Travel Tips
Travel Tuesday: JetBlue Vacations Now Lets You Hedge Against a Rainy Trip
In past articles, I’ve talked about how I tend to purchase and pack items that will assist me in the event that rain occurs during my trip. For example, I’m always sure to bring my water-resistant Allbirds Mizzles hightops to ensure I have dry feet and have eyed the Quikflip Dryflip for similar comfort reasons. However, while some rain might just be a small inconvenience for some travels, it could be a real buzz killer for other types of trips.
That’s where WeatherPromise comes in, as they’ve put together a new type of travel insurance that pays out based on how waterlogged your vacation becomes. And while it doesn’t seem as though the platform currently sells policies directly, it has found a new partnership with JetBlue Vacations.
Recently, it was announced that those booking Flight + Hotel vacation packages via JetBlue Vacation may have the option to purchase a WeatherPromise insurance policy at the time of booking. When they do opt for this, all of the trip components purchased via JetBlue Vacations will be covered. This includes car rentals and activities in addition to the room and flight. This partnership is notable as, for now, WeatherPromise coverage is only offered through such partnerships and does not offer policies directly to travelers.
After seeing the press release on this offer, I knew I had to learn more. So, I looked up WeatherPromise to see exactly how their product worked.
Looking on the website, it looks as though the cost of your policy as well as what will trigger payout will depend on a few factors. The first is, of course, the cost of your overall trip. Second is the length of the trip. It’s also interesting to note how WeatherPromise defines a rain day. Meanwhile, the others are far more nebulous as they factor into WeatherPromise’s algorithm that considers all sorts of data, including weather history for your arrival locale. For example, I’d have to imagine that those visiting destinations during a known rainy season would be presented with a policy that has a far higher payout bar — if a policy was offered at all. But, rather than speculate, let’s look at an example from the site.
One sample shown highlights a potential $1,250 refund if it rains for at least two days of a seven-day trip. As for what that means, for the purposes of this policy, a rain day is one where it rains for at least two hours total between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Moreover, it needs to rain more than 0.04 inches to count as an hour. The cost for this sample policy is apparently $95.
Since that’s the only sample seen on WeatherPromise’s site and I couldn’t figure out how to trigger a quote on JetBlue Vacations, I went poking around and discovered a post from The Points Guy. I won’t recount all of their example quotes — but I will highlight some differences. One sample quote they have shows a $4,500 trip insured by a $199.71 premium. However, this payout is not only contingent on it raining three days out of the nine-day trip but also on it raining a total of three hours per day (versus two in some other examples). To their credit, though, each of these example quotes does clearly state the parameters of the policy.
What’s also nice is that WeatherPromise says that payouts are automatically triggered if conditions are met. This means that policyholders shouldn’t need to fill out any paperwork to claim their funds. Of course, one can only imagine trying to argue that you stood outside with a stopwatch and a tape measure and can attest that your coverage should pay when WeatherPromise’s data says otherwise.
Maybe I’ve just become overly used to being able to bet on anything, but this almost seems like a new way for people to place a wager on their vacation. Put down $200 to possibly save $4,000 if it rains? That’s 20:1 odds without a three-day, three-hour rain parlay!
Okay, I’m mostly kidding on this point — but I could legitimately see people using it this way. As for regular travelers, I’m not sure if this would be a good deal or not. I suppose it really depends on just how sensitive you and your plans are to rain. If they’re very contingent, then perhaps spending a couple hundred extra to potentially protect the full cost of your trip could be a good deal.
Overall, though, I’m very curious to see if WeatherPromise or offerings like it catch on. While I might not personally use it, I think it’s an interesting idea that I’d like to see play out.
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