurance can do to help?

Yes. Trip delay coverage applies if your or a traveling companion’s trip is delayed for a covered reason. So in this situation, your insurance can reimburse your lost prepaid trip expenses, and reimburse you for extra covered expenses (like your hotel stay and meals while you’re waiting for your friend). Your plan can even reimburse reasonable transportation expenses to help you rejoin your tour, so you can easily catch up with the group in the town of Kotor. What a relief!

If your travel companion is also a family member, travel insurance can address even more scenarios. The OneTrip Prime and OneTrip Premier plans, for example, cover children 17 and under for free when traveling with a parent or grandparent (not available on policies issued to Pennsylvania residents).  Read more about how travel insurance covers family members.

The golden rule is that every person on a trip should purchase their own travel insurance. Compare plans and get a quote for your next trip!

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• Do I Need Travel Insurance If I Have Health Insurance?
• How Travel Insurance Covers Family Members
• 7 Reasons You Need Family Travel Insurance