Allianz Travel Insurance Weasels

[CalGalTraveler]

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.

 

[RX8]

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:

1. Under Emergency Medical Care Benefit: Emergency medical care for a customer who becomes ill with COVID-19 while on their trip.
2. 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.
3. 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.”

 

[CPNY]

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.

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.

 

[Iggyearl]

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.

 

[wackymother]

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?

 

[CalGalTraveler]

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.

 

[wackymother]

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.

 

[goaliedave]

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

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[Sapper]

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.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

@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.

 

[Talent312]

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>

 

[CalGalTraveler]

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.

 

[SandyPGravel]

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.)

 

[wackymother]

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.

 

[TravelTime]

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?

 

[CalGalTraveler]

@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.

 

[SmithOp]

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]

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.

 

[Sapper]

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.

 

[goaliedave]

@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]

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.

 

[VacationForever]

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.

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.

 

[JudyH]

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.

 

[Marco76]

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 .

 

[cowboy]

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.