This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
I got into some trouble recently when I said that TSA ID checks are just security theater. Somebody was asking a question about reselling plane tickets, you know, why does the TSA actually match your ID to your boarding pass, TSA being the Transportation Security Association? Are they an association? No, they're an administration. That's right.
It is a government security body in the United States. Other countries, of course, have their own airport security systems. So anyway, I got in trouble when I said, you know, that it's just security theater. I got some complaints about it, but it's absolutely true, like it is completely true. So guess what else is a scam?
Travel insurance. Why do you think airlines push it so much? Whenever you buy a plane ticket, you always have the opportunity. You're actually pushed quite hard, nudged, they might say, but it's more like a push to purchase this insurance as well, just in case something goes wrong, or at least that's how it's described, but really it is a big moneymaker for airlines. Insurance companies have all sorts of restrictions on what kinds of claims they pay out, and this is even more true with travel insurance.
It's very difficult to get a claim paid. And furthermore, key point, ever since COVID, it's been even less necessary or more useless, not sure of the right phrasing, than it was before, because so many tickets are refundable or changeable without penalty now. Now this is side hustle school, of course. I'm not just complaining about the TSA or airlines or insurance companies in general. I'm interested in the topic from another angle, and this is the angle of how can you get in on the racket, right?
The airlines make millions of dollars pushing useless travel insurance policies. Today's caller wants to know, how can I get some of that? Okay, fair question. Let's talk about it. The question and my detailed answer coming up after this quick shout out to our sponsor.
Hi Chris, this is James from Houston, and I have an idea I'd like some feedback on. Every time I buy a plane ticket, the airline encourages you to buy insurance. Sometimes the upsell is really aggressive, so that makes me think it's highly profitable for them. But the insurance packages are provided by third parties, so the airlines must be getting some kind of revenue share. Can individuals get in on this and sell insurance packages as an affiliate?
What about other forms of insurance, like car or homeowners insurance? I don't want to become an insurance agent or join a company. I just think with someone with good SEO skills, there would be at least one way to profit from so many people buying these policies. Am I right or wrong? James, you are absolutely right, at least sort of, and by that I mean 90% right.
So first of all, insurance is a racket by nature, especially travel insurance. The way these companies make money is by people not filing claims, or by making the terms so narrow that claims are easily denied, or just by making it difficult to file the claims in the first place. As I said, we're going to focus on the affiliate aspect, the money making aspect. That's what the question is about. So if you search for travel insurance affiliate program, just type that phrase into Google, you're going to see several programs pop up, and probably if you dig deeper, you're going to find more.
The commissions that you get if you refer somebody to one of these programs, sometimes it's a percentage, like there's one program that quotes 12%, sometimes it's a flat fee. Another program offers $25 a sale. One that I found pays for leads, so not just sales, but leads. In other words, if you're referring somebody and they give their email address, something like that, that's especially good because people don't actually have to buy something for you to get paid. So James mentioned specifically someone with good SEO skills, they could build a website that effectively serves as a portal for one or more of these companies.
They would try to create pages that target specific search terms people use whenever they're planning a trip. And it could be for car and home insurance as well. I'm just focusing on the travel aspect here. Then the pages or posts would try to pre-sell visitors on the idea of insurance conveniently with a link to purchase. So it can absolutely work.
What's not to like? The biggest thing is it's a competitive market, like it is a tough market out there because there's so much money in it. James isn't the only person who's had this idea. Plus, the insurance companies have plenty of people working for them directly who try to attract visitors on their own. So in a way, if you kind of go into this business, you're competing against the same party that's paying you a bit of a conflict of interest there and you just kind of have to deal with that.
Still, it is competitive because it's profitable, right? So you can say, "Well, it's difficult because it's so competitive." Well, the reason it's competitive is because it's profitable for a lot of people and companies. So if you have the right SEO skills and you want to learn more about it, then it could be a good opportunity. So James or anybody else out there, let us know how it goes. And listeners, don't buy travel insurance.
Not usually a good idea. If you have a question though, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We will continue to feature them along with updates from listeners as they launch, grow, develop, and evolve their projects. Thank you for tuning in today. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is Side Hustle School. From The Onward Project.
