Travel Guard is not covering my trip to Egypt

[Jacqueline]

I had a Nile river cruise booked. It was cancelled by Viking snd they immediately credited me.

 

I booked my tickets on Egypt air, since they fly direct from New York, where I live ( as an aside, one cannot purchase cancell anytime coverage in the state of New York).

 

So far I have had zero luck with Travel Guard on either the claim front or a refund of my $500 policy.

 

According to the policy

Part A d) if within 30 days of your departure a politically motivated terrorist attack occurs within one mile of the territorial city limits of the city to be visited by the program for which you have been registered.

 

Well, it is now past 30 days and they have had my claim for a month. According to this language, there is no coverage unless there is a terrorist one mile from where my itinerary puts me.

Oh and it gets better.

Under POLICY EXCLUSIONS war, civil war , riot or insurrection are listed. So policy is voided, no coverage.

 

So they will not cover you to cancel, nor will they cover you while you are there.

And oh, yeah, they will not refund my $500 policy.

 

And try getting anyone on the phone!

[RJ2002]

I had a Nile river cruise booked. It was cancelled by Viking snd they immediately credited me.

 

I booked my tickets on Egypt air, since they fly direct from New York, where I live ( as an aside, one cannot purchase cancell anytime coverage in the state of New York).

 

So far I have had zero luck with Travel Guard on either the claim front or a refund of my $500 policy.

 

According to the policy

Part A d) if within 30 days of your departure a politically motivated terrorist attack occurs within one mile of the territorial city limits of the city to be visited by the program for which you have been registered.

 

Well, it is now past 30 days and they have had my claim for a month. According to this language, there is no coverage unless there is a terrorist one mile from where my itinerary puts me.

Oh and it gets better.

Under POLICY EXCLUSIONS war, civil war , riot or insurrection are listed. So policy is voided, no coverage.

 

So they will not cover you to cancel, nor will they cover you while you are there.

And oh, yeah, they will not refund my $500 policy.

 

And try getting anyone on the phone!

 

I am sorry that your Egypt cruise was cancelled. However, under the current circumstances, it is probably better not to go there.

 

Glad to hear that Viking has promptly credited you.

 

So, is the claim you are making with Travel Guard just for the refund of the airfare?

 

As to the refund of the policy premium itself, I have not heard that this is usually done. If they eventually pay your claim for airfare, you would also expect them to refund the cost of the policy itself?

 

Again, I am sorry your trip was cancelled. Hope you are able to plan something else in its place.

[CruisinChris]

Sounds like the policy pretty clearly outlines restrictions and limitations. Guess you were surprised?

[cruiseco]

"Act of terror" vs riot, civil war, or insurrection can be confusing. That's why many insurers rely on a third-party to make the call. Usually, this is the US State Department for US-based insurers. If the State Dept says it's a terrorism incident that's what they go by.

 

Complicating the situation is that "terrorism warnings" don't count. So the State Dept can issue a terrorism warning and warn against travel to a specific area but that's not going to be covered -- it has to be an actual incident.

 

Is there a specific terrorist incident (identified as such by any governmental agency) that falls in the 30-day window and location the plan specifies that you're basing your claim on? If there is you should be able to submit that info to your state's Department of Insurance for an independent review. If they agree with you you'll probably get paid.

[Jacqueline]

Cruiseco, you are absolutley right on all counts.

The language is open to interpretation. There is clearly unrest and violence, but what counts as a terrorist attack and how/who defines ot...

RJ2002, I want to use my premium to pay for the airfare. In that case there is no refund of the policy since they will have paid on it.

 

Another frustration is that the department where I am currrenly stuck "quality assurance " does not pick up the phone, you leave a message and they get back to you in 24-48 hours. i went back to the claims department and they could not reach them on the phone . They tried emailing them as well and got no reponse.

If they made it this hard to buy insurance!!

[RJ2002]

Cruiseco, you are absolutley right on all counts.

The language is open to interpretation. There is clearly unrest and violence, but what counts as a terrorist attack and how/who defines ot...

RJ2002, I want to use my premium to pay for the airfare. In that case there is no refund of the policy since they will have paid on it.

 

Another frustration is that the department where I am currrenly stuck "quality assurance " does not pick up the phone, you leave a message and they get back to you in 24-48 hours. i went back to the claims department and they could not reach them on the phone . They tried emailing them as well and got no reponse.

