Travel Insurance

[Basil B]

Just wondered if travel insurance companies coughed up for any incurred expenses?

If you were caught up in last years fiasco, please let us know what your travel insurance paid for and any other help and advice they gave.

[tangoll]

An Allianz Travel Insurance policy that I had purchased for a one year period last May, paid me about US$450 for travel delay, rebooking fees, and other cancellation fees when I got caught up in Bangkok and could not continue my travel to USA and back to BKK before returning to HKG. What is interesting is that the actual interpretaation of the policy terms as to what is covered comes out very differently than what the terms and conditions appear to suggest upon a first or even close reading of the terms. This is not only from my reading, but also the reading and interpretation from the insurance brokers and from the Allianz staff that I first contacted upon knowing of the airport closure. Neither the broker nor the staff were helpful in suggesting ways to get to the USA and have those ways covered by the policy. Basically, the broker nor the staff really knows what's in the policy.

The only thing I really learned from the experience is that if you are going on an extended trip, bring the policy with you. It helps in the discussion with the broker or staff because unless you have the policy right there with you, only then can you have a meaningful discussion with them.

[pampal]

I wonder how the airport seizure was interpreted by the insurance companies. Was it a riot?

did force majeure come into play?

[JimSiam]

I am still waiting for Air Asia to refund a ticket from a cancelled flight, it says 14 days on the eticket for refunds but they are complaining they still have a backlog of refunds and working through them, more like they will go broke if they issue all the refunds that are due.

will never fly Air Asia again after this.

[tangoll]

I have heard that some UK insurers used "civil unrest" as the reason for excluding coverage in their policies. It would be a useful exercise for some consumer agency to do a comparison of how various travel insurance policies would handle typical scenarios or an actual case like the Bangkok airport stoppage. I'm sure the results would vary all over the map.