# Allianz Travel Insurance Weasels



## CalGalTraveler (Mar 16, 2020)

Just checked to cancel show tickets in April in which we purchased event protection insurance. Apparently, Allianz event protection policy doesn't cover epidemics but in this "unusual circumstance" they will happily refund the insurance fee. ($55 vs. $900 tickets).

Of course if you become ill with Covid-19 they will honor your claim. Big of them...Bunch of weasels especially in light of how well Hilton and HGVC are treating their customers who must cancel without any insurance policy.






						2019 Novel Coronavirus / COVID-19 (Event) | Allianz Global Assistance
					






					azcontent.us
				




Has anyone had any luck with travel or event insurance with Covid-19? What's the point of buying if they weasel out of paying you.


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## RX8 (Mar 16, 2020)

Sorry to hear about your tickets not being covered.  Looking at the Allianz website they must be getting lots of questions because they have a ”coverage alert” on their home page. They appear to distance themselves but do state they will honor coverage if one gets ill with the virus.

“Claims due to known, foreseeable, or expected events, epidemics, government prohibitions, warnings, or travel advisories or fear of travel are generally not covered, and coverage can vary by state.  However, until further notice, although not covered under most plans, we are currently accommodating claims for:


Under Emergency Medical Care Benefit: Emergency medical care for a customer who becomes ill with COVID-19 while on their trip.
Under Trip Cancellation or Trip Interruption Benefits: Trip cancellation and trip interruption if a customer becomes ill with COVID-19 either before or during their trip.
Under Trip Cancellation Benefit: Non-refundable, non-transferable trip cancellation expenses for customers who purchased their plan prior to January 22, 2020 for trip components in Mainland China, South Korea, or the Lombardy or Veneto regions of Italy and departing prior to April 1, 2020.
These accommodations are strictly applicable to COVID-19 and are only available for customers whose plan includes the applicable benefit.  All other terms, conditions, and exclusions of the plan apply as normal.”


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## CPNY (Mar 16, 2020)

CalGalTraveler said:


> Just checked to cancel show tickets in April in which we purchased event protection insurance. Apparently, Allianz event protection policy doesn't cover epidemics but in this "unusual circumstance" they will happily refund the insurance fee. ($55 vs. $900 tickets).
> 
> Of course if you become ill with Covid-19 they will honor your claim. Big of them...Bunch of weasels especially in light of how well Hilton and HGVC are treating their customers who must cancel without any insurance policy.
> 
> ...


If you happen to have a cough and you go to an urgent care maybe one virtually as many health systems have now, and they direct you that you cannot fly and give you written documentation due to the state of emergency I’m sure Allianz would have to honor that. I don’t think they would deny such claim for illness. That’s not a good look. Direction for anyone having any symptoms is to isolate so. Just saying if you cough you never know. Some may exhibit zero symptoms.


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## Iggyearl (Mar 16, 2020)

Just guessing... but isn't it the responsibility of the event organizer to refund the value of the tickets?  We had a regional NCAA basketball tournament scheduled in Albany, NY and the promoter said that all tickets would be refunded.  No show - no dough.


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## wackymother (Mar 16, 2020)

Most of our events--theater at a bunch of different places--have been canceled and the theaters are saying they will give credit to ticketholders so we can rebook later. Can you tweet to the theater/venue/team/performer?


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## CalGalTraveler (Mar 16, 2020)

Show is a few days past the NYC moratorium. Last hope is that the city will extend Broadway shutdown to the end of April. We are not traveling with an 85 YO to NYC in April.

I've been trying to get through to Ticketmaster but was disconnected due to a bad phone line after long wait. 

May just wait it out. However I don't see why travel insurance not helping at all. Weasels.


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## wackymother (Mar 16, 2020)

CalGalTraveler said:


> Show is a few days past the NYC moratorium. Last hope is that the city will extend Broadway shutdown to the end of April. We are not traveling with an 85 YO to NYC in April.
> 
> I've been trying to get through to Ticketmaster but was disconnected due to a bad phone line after long wait.



I'm just outside NYC. I suspect that the shutdown may indeed be extended to the end of April. I would just wait for a week or two to see how things go. Better to lose the money than put your family at risk, but I don't think you will lose your money. It's outrageous that Allianz is not paying up.


