Travel Guard Insurance AIG

I had a bad claims experience with Travel Guard in 2022 -- not that they denied a claim, but they took months longer to process it than they had advertised. When I periodically called their 800 number I was told they were really busy because of Covid. After I complained to my state insurance commissioner, they called immediately to tell me the adjuster was on maternity leave, then paid the claim in a few days.

I suggest you contact your state insurance commissioner or department about this. I assume your claim was for money you've already spent and can't get back from the hotel, airline, tour company, or whoever -- correct?

That is exactly what a “cancellation” policy is supposed to cover. You should re-read the policy definitions, etc. to make sure you had the correct coverage. Then contact them again and document everything—-including the addresses you used, the lack of response, the phone numbers and date and time of the call, how long you waited on hold, etc.

If you still get no satisfaction send everything to your own state Insurance Commissioner and ask for help. Hopefully your state has insurance laws that are as protective of the consumer as ours does (Washington State).

Something is missing in this post, doesn't make any sense to me. What is the "highest insurance possible"? What, exactly, did you buy?

I am interested if you had cancel for any reason coverage. I recently purchased Travel Guard insurance and you had to add that on to the policy that was selected. It was not automatically included in the coverage.

This does not make sense to me. It sounds like the OP bought the deluxe policy which is what they meant by “the highest insurance possible”. Regardless of which premium you buy (deluxe, preferred or essential) you should be covered if you become ill before travel. You don’t need a cancel for any reason rider to be covered for sudden illness that prevents travel.

He/she should be covered as follows per Travel Guard - Trip Cancellation: Up to 100% Insured Trip Cost

Reimburses nonrefundable, Unused payments or deposits if you must cancel your Trip due to an illness, Injury, or death of you, a Family Member, Traveling Companion or business partner, or for other covered reasons. Maximum of $150,000. Coverage only applicable to prepaid, non-refundable Trip Costs identified on the enrollment form and if the required plan cost has been paid.

Something is missing from this story. Were you diagnosed with the flu by a physician prior to the initial travel date? Edited to add, did you cover the nonrefundable aspects of your trip?

I agree with the others that a call or email to your state’s insurance commissioner is perhaps in order if you were diagnosed and too sick to travel on the date of travel and the insurance is refusing to cover your non refundable costs.

I would go the consumer advocate route, like Christopher Elliott. His ability to publicly shame companies seems to often get good results, claims are magically approved after he contacts the insurer.

And look for others like him.

@Mary writes: Something is missing from this story.

First-time poster, also

I have a friend who had an extremely bad experience with this company also. She had to cancel her trip last year because she needed surgery, and they denied her claim, claiming it was a pre-existing condition when it wasn’t. I don’t know if she prevailed in her appeal. I’ll never use this company again.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will follow the advice you gave.

The policy I purchased was for full coverage to answer the questions.
The reason for cancelation was the flu, Influenza , yes I have physician documentation that was submitted to TGI.
We got sick the day before leaving for the trip, notifying TGI that day.
Thank you all for your suggestions. I will follow the advice you gave.

I signed up for Travel Guard Insurance for my trip. I noticed it said 11/23/24 for my return date and thought I corrected it to show 10/23/24. I bought the insurance and I noticed that it still had the Nov return date. Five minutes later, I called the company and said I needed to change the date. The person told me that I would get no refund. As we were talking, I went online and put in the correct information, and it was about $200 cheaper! I told the agent, and he said, oh, let me check, and came back with about a $100 discount. How can that be? I asked to speak to a manager and she said to cancel (the other guy made it sound as though I wouldn't be able to cancel) and then rebook. I canceled and tried to rebook, but now it reflected a higher number. Shady! What's up with this company?

Most policies have a start and ending date? What date did your policy start and was the day you got sick in the policy dates? Most people will start their policies on the day they travel and not beforehand.

If that is your case, and you tried to claim the day before, your policy wasn't active. Claim after the fact, and they could, technically, say it was a pre-existing condition.