Complimentary Travel Insurance on Credit Cards

[Anna]

Yes there will be 40 or 52 or whatever number of pages of 'fine print', but there should also be a summary which (I know from experience) from TID is in normal size print and about one page long. It sets out the main heads of cover and the cover limits.

Even if you can't be bothered scanning through all the 40 or 52 pages, at least read the exclusions list.

Having insurance but just hoping for the best that it covers what you want without actually bothering to look at the policy, is like buying a new outfit for a special occasion but not trying it on until you are getting dressed to go out. If it doesn't fit, there's not a lot you can do about it at that stage. But that's not the dress shop's fault.

 

[Austman]

I like to know what people's actual experiences have been in making claims.

I've claimed on my CC travel insurance. It was fairly straight forward but needed quite a bit of paperwork. They wanted the proof that the CC card had been used to buy the ticket and receipts for all the costs I was claiming and a letter from the airline detailing what they did to help (it was an extensive delay issue - several days in fact). Once I submitted all of those I was paid quite quickly without any further contact.

 

[hossein_au]

I've claimed on my CC travel insurance. It was fairly straight forward but needed quite a bit of paperwork. They wanted the proof that the CC card had been used to buy the ticket and receipts for all the costs I was claiming and a letter from the airline detailing what they did to help (it was an extensive delay issue - several days in fact). Once I submitted all of those I was paid quite quickly without any further contact.

What was the CC?

 

[Austman]

What was the CC?

A Citibank Signature that uses Zurich travel insurance.

 

[nickfromeastryde]

I did at one stage try and compare some of the different cc and non cc covers and they are like phone plans - no two are exactly the same. However they were all very similar and especially around medical which to me is really the most important and essential element of the cover, they all covered the same things, some with higher limits, some with lower.

Also you need to remember that the cc packages are all underwritten by major insurance companies anyway ie, Zurich, Alliance etc

Never had to make a claim myself (touch wood) but a couple of my friends have and based on their experiences, cc policies seem fine. Also recently a friend of my daughters lost all her luggage flying MH from England last month, she had travel insurance though I don't know who with and they would only offer $500 without receipts and wanted her to seek compensation from MH first. I told her to contact her Bank cc insurer (not sure who) and they told her to buy straight away what she needed, asked her to list everything lost and within three weeks sent a cheque for just over 3K so in this case a much better outcome. She didn't even know that insurance came with the credit card but is probably a convert right now

 

[cardiology]

Are there a simple table comparing the excess and the benefit of the different credit card travel insurance?

e.g. for NAB, Citibank Signature, Westpac Black and ANZ Platinum??

 

[get me outta here]

I doubt that such a comparison would be reliable for very long, is at all. I don't think I have ever seen such a comparison . I have not relied on cc insurance for many years, but I do have friends who have had catastrophic events and have been completely covered for all medical, and then evacuations. However, the fact that it was covered at that time, would not indicate to me, that another event with the same company would be like wise treated some years later. So, sorry, can't make any cc suggestions.

Are there a simple table comparing the excess and the benefit of the different credit card travel insurance?

e.g. for NAB, Citibank Signature, Westpac Black and ANZ Platinum??

p

 

[angusburns]

I broke my leg in Europe in January 2014, see attached, and had Westpac CC insurance via Zurich. They paid for everything, but I had to do all the chasing. They would not start the claim until they had proof that I was covered. So I had to call Westpac and ask them to close off my statement early so I had a statement I could send Zurich - from my hospital bed while doped up!

They tried to get me to wait five more days after ready to go home and go home on my original Qanats flights, with a 10 hour stop -over in Dubai, so I found a Singapore Airlines flight out of Geneva the next day and pleaded with them to get me on it. In the end they did as end of school holidays and no other suitable (needed a long haul, lie down business seat as leg was in a frame) available flights. The only good part of the whole experience is that used some of my Krisflyer points to upgrade me and the two children from Business to Suites, which had a real bed and so made a nightmare trip home a little easier.

They also got me to do the run-around between them and the lift ticket ski insurance to work out who was going to pay for the refund of unused lift ticket, on-mountain rescue and helicopter to the hospital. With the different time zones and both insurance companies demanding I provide information as to if the other would or would not pay. In the end, I gave Zurich the phone number of the Ski Insurance company and they sorted it out.

Finally, I also had to cancel a later ski trip to Japan, due to the same accident, where the flights to Japan were on Qantas and Zurich wanted me to produce a value for a commercial flight of the same booking class on the same day (ha!) and Qantas would not give it to me as they reasonably argued many ticket buckets. So I spent ages going back and forth and then submitted a best guess estimate, to find out that the actual assessors just used the value on the Qantas top-up points system to value my points. What a PITA! https://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn/program/usingPoints/topupPoints

So, to sum up, the credit card insurance works well, but you have to be proactive and look out for yourself or you will get the cheapest, easiest option for them. You can call the Zurich credit card insurance line and you will hear how many CC companies use them: "Press one for ANZ, 2 for Westpac, etc etc" Same insurer, but it is a bit tricky as all policies are quite similar in most of what they provide but can be different in small ways. EG some cover recreational skiing, but only on piste, some don't cover skiing and some, like Westpac don't mention skiing at all as an exclusion, but when I called up they asked if I was skiing on piste as skiing off-piste was not covered. I think that the call centre operator was wrong, but luckily 1) I was skiing in bounds and 2) I don't think anyone ever checked.