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## goaliedave (Mar 16, 2020)

CPNY said:


> If you happen to have a cough and you go to an urgent care maybe one virtually as many health systems have now, and they direct you that you cannot fly and give you written documentation due to the state of emergency I’m sure Allianz would have to honor that. I don’t think they would deny such claim for illness. That’s not a good look. Direction for anyone having any symptoms is to isolate so. Just saying if you cough you never know. Some may exhibit zero symptoms.


Nice! Can't Pee Now Youthfully (CPNY) knows health problems 

Sent from my SM-A505G using Tapatalk


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## Sapper (Mar 17, 2020)

I was looking at travel insurance last night Incase the gov imposes a domestic passenger air travel ban. Every travel insurance company seems to have some way to get out of paying. I see more risk paying for the travel insurance than just rolling with what ever may happen and taking a minor loss in change fees down the road.


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## CalGalTraveler (Mar 17, 2020)

@Sapper You are correct. If they cannot claim pandemic as an exclusion. There is another exception for government action. Weasels.

I normally don't buy travel insurance except for medical/emergency evacuation insurance when we travel internationally. We have the Chase Sapphire Reserve and good domestic medical so can recoup from domestic. The event insurance was the exception because I wanted to ensure we were covered.


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## Talent312 (Mar 17, 2020)

I'm not sure I understand why you think that you should be covered.
The shows are technically still a go. There's no curfew or isolation order.
It seems to me that the I-just-don't-wanna-go clause is what's missing.
<playing devil's advocate>


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## CalGalTraveler (Mar 17, 2020)

Talent312 said:


> I'm not sure I understand why you think that you should be covered.
> The shows are technically still a go. There's no curfew or isolation order.
> It seems to me that the I-just-don't-wanna-go clause is what's missing.
> <playing devil's advocate>



[To Devil's Advocate] It's not simple "I-just-don't-wanna-go."

* We have a high risk 85 YO (and us) with health risk who need to avoid exposure.
* The US Government is advising that no one should travel unless they must.
*  Most airline policy waivers now extend to the end of April.
* NY has the highest number of Covid cases in the nation.  This is like flying into a hurricane.
* Our county in Calif has shelter in place restrictions.
* Unfortunately, this is not going to go away suddenly on April 12. Govt expects this to peak around May 1.

*We bought the insurance in good faith with the expectation that we would be covered because we knew we were at risk.* Who could have expected this exception?

I find Allianz attitude appauling given that other travel industry players are waiving fees and doing the right thing even though they don't need to. Waste of money. What a hassle.


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## SandyPGravel (Mar 17, 2020)

CalGalTraveler said:


> We have the Chase Sapphire Reserve


Be careful relying on this.  Last year I had an incident where our carrier (small airline) changed our flight between two Caribbean islands, but we didn't receive the notification.  When I realized what had happened and contacted CSR for help they wouldn't do anything because the flight issue wasn't weather related.  (The airline in question wouldn't refund because the change wasn't at least 6 hours between the flight I booked and what they re-booked us on.)  We ended up eating the cost of those tickets and purchasing new tickets on our own.  Lesson learned and only about $450 loss.)


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## wackymother (Mar 17, 2020)

Talent312 said:


> I'm not sure I understand why you think that you should be covered.
> The shows are technically still a go. There's no curfew or isolation order.
> It seems to me that the I-just-don't-wanna-go clause is what's missing.
> <playing devil's advocate>



You know that all theaters in New York are dark, right? No shows are being performed. That's till the end of March right now, and I suspect it will be extended.


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## TravelTime (Mar 17, 2020)

I understand how frustrating this is and it would be nice if Allianz could make an exception and cover it. To put this in perspective, you are only losing the cost of the tickets ($900). Many people are losing a lot more, like their health and their livelihood. We are getting hit with many financial losses due to losing clients in our business, non refundable travel that we booked before this started (unlikely to get a credit but I will try) and losing a huge deposit on a house we may not be able to purchase now (with business declining so readily, this feels super risky right now). Maybe it helps to think about this as being a drop in the bucket in the big scheme of things. And, who knows, maybe you can get a refund or a credit from the theater company?


