Cancel for Any Reason Travel Insurance: How It Works & Best CFAR Options

Cancel for any reason (CFAR) is an optional add-on to your travel insurance that lets you cancel your trip for any reason and receive 50% to 80% reimbursement of your nonrefundable travel expenses.

Standard travel insurance covers only specific circumstances like illness or severe weather and reimburses 100% of nonrefundable costs. CFAR covers everything else, including changing your mind, work conflicts or general travel anxiety.

Cancel for any reason coverage is available on mid-tier and premium travel insurance policies. CFAR costs 40% to 60% of your base travel insurance plan cost or about 3% of your trip cost.

CFAR policies have five common requirements:

• Buy within 7 to 21 days of making your first trip payment
• Insure 100% of your prepaid trip costs
• Everyone in your group must cancel together (no partial cancellations)
• Give at least 48 to 72 hours' notice before departure
• Be healthy enough to travel when you buy the policy

When you cancel using CFAR, your nonrefundable travel expenses get reimbursed at a set rate of 50% to 80%. Standard travel insurance covers cancellations for specific reasons like illness, death in the family, natural disasters and airline issues with 100% reimbursement. CFAR covers everything else at a lower reimbursement rate, including anxiety, work schedule conflicts or changing your mind.

CFAR is worthwhile if there's more than a 5% chance you'll need to cancel your trip.

CFAR Works Best For:

• High-risk travelers: Business professionals with demanding schedules, people with elderly or declining family members and travelers to politically unstable regions
• Expensive trips: Luxury vacations, once-in-a-lifetime experiences and multi-generational family trips where recovering even 75% provides substantial protection
• Uncertain circumstances: Pregnancy during travel dates, job instability, health conditions that might worsen or family caregiving responsibilities

Skip CFAR For:

• Low-risk situations: Cancellation probability under 4% where CFAR costs exceed likely benefits
• Flexible bookings: Short trips close to home and travel with refundable cancellation terms
• Stable travelers: Healthy travelers with stable personal and work situations

We researched the best cancel for any reason policies from 13 major travel insurers to determine which companies had the best reimbursement percentages, lowest costs and most flexible terms and conditions.

Allianz leads with its "Cancel Anytime" coverage, offering better terms than any other CFAR policy. Only available on OneTrip Prime and OneTrip Premier plans, this upgrade pays back 80% of prepaid, nonrefundable costs, the highest reimbursement rate available.

Key features:

• 80% reimbursement (most competitors offer 75%)
• 14-day purchase window from your first trip payment
• Cancel up to departure day (competitors require 48 hours' notice)
• Up to $16,000 per traveler in coverage
• Available on OneTrip Prime and OneTrip Premier plans

You'll need to call to add Cancel Anytime, as it's unavailable online, and you must insure your full trip cost.

IMG offers CFAR across three iTravelInsured plans with 75% reimbursement, covering up to $112,500, the highest maximum benefit available. You also get interruption for any reason (IFAR) coverage bundled in, which protects you if you need to cut your trip short.

Key features:

• 75% of your nonrefundable costs back
• 20 to 21 days to add CFAR after your first payment (timing varies by plan)
• Cancel at least 48 hours before departure
• Up to $112,500 in coverage on SE and LX plans
• Three plan options: Choice, Travel SE, Travel LX

IMG doesn't sell CFAR to residents in New York, Missouri or Washington. The Choice plan limits trip coverage to $10,000, which means a $7,500 maximum CFAR payout. SE and LX plans cover trips up to $150,000, making IMG your best option for expensive trips.

Tin Leg gives you more CFAR choices than any other insurer, with reimbursement rates from 50% to 75% depending on which plan you pick. This flexibility lets you balance cost against coverage based on your budget.

Key features:

• 50% to 75% reimbursement (pick the level that fits your needs)
• 14 days to add CFAR after your first payment
• Cancel at least 48 hours before departure
• No coverage cap (your benefit matches your total trip cost)
• Four plans: Gold (75%), Silver (50%), Luxury (75%), Adventure (75%)

Tin Leg sells CFAR to residents in all states, offering options from basic protection at the lowest price to comprehensive coverage with higher reimbursement rates.

CFAR increases your travel insurance cost by 40% to 60%. Based on our analysis of 13 major travel insurers, CFAR costs an average of $79 for a $2,500 trip, $191 for a $5,000 trip and $302 for a $10,000 trip. These costs are roughly 3% of your trip value across different amounts, making CFAR a good buy for expensive vacations where even partial recovery provides financial protection.

BHTP ($44), Travel Guard ($46) and Seven Corners ($47) offer the lowest rates for $2,500 coverage. Review each company's detailed terms in our rankings above, as lower prices may come with 50% reimbursement instead of 75% to 80%, shorter purchase windows or stricter cancellation deadlines.

Beyond financial protection, CFAR provides peace of mind that can enhance your travel experience. CFAR reduces "commitment anxiety" by providing an exit strategy. Knowing you can recover most of your costs if circumstances change allows you to book trips with confidence and helps these travelers:

• Nervous flyers who worry about getting to the airport
• Business travelers facing unpredictable work demands
• Family caregivers concerned about leaving dependents
• Health-conscious travelers during flu seasons or pandemics
• First-time international travelers feeling overwhelmed

The peace of mind alone can be worth the cost, even if you end up not canceling your trip.

If CFAR doesn't fit your budget, consider these alternatives:

• Book with flexible cancellation policies. Many airlines and hotels let you cancel for free, especially when you book directly rather than through third-party sites.
• Check your credit card benefits. Premium travel cards often cover trip cancellation for specific reasons. You might already have protection without realizing it.
• Stick with standard travel insurance. Regular policies cover common cancellation reasons like illness, severe weather and family emergencies. Review what your plan already covers before paying extra for CFAR.

We evaluated 13 travel insurance companies offering cancel for any reason coverage using five criteria, weighted by importance:

• Reimbursement rate (50%): Getting 75% to 80% back versus 50% makes the biggest difference when recovering thousands of dollars
• Cost (20%): How affordable the CFAR add-on is compared to competitors
• Time to buy (10%): Whether you get 7 days or 21 days to add CFAR after your first payment
• Cancellation deadline (10%): Can you cancel the day you leave, or do you need to give 48 to 72 hours' notice
• Where it's sold (10%): Which states allow CFAR coverage

We collected 678 CFAR quotes across all companies for trips costing $2,500, $5,000 and $10,000 using the same traveler profile (single travelers aged 30). We averaged each company's rates across their CFAR plans and excluded annual policies and cruise coverage to focus on standard single-trip protection.