John Hancock travel insurance review 2024
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“Verified by an expert” means that this article has been thoroughly reviewed and evaluated for accuracy.
BLUEPRINT
Published 5:00 a.m. UTC Jan. 24, 2024
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Pros
- Silver plan has $1,000 specific items limit for personal item loss.
- Generous $500 per person baggage delay benefit.
- “Cancel for any reason” coverage upgrade of 75% available.
Cons
- Lower emergency medical coverage limit than many leading competitors.
- No option to purchase “interruption for any reason” coverage.
- No non-medical evacuation coverage.
Why trust our travel insurance experts
Our team of experts evaluates hundreds of insurance products and analyzes thousands of data points to help you find the best product for your situation. We use a data-driven methodology to determine each rating. Advertisers do not influence our editorial content. You can read more about our methodology below.
- 1,855 coverage details evaluated.
- 567 rates reviewed.
- 5 levels of fact-checking.
John Hancock overview
John Hancock travel insurance is underwritten by Starr Insurance, which was founded in 1919. It offers three travel insurance plans: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Its Silver and Gold plans get 3 stars in our rating of the best travel insurance.
John Hancock travel insurance plans
John Hancock offers three plans with varying levels of travel insurance coverage. Each plan includes:
- 24/7 assistance.
- Airline ticket change fee.
- Baggage/personal effects coverage.
- Emergency medical coverage.
- Emergency medical evacuation coverage.
- Missed connection coverage.
- Terror attack coverage.
- Trip cancellation coverage.
- Trip delay coverage.
- Trip interruption coverage.
Bronze
John Hancock’s Bronze plan is the most economically affordable of the three options. This plan includes all the standard coverage benefits:
- Emergency medical evacuation: $250,000.
- Emergency medical: $50,000.
- Trip cancellation: 100% of eligible trip costs.
- Trip interruption: 125% of eligible trip costs.
- Optional “cancel for any reason” CFAR coverage: 75% reimbursement for prepaid, nonrefundable payments. Must be purchased within 14 days of your trip deposit. To use this coverage, you must cancel at least two days before your departure date.
The Bronze plan also includes coverage for delayed and lost baggage, missed connections, travel delay and 24-hour accidental death and dismemberment. This plan includes a pre-existing conditions waiver if purchased within 14 days of your first trip deposit and 100% of your trip costs are insured. Pre-existing conditions are typically not covered by travel insurance.
Silver
The John Hancock Silver travel insurance plan scores 3 out of 5 stars in our review of the best travel insurance companies.
- Emergency medical evacuation: $500,000.
- Emergency medical: $100,000.
- Trip cancellation: 100% of eligible trip costs.
- Trip interruption: 150% of eligible trip costs.
- Optional “cancel for any reason” CFAR coverage: 75% reimbursement for prepaid, nonrefundable payments. Must be purchased within 14 days of your trip deposit. To use this coverage, you must cancel at least two days before your departure date.
The Silver plan includes more coverage than the Bronze plan for missed connections, travel delay, lost and delayed baggage and 24-hour accidental death and dismemberment.
Like the Bronze plan, the Silver plan includes a pre-existing conditions waiver if purchased within 14 days of your first trip deposit and 100% of your trip costs are insured.
Gold
The John Hancock Gold plan also scores 3 out of 5 stars in our analysis of the best travel insurance companies.
- Emergency medical evacuation: $1 million.
- Emergency medical: $250,000.
- Trip cancellation: 100% of eligible trip costs.
- Trip interruption: 150% of eligible trip costs.
- Optional “cancel for any reason” CFAR coverage: 75% reimbursement for prepaid, nonrefundable payments. Must be purchased within 14 days of your trip deposit. To use this coverage, you must cancel at least days before your departure date.
Of the three plans offered by John Hancock travel insurance, the Gold plan offers the highest coverage limits for travel delay, missed connections and baggage loss. It also offers baggage delay and 24-hour accidental death and dismemberment coverage.
Additional travel coverages
John Hancock offers three add-on coverage options to further customize your insurance plan. For an additional cost, these add-ons can be purchased at the time you purchased your policy.
“Cancel-for-any-reason” (CFAR) coverage
The Bronze, Silver and Gold plans all offer the option to upgrade to cancel for any reason travel insurance coverage. CFAR coverage reimburses 75% of nonrefundable payments or deposits even if the trip is canceled for a reason that is not listed in your policy.
A CFAR upgrade is only available if you buy it within 14 days of your first trip deposit. To use this coverage, you need to cancel your trip at least 48 hours before your scheduled departure date.
Accidental death and dismemberment coverage
Each of John Hancock’s travel insurance plans include coverage for accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D). The Bronze plan includes $25,000 per person, while the Silver and Gold plans increase coverage to $100,000 per person. Each plan offers the option to include coverage for flight only AD&D, which pays an additional benefit for loss of limb or life when you’re a passenger on a common carrier aircraft.
Rental car damage coverage
Rental car damage is add-on coverage that will reimburse up to the vehicle’s actual cash value (ACV), the cost of repairs or the benefit outlined in your policy details if it’s damaged in a collision or stolen while in your possession. Covered losses include fire, flood, hail or windstorm damage.
What John Hancock travel insurance doesn't cover
Like all travel insurance companies, John Hancock does not cover every incident that could occur before or during your trip.
For instance, exclusions to emergency medical coverage for the John Hancock Gold plan include:
- Cosmetic surgery (except as the result of accidental injury).
- Dental treatment (unless as a result of accidental injury).
- Injuries due to activities such as contact sports, hang gliding, skydiving, mountaineering, horse racing, car and motorcycle racing, parachuting, scuba diving (unless accompanied by a dive master at a depth of 100 feet or less), spelunking and bungee jumping.