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## CalGalTraveler (Mar 17, 2020)

@TravelTime Completely understand and I am sorry for your potential losses. I hope you will recoup all or most of it. My small corporation is taking a hit and my vacation home rental income will be decimated.

_My point on this thread is about how the travel insurance industry is not sharing the weight of the burden and is weaseling out. _ I would be interested in hearing if anyone has been able to recover a successful claim from travel insurance during Covid-19 without becoming ill or having to chase paper bureaucracy such as contacting already overworked doctors for notes distracting them from more important work of saving patients.


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## SmithOp (Mar 17, 2020)

I purchased Allianz insurance on a II getaway in May. Clearly I won’t be able to go now, its in UK. I’m waiting to call them, right now its only travel through April 30th.

I’ll be happy to accept refund of the cost of insurance and only lose the getaway cost. I purchased refundable air and was able to cancel that and the rental car.


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## Conan (Mar 17, 2020)

Sticking my neck out here, but Allianz when they drafted and marketed their policy offered coverage against specified cancellations and medical emergencies. Perhaps an 85 year old who bought a non-refundable ticket has to assume the risk and bear the cost of cancellation in this circumstance.


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## Sapper (Mar 17, 2020)

Conan said:


> Sticking my neck out here, but Allianz when they drafted and marketed their policy offered coverage against specified cancellations and medical emergencies. Perhaps an 85 year old who bought a non-refundable ticket has to assume the risk and bear the cost of cancellation in this circumstance.



My guess here, Allianz failed to reinsure their policies appropriately and are now trying to figure out how to weasel out of paying on said policies.


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## goaliedave (Mar 17, 2020)

CalGalTraveler said:


> @TravelTime Completely understand and I am sorry for your potential losses. I hope you will recoup all or most of it. My small corporation is taking a hit and my vacation home rental income will be decimated.
> 
> _My point on this thread is about how the travel insurance industry is not sharing the weight of the burden and is weaseling out. _ I would be interested in hearing if anyone has been able to recover a successful claim from travel insurance during Covid-19 without becoming ill or having to chase paper bureaucracy such as contacting already overworked doctors for notes distracting them from more important work of saving patients.


I'm with you on this. Weasal is too light a word for many insurance companies. Nobody could be expected to know all the specific exclusions. I've been predicting the end of the insurance industry for 20 years now maybe it'll come soon, companies will go bankrupt (and restart under new names) rather than pay out and lose shareholders. Unless the govt bails them out like they did car companies and banks/s&ls. 

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## isisdave (Mar 17, 2020)

I'm having some trouble with Chase Sapphire's insurance provider.

On Feb 28, we cancelled plans for a flight, a cruise, another flight, and a month in Florence at an AirBnb. Although nothing had been officially closed then, we were sure Italy would be by the time we got there, and a cruise ship had already been stranded. The cruise was a 12-day transatlantic, arriving in Barcelona March 13, just last Friday. DW didn't want to get stuck on a ship or sent to another port, and have unreliable air return with 200 poorly screened travelers from who know where.

There's usually a time limit to start a claim, so on March 7 I did that at the eclaims website. The way it works is that you fill out a form outlining the situation and mentioning ONE loss from a travel provider, and then you have a month to produce documentation. I did that. The question about "why" you cancelled is multiple-choice and you can only pick one answer. None fit very well. I don't remember what I chose, and you can't see it after you submit it, nor do you get an email copy. I attached a note that I was still working on refunds, and was starting the claim only to preserve my rights.

I thought I might get some of the providers to provide refunds, even though all were non-cancellable, and in fact I've been successful with 3 of the 4.  [ JetBlue refunded the cancellation fee when I asked; Vueling had to cancel the flight as Italy was closed; and AirBnB refunded the Florence stay.] Royal Caribbean hasn't said either way yet, although they did promptly credit the taxes and port fees; they're quite swamped. But eclaims has already denied the claim, even though I haven't documented it, based on whatever box I ticked on that form. They say I have to appeal in writing.

I am hoping it will all be moot, as we'll take Future Cruise Credits if RCCL offers that. But I wanted to let others know that they should be sure to check a reason they KNOW is coverable, and modify that later with an explanatory statement, rather than click a reason that isn't ironclad covered.


