TravelGuard won't pay

[rebar-art]

Last year I booked a 2 week New Zealand cruise on the Millenium. The airfare with Celebrity was 3 times as much as my travel agent was able to get, so he booked it separately and I purchased TravelGuard insurance through him. It was the only kind offered.

Well, 3 days before I left, I found out--on this board!!--that the pod on the ship was broken and our trip was cancelled. (I NEVER heard from Celebrity and when I called they would not speak to me about it referring me back to my clueless travel agent. That is another post entirely...) Eventually, Celebrity refunded the cruise fare and gave me a cruise credit, but TravelGuard (an AIG company) has denied my claim for the $900 airfare.

Incidentally, Celebrity did not go back to Australia/NZ this year so I couldn't just re-use my Air New Zealand credit for the replacement cruise. They would not let me use the credit with Royal Caribbean. I wonder if I could at least get the cost of the worthless policy back?

Just when you think you've done everything right........

[sailor2010]

Expecting AIG to be honorable?

Go to your state insurance commissioner and see what your rights are.

[smeyer418]

Last year I booked a 2 week New Zealand cruise on the Millenium. The airfare with Celebrity was 3 times as much as my travel agent was able to get, so he booked it separately and I purchased TravelGuard insurance through him. It was the only kind offered.

Well, 3 days before I left, I found out--on this board!!--that the pod on the ship was broken and our trip was cancelled. (I NEVER heard from Celebrity and when I called they would not speak to me about it referring me back to my clueless travel agent. That is another post entirely...) Eventually, Celebrity refunded the cruise fare and gave me a cruise credit, but TravelGuard (an AIG company) has denied my claim for the $900 airfare.

Incidentally, Celebrity did not go back to Australia/NZ this year so I couldn't just re-use my Air New Zealand credit for the replacement cruise. They would not let me use the credit with Royal Caribbean. I wonder if I could at least get the cost of the worthless policy back?

Just when you think you've done everything right........

 

where do you live? Notify your states insurance department or AG....

[AudenHoggart]

We had to cancel a Celebrity cruise a couple of years ago (literally on our scheduled day of departure) due to my wife's illness. We'd purchased Celebrity's cruise insurance. Even though we had independently booked our air fare, we got a full refund of that as well without any hassle at all.

[Crusin6]

Did you buy enough insurance to cover the cruise and airfare? e.g. if the cruise cost $3000 and the airfare $900, did you at least buy a policy to cover $4000? Or was the policy only for $3000? That could have been the simple mistake..or did I miss something?

[Amy from Delaware]

<snip> TravelGuard (an AIG company) has denied my claim for the $900 airfare.

<snip>

Incidentally, Celebrity did not go back to Australia/NZ this year so I couldn't just re-use my Air New Zealand credit for the replacement cruise.

 

I may be missing something here, but if you got a credit from Air New Zealand, why would AIG give you your money back? The fact that you can't/won't use a credit from Air New Zealand is between you and Air New Zealand.

 

Perhaps you can convince the powers that be at both companies that if you give back the credit to ANZ, you can get reimbursed by AIG???? I guess it all depends on the wording of your insurance policy.

 

I wish you the best.

[ocngypz]

Insofar as you received a credit from Air New Zealand, no insurance company is going to reimburse you.

[Karynanne]

If you have a credit with Air New Zealand, can you possibly use it for air with United Airlines? Air New Zealand partners with United.

[patseacruiser]

I have had to make 2 claims for something like that. I had to have my dad sign a form that he did not have tickets nor would he be using them because technically having those tickets means they can be used therefore the insurance company won't refund for the air if they can be used. So because you took the air credit you're not going to get anything from the insurance company - imho.

[FinelyCruising]

I don't think a credit for air NZ was part of the deal with the cruise line. The TA purchased the air directly with ANZ and since the OP has no use for the ticket anymore due to circumstances with X no longer sailing to this destination port, the claim was made with Travel Guard for reimbursement and they said sorry but no. That is the sticky wicket.

 

Where else does Air New Zeland go that a missed seating for a very site specific cruise can be utilized.:o

[greatam]

I may be missing something here, but if you got a credit from Air New Zealand, why would AIG give you your money back? The fact that you can't/won't use a credit from Air New Zealand is between you and Air New Zealand.

 

Perhaps you can convince the powers that be at both companies that if you give back the credit to ANZ, you can get reimbursed by AIG???? I guess it all depends on the wording of your insurance policy.