If they made it this hard to buy insurance!!

 

Thanks for the clarification on the policy premium issue.

 

It is unfortunate to hear you are having trouble communicating with Travel Guard. They are widely known and mentioned on CC frequently. I have used them myself before, but I've never had to file a claim.

 

If you purchased your policy through one of the online travel insurance websites, such as insuremytrip, perhaps you could also call them for their recommendation on dealing with Travel Guard.

 

I hope this is eventually resolved in your favor. Good luck.

[Jacqueline]

One buys travel insurance to mitigate the uncertainty that can occur whlst venturing from own's own territory.

How many times have we heard cruisers complain about circumstances forcing them to cancel within penalty period, etc and the call been, well why did you not purchase travel insurance to cover those UNFORSEEEN circumstances.

The key word being unforseen. Unfortunately, one does not know in advance under what circumstances an event will occur. And reading the contract in advance, while wise, does not necessarily help as one cannot predict the future circumstances which would trigger a claim.

I was told to file a claim because they were being reviewed on a case by case basis, I was not to be the lucky one

I am working with Egypt Air and will see what they can do.

And I am able to transfer my trip insurance to another trip, provided I make reservations by Oct 21.

The point being, just because you have trip insurance does not mean that you are covered.

If I were in Egypt while the crisis was imploding, my travel insurance would have been voided and I would have been on my own trying to get out.

But a missed connection, I am sure that they are happy to help.

Who knows where is next...

[GeezerCouple]

Just a thought...

 

What actually seems to have happened is that Viking CANCELLED your cruise. What if it had been for repairs, for example?

 

Is there perhaps coverage based upon the fact that the cruise was cancelled beyond your control?

 

This seems to be a different situation than if the cruise was still "on", but *you* had simply decided on your own not to go due to the political situation (or any other reason, since you can't get the "Cancel For Any Reason" type of policy).

 

You didn't get travel insurance to cover several days of a land tour. Your reason for the airfare was to catch a cruise, and nothing else.

 

Given that the cruise was cancelled out from under you, it just seems odd that travel insurance won't cover the cost of the "travel to nothing" now.

 

Might this be worth asking about?

 

GeezerCouple

[cruiseco]

Just a thought...

 

What actually seems to have happened is that Viking CANCELLED your cruise. What if it had been for repairs, for example?

 

Is there perhaps coverage based upon the fact that the cruise was cancelled beyond your control?

 

This seems to be a different situation than if the cruise was still "on", but *you* had simply decided on your own not to go due to the political situation (or any other reason, since you can't get the "Cancel For Any Reason" type of policy).

 

You didn't get travel insurance to cover several days of a land tour. Your reason for the airfare was to catch a cruise, and nothing else.

 

Given that the cruise was cancelled out from under you, it just seems odd that travel insurance won't cover the cost of the "travel to nothing" now.

 

Might this be worth asking about?

 

GeezerCouple

 

Many plans cover supplier-caused cancellations under SOME circumstances. For example, this is from a CSA plan (many others are similar):

 

"2. arrangements canceled by an airline, cruise line, motor

coach company, or tour operator, resulting from

inclement weather, mechanical breakdown of the aircraft,

ship or boat or motor coach on which the Insured is

scheduled to travel, or organized labor strikes that affect

public transportation."

 

Most also have a provision that covers cancellations by a travel supplier due to financial default or bankruptcy.

 

But in this type of situation they usually figure that you have to take up your loss with the travel supplier.

[Jacqueline]

Thank you all for your help. We buy insurance to cover us under unforseen circumstances. So when this all went south in Egypt, not what we had on mind when we booked.

Insurance does not cover as the circumstances that lead to the cancellation of our cruise. But if we were to actually go to the spot that we insured they would not cover us!

So I have rebooked us to another spot. egypt air is refunding us even though they have no obligation to...

[RJ2002]

Thanks for coming back to report on the Egypt Air decision - - that's great news.

[GeezerCouple]

Good for Egypt Air!

 

It's nice to know that there are still some companies who can and will "do the right thing", even if they are not legally obligated to do so.

 

This type of customer service is *so* rare these days!

 

If we ever travel in that area, we'll definitely include them in our list of carriers to check!

 

GeezerCouple

[sail7seas]

Thanks for coming back to tell us Egypt Air is doing the right thing for you.

Happy you are getting the refund.