Thank you for clarifying that issue, Diane. Now I understand perfectly.

In a similar vein though, my concern is more with the interruption rather than the cancellation aspect of trip insurance. I, like Diane, usually feel I can cancel the accommodation at the last minute. Since most of my airline tickets could be refunded if I had a doctor's certification I pretty much never bought trip insurance.

However, this year, I ended up cancelling two and half trips due to health issues. I ended up losing an apartment deposit because I did not buy travel insurance.

Upon reading up on some of the details of different policies on http://insuremytrip.com for future reference, I can see Diane's thinking as the more the trip costs, the more the insurance costs.

So my question to you all is - how do you purchase TI when you use ff miles? I am planning a trip to Japan with ff miles. The hotel can be cancelled the day before. So my cancellation expense is only $100 to reinstate my ff miles - very little more than the insurance premium. Suppose I am called home because of my elderly mother passing on, I would need interruption insurance to cover the remainder of my hotel bill which I have paid upon arrival (unless they give me a partial refund) as well as paying full fare on short notice to go from KIX to JFK. Any advice or ideas??

Mara in very unwintery Brooklyn