 

I wish you the best.

 

This is entirely correct!!! You are entitled to the CHANGE FEES for your air fare IF you take the air credit. OR refuse the air credit and POSSIBLY get reimbursed for your tickets. BUT most travel insurance policies will ONLY pay for the change fees BECAUSE you get credit from the airline.

 

See if you can't use your air credit on one of the partner airlines or on a codeshare flight. NZ is a member of Star Alliance, which has a lot of airlines-Continental, United, US Air and a lot of foreign airlines. The NZ nonstop flight from LAX to Heathrow is very nice, if you want to use your voucher for a Europe trip.

[Amy from Delaware]

Are the vouchers transferrable? Maybe you can sell them on ebay?

 

This problem happened in March 2009, why are you bringing it up again now? Did something new happen?

[Lsimon]

There is a lot of talk here about what they should and should not have to do. The bottom line is that you have a contract that should spell out their responsibilities and what is covered amongst the fine print. What does that say?

[Karynanne]

This is entirely correct!!! You are entitled to the CHANGE FEES for your air fare IF you take the air credit. OR refuse the air credit and POSSIBLY get reimbursed for your tickets. BUT most travel insurance policies will ONLY pay for the change fees BECAUSE you get credit from the airline.

 

See if you can't use your air credit on one of the partner airlines or on a codeshare flight. NZ is a member of Star Alliance, which has a lot of airlines-Continental, United, US Air and a lot of foreign airlines. The NZ nonstop flight from LAX to Heathrow is very nice, if you want to use your voucher for a Europe trip.

 

This was my thought. Since there is a credit available, try and see if can be utilized through Star Alliance.

[CdeFabio]

TravelGruard is known to getting out of paying for claims - I had a similar issue with our Celebrity Hawaii cruise last year - cruise was 1 day late getting back to San Diego and had to rebook all air travel. They would not cover it even though others onboard who had insurance with other carriers had it covered. We did not buy the cheap policy and our travel agent also said they should have covered it - but buried in the fine print they will not cover ANY carrier caused problems, which is where most problems happen. Lesson learned the hard way - I will never use them again. :mad: Prior to that incident we had used them for 5 other cruises with no claims so it is not like they haven't made money off of us before. Try TravelInsured - we have been much happier with them and they actually cover claims.

[greatam]

This was my thought. Since there is a credit available, try and see if can be utilized through Star Alliance.

 

They won't be able to use the vouchers on a Star carrier for a domestic USA flight because NZ does not fly domestically. But there is a distinct possibility of using the vouchers for a partner/code share international flight.

 

A lot depends on the airline itself. I have been able to use Cathay Pacific vouchers a couple of times on OneWorld partner/codeshare flights. Took some doing and a lot of help from the Platinum desk at AA (which I assume the OP does not have available-top tier FF status), but it was finally accomplished. The airlines involved basically treated my vouchers as they would using FF miles on a partner airline.

 

As I posted previously, I would use those vouchers for the NZ flights from LAX to London, even if only for a long weekend. Current price is less than $900.00. Find a cheapo flight from OP's home airport to LAX and go to Europe. Would certainly be a better option than letting them go to waste. And if this really was a March 2009 trip, as someone posted, they better book a flight pretty soon. The majority of vouchers are only good for a year from issue.

[Amy from Delaware]

And if this really was a March 2009 trip, as someone posted, they better book a flight pretty soon. The majority of vouchers are only good for a year from issue.

 

I got that info by reading the OP's other posts. There's a very large thread about the whole thing here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=942315

[Fblack]

Princess and Holland America have lots of New Zealand and Australia cruises. Why not book on of them and use that airfare credit.

[pspercy]

Look at the policy, just what were the cancellation reasons covered by it ?

[rebar-art]

To clarify,

I have not received a voucher or a credit from the airlines per se, just that since I paid for the ticket and then cancelled, the amount I paid is "out there."

 

Yes, the insurance coverage was for the full amount of the trip (Their GOLD policy) and I did not try to make a claim for the cruise portion as it had been refunded.

 

On a personal note,I was going to be travelling alone and have 3 small children and the logistics of setting up childcare, tours, etc were nightmarish. I was unable to arrange it for another 2 and a half weeks later in the year. I have tried to plan another trip with another carrier, but it hasn't worked out. This was supposed to be the "Trip of a Lifetime" for a certain, special birthday......