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## VacationForever (Mar 17, 2020)

isisdave said:


> I'm having some trouble with Chase Sapphire's insurance provider.
> 
> On Feb 28, we cancelled plans for a flight, a cruise, another flight, and a month in Florence at an AirBnb. Although nothing had been officially closed then, we were sure Italy would be by the time we got there, and a cruise ship had already been stranded. The cruise was a 12-day transatlantic, arriving in Barcelona March 13, just last Friday. DW didn't want to get stuck on a ship or sent to another port, and have unreliable air return with 200 poorly screened travelers from who know where.
> 
> ...


I have been through CSR claims twice and successful both times.  I know what you meant by the multiple choice questions.  When I read them it was very clear to me what would be accepted and what wouldn't.  You probably checked off an answer that meant that it did not meet the criteria for a valid claim.  You will have to appeal this if you don't get what you are expecting from RCCL.  Good luck.


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## JudyH (Mar 17, 2020)

Right. I just filed and received payment for extra hotel night when AA delayed our Argentina to Miami flight. I did a screen print of everything I submitted so I would know what I did. Only a small portion of the flight fees got paid with CSR (husbands card) and hotel/dining got paid with mine. AA flight was booked with British Air Avios for a AA flight, originally DFW to Argentina.  But we saw later we could change the flight to MIA to Argentina and only the flight change fee got paid with the CSR, but that was enough to qualify for insurance. 
it was so convoluted that the insurance agent called me for the complete story because there is no place on the website for all these details. I ended up emailing her directly with credit card statements and it all got worked out. So my advice is to talk with them directly if possible. The agent was easy to work with.


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## Marco76 (Apr 5, 2020)

Interval will only process cancellation when you produce denial by insurance company of a claim due to epidemic.Insurance company behind 7-10 days.Interval knows it will be denied but refuses to do anything until you have a denied claim in hand even if you have claim #.Please note interval actually owns a piece of Allianze.Time critical as it places time outside 60 day period To cancel .


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## cowboy (Apr 5, 2020)

Isn't the exclusion that they are relying on to deny your claim contained in the policy that you purchased? If not then you might have a gripe. If it is and you failed to read it then the fault lies with you.


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## MULTIZ321 (Apr 5, 2020)

This is The Surprising Way Coronavirus Has Changed Travel Insurance.










						This Is The Surprising Way Coronavirus Has Changed Travel Insurance
					

Coronavirus has changed travel insurance in way no one could have imagined. Here's what you should expect when you buy travel insurance for your next vacation or business trip.




					www.forbes.com
				



.


Richard


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## Marco76 (Apr 6, 2020)

I have no problem with denial of claim (even though event was determined by them to be 1/22 or Feb3rd).Just e-mail the denial so I can deal with Interval.Again Interval owns a piece of Allianz.


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## JudiZ (Apr 7, 2020)

Good to know. I have bought event insurance a few times (like an event scheduled in February in New England when it might snow) and always felt "covered." Not so much now. I should have known better but, once again, my naivete seems to know no bounds.


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## dioxide45 (Apr 7, 2020)

Marco76 said:


> Again Interval owns a piece of Allianz.


Do you have a source for this claim? I can't find anything about it. I suspect that Interval gets a commission from every policy that they sell, but I can't find evidence that II/MVC owns a piece of Allianz.


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## MULTIZ321 (Apr 7, 2020)

dioxide45 said:


> Do you have a source for this claim? I can't find anything about it. I suspect that Interval gets a commission from every policy that they sell, but I can't find evidence that II/MVC owns a piece of Allianz.


Hi Dioxide45,

This is the closest I could find - II has a partnership with Allianz Global Assistance









						Interval International’s Travel Insurance Policy - Breckenridge Grand Vacations Blog
					

As many of you who book vacations through Interval International know, “would you like to add travel insurance” is one of our standard advisements when confirming a reservation. Travel insurance is commonly overlooked when booking your vacation months in advance. With recent modifications to...




					blog.breckenridgegrandvacations.com
				





Richard


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## dioxide45 (Apr 7, 2020)

MULTIZ321 said:


> Hi Dioxide45,
> 
> This is the closest I could find - II has a partnership with Allianz Global Assistance
> 
> ...