- Injuries resulting from being intoxicated above the legal limit or under the influence of drugs or narcotics (unless prescribed by a physician and taken in accordance with your physician’s instructions).
- Mental or emotional disorders.
- Non-emergency treatments or surgeries including routine physical exams, hearing aids, eyeglasses or contact lenses.
- Piloting or learning to pilot an aircraft.
- Suicide or attempted suicide.
Each John Hancock’s travel insurance plan has limitations, so it is important to read the fine print for what is covered. John Hancock’s “free-look” period gives you 14 days in most states to review your policy and cancel for a full refund if it doesn’t fit your needs.
John Hancock travel insurance policy rates
How much you’ll pay for a John Hancock travel insurance plan will depend on personal factors such as your trip destination, trip length, number of travelers and age of travelers. Upgrades such as “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) coverage will also impact your rate.
We plugged in several travel scenarios to give you sample rates for John Hancock Insurance Agency’s Silver plan.
| TRIP | COST OF SILVER TRAVEL INSURANCE PLAN |
|---|---|
Two travelers aged 30 $3,000 trip to Mexico for 8 days
| $116
|
Two travelers aged 30 $3,000 trip to Mexico for 8 days With CFAR upgrade
| $174
|
Two travelers aged 40 $6,000 trip to Italy for 17 days
| $280
|
Two travelers aged 70 $3,000 trip to Mexico for 8 days
| $314
|
Two travelers aged 65 $6,000 trip to Italy for 17 days
| $384
|
Two travelers aged 40 $6,000 trip to Italy for 17 days With CFAR upgrade
| $420
|
Two travelers aged 70 $3,000 trip to Mexico for 8 days With CFAR upgrade
| $471
|
Two travelers aged 65 $6,000 trip to Italy for 17 days With CFAR upgrade
| $576
|
Four travelers aged 40, 40, 10 and 7 $15,000 trip to Italy for 17 days
| $638
|
Four travelers aged 40, 40, 10 and 7 $15,000 trip to Italy for 17 days With CFAR upgrade
| $957
|
Compare the best travel insurance companies of 2024
| TRAVEL INSURANCE COMPANY | TOP-SCORING PLAN | OUR RATING | MEDICAL BENFITS PER PERSON | EVACUATION LIMITS PER PERSON | LEARN MORE | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 WorldTrips | Atlas Journey Elevate | $250,000 primar coverage | $1,000,000 | Compare Quotes Via TravelInsurance.com’s website | ||||||||
| ||||||||||||
 Travel Insured International | Worldwide Trip Protector | $100,000 primary coverage | $1,000,000 | Compare Quotes Via Compare Coverage’s website | ||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| Classic | $100,000 primary coverage | $1,000,000 | Compare Quotes Via Compare Coverage’s website | |||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| Go Ready Choice | $50,000 secondary coverage | $250,000 | Compare Quotes Via Compare Coverage’s website | |||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| Travel Select | $50,000 primary coverage | $500,000 | Compare Quotes Via Compare Coverage’s website | |||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| Travel Guard Preferred | $50,000 Primary coverage | $500,000 | Compare Quotes Via Compare Coverage’s website | |||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| Cruise Choice | $100,000 secondary coverage | $500,000 | Compare Quotes Via Compare Coverage’s website | |||||||||
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Methodology
Our insurance experts reviewed 1,855 coverage details and 567 rates to determine the best travel insurance of 2024. For companies with more than one travel insurance plan, we shared information about the highest-scoring plan.
Insurers could score up to 100 points based on the following factors:
- Cost: 40 points. We scored the average cost of each travel insurance policy for a variety of trips and traveler profiles.
- Medical expenses: 10 points. We scored travel medical insurance by the coverage amount available. Travel insurance policies with emergency medical expense benefits of $250,000 or more per person were given the highest score of 10 points.
- Medical evacuation: 10 points. We scored each plan’s emergency medical evacuation coverage by coverage amount. Travel insurance policies with medical evacuation expense benefits of $500,000 or more per person were given the highest score of 10 points.
Pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver: 10 points. We gave full points to travel insurance policies that cover pre-existing medical conditions if certain conditions are met. - Missed connection: 10 points. Travel insurance plans with missed connection benefits of $1,000 per person or more received full points.
- “Cancel for any reason” upgrade: 5 points. We gave points to travel insurance plans with optional “cancel for any reason” coverage that reimburses up to 75%.
- Travel delay required waiting time: 5 points. We gave 5 points to travel insurance policies with travel delay benefits that kick in after a delay of 6 hours or less.
- Cancel for work reasons: 5 points. If a travel insurance plan allows you to cancel your trip for work reasons, such as your boss requiring you to stay and work, we gave it 5 points.
- Hurricane and severe weather: 5 points. Travel insurance plans that have a required waiting period for hurricane and weather coverage of 12 hours or less received 5 points.
Some travel insurance companies may offer plans with additional benefits or lower prices than the plans that scored the highest, so make sure to compare travel insurance quotes to see your full range of options.
John Hancock travel insurance review FAQs
John Hancock travel insurance is a subsidiary of Manulife. Manulife is an international financial services company that operates primarily as John Hancock in the United States and Manulife elsewhere.
Yes, John Hancock travel insurance Bronze, Silver and Gold plans all offer the option to purchase “cancel for any reason” CFAR coverage. This upgrade will reimburse up to 75% of your nonrefundable trip payments if you decide to cancel, as long as you do it at least two days before your scheduled departure.
Pre-existing conditions won’t be excluded from coverage if you buy a John Hancock travel insurance plan within 14 days of your first trip payment, your policy is the first and only policy issued for your travel dates and destination and you are medically able to travel at the time you buy your policy. As always, it is a good idea to check your policy details to confirm coverage.
Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.