 

When I filed the claim (with all 21 pages of attachments), I had to sign that I would NOT use the airfare credit. IT has been floating around their different claims and arbitration depts for a while.

 

Also, no Air NZ would not let me use it for a code share flight. Plus, their portion was only for about $700 (a sale fare.) I have since then, not found anything that low and would have to pay a lot more just to try to use the credit. (Something about throwing good money after bad....)

 

At one point, one of the reps "suggested" that if I could only get my doctor to sign that I had sinus problems, diarrhea, or whatever "maybe" it would be easier to get my claim approved.

 

My dream of going to New Zealand lives on.

I only posted so that other travellers when they hear, "Would you like to purchase trip cancellation insurance?" will really look at what they are getting.

[ocngypz]

To clarify,

I have not received a voucher or a credit from the airlines per se, just that since I paid for the ticket and then cancelled, the amount I paid is "out there."

 

Yes, the insurance coverage was for the full amount of the trip (Their GOLD policy) and I did not try to make a claim for the cruise portion as it had been refunded.

 

On a personal note,I was going to be travelling alone and have 3 small children and the logistics of setting up childcare, tours, etc were nightmarish. I was unable to arrange it for another 2 and a half weeks later in the year. I have tried to plan another trip with another carrier, but it hasn't worked out. This was supposed to be the "Trip of a Lifetime" for a certain, special birthday......

 

When I filed the claim (with all 21 pages of attachments), I had to sign that I would NOT use the airfare credit. IT has been floating around their different claims and arbitration depts for a while.

 

Also, no Air NZ would not let me use it for a code share flight. Plus, their portion was only for about $700 (a sale fare.) I have since then, not found anything that low and would have to pay a lot more just to try to use the credit. (Something about throwing good money after bad....)

 

At one point, one of the reps "suggested" that if I could only get my doctor to sign that I had sinus problems, diarrhea, or whatever "maybe" it would be easier to get my claim approved.

 

My dream of going to New Zealand lives on.

I only posted so that other travellers when they hear, "Would you like to purchase trip cancellation insurance?" will really look at what they are getting.

 

 

Whether you purchased "A" 's policy.. or "B"'s policy.. the results would still be the same.

You do stilll have a credit with the airline. Whether you are able to use it or not.. none of the insurance companies care.

 

Let's say you had actually booked through United Airlines. You would call them, reference your old number, they'd deduct the cancellation fee.. and then use what's left over for your new flight. If it weren't enough to cover the cost of the new flight, then you'd pay the balance.

 

I can tell from the rate you paid on Air New Zealand, you got a great deal on air. However, it is "non-endorsable" meaning.. as you've found out ... not good on codeshare partners... only Air New Zealand.

 

Sometimes the cheapest airfares are not always the best.

[rebar-art]

I did not intend to start a year long discussion of splitting-hairs with them about the intricacies of my policy, which neither specifically includes or excludes the cruiseline's cancellation of my cruise. One aggravating factor was the number of different responses and explanations I received from them along with the assurance that my claim would, in fact, at some point, probably be paid.

They suggested that there was no reason for me not to go and make other arrangements for my accomodations. Had I not been travelling alone, I might have gone to NZ anyway, but with such late notice it would have been difficult to arrange a 2 week tour that began in Aukland and ended in Sydney for a single lady who has never been to that continent. Also, I had not yet been reimbursed by the cruiseline and my wallet is, alas, not a bottomless pit.

 

Basically, my Pollyanna belief all along was that I purchased an insurance policy from their company to cover any travel losses that I might incur resulting from my trip being cancelled through no fault of my own. I think it is ridiculous to argue that I should have booked an airfare that, in the unlikely event of such a cancellation, I could have used elsewhere upon taking another vacation within that year.

Forgive my rambling, venting, frustration filled diatribe.

[Amy from Delaware]

Rebar-Art,

 

Thank you for coming back and clearing up a lot of the questions that were raised in this thread. It does seem that you (and many others who were scheduled on that cruise) are really stuck. I'm very sorry this happened to you. You did the right thing to purchase the insurance and it's very frustrating that in this case, the insurance isn't covering your loss.

[rebar-art]

Thank you. It was very disappointing.

Of course, there are so many worse things in the world, it seems a little silly to get so bent out of shape over this.

[rebar-art]

I should probably post a thread like this one on every cruise board, travel blog, consumer site etc. Not only would this be servicey on my part, hopefully, a little lost revenue on their part.