Hope this helps, and that you like my holiday "snaps", below.

 

[ellen10]

Wow that is good broken leg!
Thank you for your posting of your experience.

We are hoping to use Westpac (Zurich) for our upcoming trip to the USA.
I get a little nervous as I know the USA can be very expensive.
The only time we ever claimed on travel insurance was for a wrecked suitcase. That was TID policy.
We went to Europe last year using cc insurance, didn't need to claim but I was a little worried.

 

[Austman]

... and it all boils down to:

Check what your travel insurance policy covers BEFORE you travel.

And that applies to "free" CC travel insurance and paid for "separate" travel insurance.

 

[get me outta here]

Love the snaps, I too had a tib-fib disaster with plate and screws. Yours looks particularly painful.

I broke my leg in Europe in January 2014, see attached, and had Westpac CC insurance via Zurich. They paid for everything, but I had to do all the chasing. They would not start the claim until they had proof that I was covered. So I had to call Westpac and ask them to close off my statement early so I had a statement I could send Zurich - from my hospital bed while doped up! ...

 

[Austff]

That leg must really send the security alarms off , thanks for sharing .

 

[TheRealTMA]

I broke my leg in Europe in January 2014, see attached, and had Westpac CC insurance via Zurich. They paid for everything, but I had to do all the chasing. They would not start the claim until they had proof that I was covered. So I had to call Westpac and ask them to close off my statement early so I had a statement I could send Zurich - from my hospital bed while doped up!

Hope this helps, and that you like my holiday "snaps", below.

I tripped down three steps on Xmas night in Vienna (sober) and tore the quadriceps tendon. Op on Boxing Day and 5 nights in hospital plus 5 days post hospital. Dealing with the Westpac and Zurich proved a little difficult from my hospital bed so you did well! They were very helpful on the phone but we decided to put it on the CC and claim back when all the bills were in. Have just submitted TI claim for just over $32K in hospital, medical, hotel and lost bookings etc. Waiting to see how they respond. Previous claims for cars and snow delays have been resolved to my satisfaction so this one will be interesting.

EK provided wheelchairs at all the airports and it's a great way to clear security and lines plus one doesn't have to walk all the way. Small compensations.

On forthcoming trip to USA Canada, I have carefully stored copies of all the relevant documents this time in case if any issues. While Europe is manageable, USA hospital costs are beyond payment and recovery.

My photos are nowhere near as impressive as yours, luckily!

Ps it's a little annoying that the airfares or part were not claimable since we only had 4 days of a 30 day holiday but that's life I guess.

 

[get me outta here]

Which documents are you refering to here that help in aid of a hospital bed claim, is it the pdf and or something else?

(snip) On forthcoming trip to USA Canada, I have carefully stored copies of all the relevant documents this time in case if any issues. While Europe is manageable, USA hospital costs are beyond payment and recovery. (snip).

 

[TheRealTMA]

Which documents are you refering to here that help in aid of a hospital bed claim, is it the pdf and or something else?

(snip) On forthcoming trip to USA Canada, I have carefully stored copies of all the relevant documents this time in case if any issues. While Europe is manageable, USA hospital costs are beyond payment and recovery. (snip).

For Zurich to cover the costs, as angusburns discussed, one need proof of eligibility. That is credit card statement showing payment for airfares, travel agent documents or airline documents showing original booking, itinerary and original bill, then a statement from hospital or local doctor supporting need for claims. Not a lot really but lying on one's back in hospital one normally does not have these readily at hand to fwd to Zurich and one does not take the CC statement or the original invoice. Now we store all these on GoogleDrive along with PDFs of westpac travel insurance policy.

 

[DavBlayn]

If you have a pre-existing medical condition like asthma, is it even worth using credit card travel insurance? Given the waiver fee, would it just be worth getting insurance from someone like Cover1, who cover certain conditions automatically, such as asthma?

 

[TheRealTMA]

If you have a pre-existing medical condition like asthma, is it even worth using credit card travel insurance? Given the waiver fee, would it just be worth getting insurance from someone like Cover1, who cover certain conditions automatically, such as asthma?

There's not really a lot of difference between CC TI and 'standard'. Minor pre-existing conditions are generally covered as with a standard policy but you need to read the policy documents. Zurich, for example with Westpac Earth insurance say that asthma is fine if it is being treated and currently under control with medication.

 

[DavBlayn]

There's not really a lot of difference between CC TI and 'standard'. Minor pre-existing conditions are generally covered as with a standard policy but you need to read the policy documents. Zurich, for example with Westpac Earth insurance say that asthma is fine if it is being treated and currently under control with medication.

Okay. This information is all in the PDS, isn't it?

Edit: Ignore that question. Thanks for the info.