We planned a trip to Germany and Austria for August 2016.
The only things we prepaid were for our airfare, directly with Lufthansa, and a rental car through www.gemut.com. The car rental cost was fully refundable up until day of departure, so no problem there.
We bought 2 Premium Economy seats on Lufthansa for $2,880. Non refundable fares.
We purchased AIG Travel Guard Trip Insurance with the pre-existing condition included. This was needed to be purchased within 10 days of our first trip purchase. Check with each plan for requirements.
I wound up needing Hernia Surgery in mid August and we needed to cancel our trip. I first called AIG Travel Guard. I printed the forms from the AIG Travel Guard website and filled out my parts, which included listing any doctor appointments, ER and hospital visits for the last 6 months. After completing my sections I sent the doctors/surgeon parts to his office. He mailed them back to me. They also required proof of the airfare cost and proof that it had been paid. Within 6 weeks we had a check for the airfare. Pain free (no hernia pun intended). It may have gone quicker, but I waited for my credit card statement and cashed check to prove payment of the airfare.
These are essential:
1- Keep all receipts from the first trip payment on.
2- Keep a good record of medical appointments, ER visits and any hospitalization dates and doctors and diagnosis 6 months prior to a trip if possible. May come in very handy.
3- Call the Insurance carrier.
4- Read the fine print when filling out your claim. I filled it out and then noticed it said to fill out using ALL CAPITOLS. Filled out the forms a second time. I also gave this (ALL CAPS) info to my doctor just in case he didn't see it.
I would not plan another costly trip without this insurance. Thanks to AIG Travel Guard for making this process pretty straight forward and uncomplicated
Posted by
California 🦋
5293 posts
Paul,
I hope you're recovering well from your surgery.
Thanks for the information about this travel insurance.
Posted by
Happy Valley, PA
672 posts
Paul: Sorry you had to make a claim but glad to learn that AIG came through for you. I recently purchased tickets directly from Lufthansa for a family trip in 2017, and also opted for the AIG travel insurance. Of course, we hope that we won't need it but, relative to the cost of the air tickets (approx. 5.9%), the cost of the insurance is, in my opinion, well worth the gamble.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
7995 posts
If I can ask, what was the cost of the insurance?
Posted by
OP
NYC area
2972 posts
We bought a better, more expensive plan than we probably needed. My wife has many issues and we bought it with her in mind. Just wound up being me that was the cause to use it. Anyway, we paid $320 for the both of us. We could have paid as little as $240 for a plan that would have been fine for us. I paid more for the higher evacuation and hospitalization limits. In the end, for us, I'd rather be out $320 than $2,880.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
7995 posts
I asked about the cost mainly to point out something for others. Even though your tickets were likely non-refundable, that does not mean they have no value. For the cost of a change fee you could have changed your travel dates or taken a credit on the tickets for when you had your dates determined. The cost in the end would have been about the same, providing you are still going to travel, but the cost is not incurred up front and with a typical trip avoided. Change fees run from $150 to $250 per ticket, using the credit for the cost of the new ticket plus fee.
For a big trip with lots of up front costs (Tour or cruise package with strict non-refund policies) insurance makes sense, for a do it yourself trip where you likely have cancellation options on Hotels, rental cars, and airline tickets, then the value of cancellation insurance declines quickly.
That does not in anyway judge the value of evacuation coverage, medical, and other coverage that you may get with the policy, just the cancellation part.
Posted by
OP
NYC area
2972 posts
Thanks for the well wishes. Surgery went well and recovery was easier than I had thought.
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11745 posts
Excellent advice and practical reminders, Paul. Glad you are doing well. No doubt another trip for you soon!
Posted by
Happy Valley, PA
672 posts
@Paul from Iowa: You raise some excellent points, but I wanted to point out some other benefits of the Travel Guard insurance besides trip cancellation (100%). Many of these benefits cover things that could happen if you proceed with the trip and include: trip interruption (125% of trip cost), trip delay ($100 per day and 6-hour minimum delay; $500 max); missed connection ($500 max); baggage and personal effects loss ($750 max); baggage delay ($100 per day; $300 max); medical expense (dental $500); emergency evacuation and repatriation of remains ($20,000); accidental death and dismemberment ($25,000); travel medical assistance, worldwide travel assistance, and emergency assistance. So, there is a lot more than just gambling on credit for unused tickets minus a change fee. Plus, in our case, I got a great deal on three multi-city trip business class tickets, and if I just receive credit for the ticket costs minus the change fees, it would probably be equal to one-half of what the ticket costs are currently running. So, in our case, for $130 per person, I feel that the AIG insurance is well worth the peace of mind should we run into any kind of snag during the trip, or if we had to cancel the trip. So, that is the reason why I purchased the insurance.
Posted by
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
8293 posts
My sister and I had to cancel a trip in February. We both had trip cancellation insurance but she had not been entirely truthful on her application so no pay out when we were obliged to cancel when she got sick. The old saying, "Your lies will find you out" held and cost us a lot of money. I still love her dearly, though.