Allianz trip insurance-warning

Last month multiple airline delays (Delta) caused us to miss our connections to reach our cruise on time. We went home and rescheduled and placed a claim with Alianz insurance company. 20 days later we were advised our claim was denied because we did not get a statement from the airlines that the flight was completely cancelled causing us to miss at least 50% of the cruise. The insurance company did not previously request that we get a statement and we provided proof of the interruptions. And seriously, if it was even possible I was suppose to try and catch the ship midway through the cruise when I paid for a full cruise?

This denial came after having to submit my supporting documents twice and having to submit a written claim form after filing the claim online.

Communication with them has been horrible during this 20day period and I will never buy insurance from them again.

I see a lawsuit in my future.

I'm sure you reviewed this (which I found in less than 30 sec, of google)

http://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/why-buy/why-buy-articles/tips-for-dealing-with-a-trip-cancellation.aspx

There is a difference between an interruption and a cancellation...and I suspect that each insurance company wants to be sure that it was not your CHOICE to cancel; that you made an effort to remedy an interruption.

 

Delays can and do happen, but if you made the CHOICE not to pursue catching up with the ship (and it was possible) they may view that as you waiving any remedy.

 

Would they have reimbursed for half the missed cruise? If that is the case (coverage for interruption per day) then they may be looking at it being you choosing to cancel for a non-covered reason, hence the denial.

 

The devil is in the details...

...And seriously, if it was even possible I was suppose to try and catch the ship midway through the cruise when I paid for a full cruise?...

Yes, because the terms of your insurance policy said this upfront. I am truly sorry your cruise was a mess, and even sorrier that you did not understand the terms and conditions of your insurance policy. You can certainly pursue a lawsuit if you wish, but you did not abide by the contractual agreement for your coverage. You still seem to be confusing missed connection coverage and trip cancellation coverage. They have different proof and event requirements and vastly different reimbursement amounts.

 

I have scoured many of the top name policies and don't believe you will find any travel policy that does not have this same '50% of the trip' requirement unless you purchase (and pay for) Any Reason cancellation (and that also has time limits as well as percentage limits of coverage). Sadly, you are not the first, nor will you be the last to make this error. This forum sees a complaint like yours every month or so. Again, I am very sorry for your costly loss.

 

If there can be any silver lining, perhaps others will read of your predicament and learn to read and understand the terms and conditions of their travel insurance. I only wish that everyone would do this before they need their insurance rather than after.

I'm looking to get the right type of insurance for my upcoming trip (made deposit on Med cruise today) since it's a greater investment for me than in the past, and so am trying to learn from others'.... is the lesson that the OP should have caught up with the cruise even if it took a few days off the trip? Would the extra flight costs been covered if that had been the case? thanks

As a general rule, insurance policies (not just trip insurance) have a duty upon the policyholder to reasonably mitigate their claim. Your house catches on fire? Don't sit on the lawn and roast marshmallows; call 911. Car dashboard lights up like a Christmas-tree with idiot lights? Don't wait until the engine ejects important parts onto the road to take it in for warranty service.

 

And yes, with trip insurance, you need to try to catch up with your trip before filing a claim for the whole durn thing. (And most (all?) trip insurance companies have travel-agent services to try and help; you won't be on your own.)

I'm looking to get the right type of insurance for my upcoming trip (made deposit on Med cruise today) since it's a greater investment for me than in the past, and so am trying to learn from others'.... is the lesson that the OP should have caught up with the cruise even if it took a few days off the trip? Would the extra flight costs been covered if that had been the case? thanks

in general, yes, you must try to catch up at least until half the trip is over. Extra flight cost coverage would depend on the reason for the delay or interruption. Delay coverage is usually a much lesser amount than interruption. Both of those words/terms and coverage amounts are defined in each policy, but delay coverage tends to be things like a missed connection or weather delay. Interruption is for the same reasons as pre-trip cancellation but which occur after departure (mostly medical reasons).

. And seriously, if it was even possible I was suppose to try and catch the ship midway through the cruise when I paid for a full cruise?

 

I see a lawsuit in my future.

 

As stated, yes, you were expected to try and catch up to the ship. Just putting this out there for people who refuse to get a passport; in this circumstance you can really have a problem if you have no passports, as you won't be allowed to fly to many ports without one. And in that case, the insurance isn't going to pay either, because the insured didn't have the correct travel documents.

 

And cherylandtk is correct; Cancel for Any Reason insurance, at least any policy I've had, wouldn't have covered you either. You have a set time before your trip begins in which you must cancel, and you'd already started your trip. Anyway, most of them now only reimburse about 50-75% of what you paid anyway.

 

You can sue over this, but you won't win, as already pointed out. Sorry this happened to you. I guess you learned the hard way not to fly in the day of your cruise. It's just too risky. You mentioned holding DL accountable for this in your other thread. Unfortunately, DL had no responsibility but to get you from point A to point B, which they did. You can complain, and they may give you a voucher or some miles, but that's it.

 

I hope your rebooked cruise went well, and you had fun.

 

Details about OP's flights in this thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=45823603#post45823603

Edited April 14, 2015 by 6rugrats

very interesting - thank you!