Although I have the CSR and other credit cards that offer various forms of travel insurance, I would strongly counsel against relying on them for anything other than airline ticket and lodging refunds. If you want real travel insurance, you need to look elsewhere.
Since my staff and I travel a lot internationally on business, we carefully examined the travel insurance marketplace. We looked at Travel Guard, Global Rescue, Travelex, Allianz, etc. For a variety of reasons, we settled on Global Rescue. It was the only company that offered really good coverage for three important risks: trip interruption/cancellation, medical evacuation, and security (kidnap/ransom/hostage).
The way Global Rescue works is that you purchase a membership first. There are several levels so that you can buy the coverage you need. Then you purchase specific travel insurance for each trip, which varies in price depending on the cost, location, and length of your trip.
How do I know that medical evacuation coverage is important? Years ago, one of my colleagues fell ill while on a business trip in a remote part of Mexico. She was bitten by something; we still don't know what, probably a venomous snake or spider. She went into anaphylactic shock and was taken to a local hospital. When her condition didn't improve, we called for her to be medevaced to Houston for advanced treatment. The travel insurance company sent a LearJet with a flight nurse and crew. In flight to the U.S., my colleague's heart stopped twice and she had to be resuscitated. If we had not purchased medevac coverage for our staff, she likely would not have survived. Your U.S.-based medical insurance doesn't usually cover medevac from other countries! It may also not cover your medical bills for treatment overseas.
The moral of this story: If you travel a lot, particularly overseas, don't rely on solely on credit card issuers for insurance; make sure you're adequately protected. You never know when you're going to need it...
I think the important thing to learn from that story is to get the level of insurance that makes sense for the trip. I probably don't need a membership for a trip insurance group that then allows me to purchase medevac insurance for a trip that is just down to Florida for the weekend.
The delay/interruption that comes standard on any card that offers it is probably adequate for close to 90% of travel. If it is a complicated or expensive trip then just pay a few extra bucks for more comprehensive coverage. And don't forget that not everything is covered by cancellation insurance. You can't just say "oh a meeting came up and I can't make the trip", it is pretty specific about what qualifies.
CSR really does rule in its benefit coverages and limits. It has so many different forms of insurance that it is hard to discern the difference between them all!