This looks to just be a partnership/deal for II to offer insurance through Allianz. When you buy the insurance on an II exchange or getaway, the insurance is sold by Allianz and I am sure II earns a commission from every policy sold. But that doesn't constitute any ownership of Allianz by II.

Aside from that. I do find this last statement to be odd; _"When booking your next vacation with the help of our Breckenridge team, we will most likely advise you to wait until you encounter an unforeseen circumstance that may impede your trip. As long as it is more than 24 hours prior to your scheduled arrival, you are eligible to add trip protection. "_ Are they saying don't buy the insurance until you have a pre-existing reason? That likely wouldn't even be covered.


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## DrQ (Apr 22, 2020)

I was reading about a large family that booked a large beach house in Virginia Beach and was on the hook for $10K. Under State and City restrictions, it is now illegal for them to occupy the residence with their original party and some of the family have been diagnosed with COVID-19. The leasing agent will not refund or reschedule outside of 2021. They bought travel insurance and that coverage is being denied due to the pandemic clause in the policy. It turns out the only way you can collect from this company is to select the "Cancel for any Reason" option.

Here is the rub, the management company is still renting out properties during the restricted time period.


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## pedro47 (Apr 23, 2020)

We will never purchase travel insurance with this company again.


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## pedro47 (Apr 23, 2020)

DrQ said:


> I was reading about a large family that booked a large beach house in Virginia Beach and was on the hook for $10K. Under State and City restrictions, it is now illegal for them to occupy the residence with their original party and some of the family have been diagnosed with COVID-19. The leasing agent will not refund or reschedule outside of 2021. They bought travel insurance and that coverage is being denied due to the pandemic clause in the policy. It turns out the only way you can collect from this company is to select the "Cancel for any Reason" option.
> 
> Here is the rub, the management company is still renting out properties during the restricted time period.


Someone needs to report this to the Virginia , State Attorney General Office, this is not right or fair.


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## Conan (Apr 23, 2020)

MULTIZ321 said:


> This Is The Surprising Way Coronavirus Has Changed Travel Insurance
> 
> 
> Coronavirus has changed travel insurance in way no one could have imagined. Here's what you should expect when you buy travel insurance for your next vacation or business trip.
> ...


"*New policies come with more limitations.* Insurance products are tightening their coverage to exclude future pandemics like the coronavirus."

If a policy has a pandemic clause, it must be a policy purchased within the last few weeks.
See my post below--older policies likely have an exclusion for "epidemics." At least according to Allianz, this would allow them to deny coronavirus coverage across the board. But Allianz says it is voluntarily providing coverage to people who become ill with Covid-19 before or during travel.


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## DrQ (Apr 23, 2020)

Conan said:


> "*New policies come with more limitations.* Insurance products are tightening their coverage to exclude future pandemics like the coronavirus."
> 
> If a policy has a pandemic clause, it must be a policy purchased within the last few weeks.


Actually, these started creeping in after the SARS outbreak.


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## Talent312 (Apr 23, 2020)

DrQ said:


> ... The leasing agent will not refund or reschedule outside of 2021....



So, what's wrong with 2021?
I'm scheduling a trip to Europe in 2021.
,
.


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## HenryT (Apr 23, 2020)

goaliedave said:


> I'm with you on this. Weasal is too light a word for many insurance companies. Nobody could be expected to know all the specific exclusions. I've been predicting the end of the insurance industry for 20 years now maybe it'll come soon, companies will go bankrupt (and restart under new names) rather than pay out and lose shareholders. Unless the govt bails them out like they did car companies and banks/s&ls.
> 
> Sent from my SM-A505G using Tapatalk


I don't think there is any chance the insurance companies will go bankrupt. Having it is too critical to the consumer, and if the insurance companies lose too much money they will just increase their premiums.

What the educated consumer needs to do is to chose the best policy for their purposes, make sure they understand the limitations of the policy, and have a backup plan if possible.

You never need insurance until you need it.


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## Conan (Apr 23, 2020)

DrQ said:


> Actually, these started creeping in after the SARS outbreak.


Here's Allianz's position on coverage for the new virus:

"Claims due to known, foreseeable, or expected events, epidemics, government prohibitions, warnings, or travel advisories or fear of travel are generally not covered, and coverage can vary by state.  However, until further notice, although not covered under most plans, we are currently accommodating claims for:

Under Emergency Medical Care Benefit*:* Emergency medical care for a customer who becomes ill with COVID-19 while on their trip.
Under Trip Cancellation or Trip Interruption Benefits: Trip cancellation and trip interruption if a customer becomes ill with COVID-19 either before or during their trip."                                                     https://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/coverage-alerts/2019-novel-coronavirus.htm
So they're claiming that the exclusion for "epidemics" allows them to deny coverage across the board, but they're voluntarily providing cancellation/trip interruption/emergency medical care if a customer becomes ill with COVID-19 before or during their trip.


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## CalGalTraveler (Apr 23, 2020)

What I find unfair about this is we purchased an insurance policy last year for a European trip in Feb before an epidemic was widely known beyond China.

Allianz and other carriers back dated the known date to Jan 22, 2020. Our carrier never notified us that this was a known event and epidemic as of Feb 3 with no coverage for epidemics. No limitation to China in their legal wording of course. If we had become ill with Covid while traveling in Feb it sounds like they could have refused coverage and medical evacuation. Fortunately, we didn't need the policy but we paid significant money for medical coverage which may have been wasted due to an exclusion.

Although they altered their policy for this event due to outcry, what is to stop denial in future epidemics?

If we had followed the policy to their stated info, we should have cancelled our trip before leaving town so would need to actively monitor their website daily as a trip approaches and have cancellable fares since they won't cover that when you cancel for epidemic.

Alternatively, any reason policies are very prohibitively expensive. Consequently, we will not be traveling internationally until rates come back to earth.


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## pedro47 (Apr 23, 2020)

Why did Allianz backdate their coverage, that is my problem ?


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## CalGalTraveler (Apr 23, 2020)

We don't know for sure when they put the dates in, however the dates were quietly slipped into their webpage. We received no notice from our carrier which was not Allianz for the Europe trip.

We had Allianz for an April event and there was no notice sent to us either.  If we couldn't attend the event due to illness from Covid, then they could have denied us coverage if they hadn't changed their policy. IMO too much legal fine print to deny coverage.


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## ski_sierra (Apr 23, 2020)

HenryT said:


> You never need insurance until you need it.


and you don't know if you actually have the insurance coverage until you make a claim.


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## CalGalTraveler (Apr 23, 2020)

ski_sierra said:


> and you don't know if you actually have the insurance coverage until you make a claim.



This. Well said. IMO This sums up the reality of the entire insurance industry not just travel insurance.


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## SmithOp (Apr 23, 2020)

pedro47 said:


> We will never purchase travel insurance with this company again.



I feel the same now that I’ve filed a claim. 

We have a legitimate hospitalization not related to Covid. I filed the claim online and attached the discharge paper. Did not receive email confirmation as expected, its been sitting there 5 days now.

I called Interval, was told I need denial of claim before they will give me a replacement AC (it was a cash Getaway). I asked about what compensation was offered if they approve the claim since it only covers 50% for trip cancellation. Agent went to check, put me on hold, I hung up after 30 min on hold. Surely it doesn’t take 30 min to look up policy.

Anybody notice they pronounce it Alley-anz.  I’ve been saying it as A-Lye-anz

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


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## CalGalTraveler (Apr 23, 2020)

SmithOp said:


> I feel the same now that I’ve filed a claim.
> 
> We have a legitimate hospitalization not related to Covid. I filed the claim online and attached the discharge paper. Did not receive email confirmation as expected, its been sitting there 5 days now.
> 
> ...



Sorry to hear about the hospitalization.  It is hard enough to deal with the worry and failing health of a loved one. Having to contend with a mountain of paperwork and requested justifications at the whim of the insurer to pay for something you legitimately purchased for protection is simply wrong.

I hope you get your claim reimbursed soon without much hassle.

BTW...Isn't it pronounced All-lie-ants?


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## VacationForever (Apr 23, 2020)

Ah-lee-ants is how my travel agent pronounces.


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