AIG Travel

AVOID TRAVEL GUARD AND AIG INSURANCE CO We bought AIG Travel Guard to cover our flights and rafting trip in the Grand Canyon. Our Airline (American) cancelled our flight at midnight, 8 hrs prior to departure, and couldn’t offer same day departure on another flight. We had to buy new tickets on a different airline in order to arrive in time to depart on our rafting trip. After 6 months of trying, both the ticket agent and the airline refused to refund us for the full cost of our original tickets and the additional cost of last minute booking on a different airline. We turned to AIG for coverage and our claim was denied because they said the airline cancelling your flight is not a covered reason if it occurs prior to your trip - even 8 hours prior when you have no other options. The policy will cover you if your pet gets sick and you miss your trip, so a sick hamster will get your money back but not an airline cancelling your flight. Wouldn’t you think travel insurance would cover the airline cancelling your flight before covering a sick hamster? AIG’s Travel Guard doesn’t. Furthermore, our claims experience was a complete disappointment. First, we submitted all required documents with our claim. About 4 weeks passed and then AIG asked for all the documents again. We responded that we had submitted everything with the original claim and asked for clarification on what they were missing. There was no response and then several more weeks of silence went by and we received our denial. All the communications we received from AIG end by saying to please call with any questions. So, we called to speak with someone about our claim. The person who answered was clearly reading from a script and was incapable of providing anything other than the scripted answer. This was evident because we were read the same scripted answer multiple times. We then asked to speak with the adjuster about our claim and were promised a call. That call never came. We did read the policy prior to purchasing it and consider the policy language vague at best. The average person would have significant difficulty knowing whether a potential travel issue would be covered under this product, and there are scenarios like ours that could affect your trip but that you wouldn’t think to ask about ahead. Except for your hamster suddenly becoming ill - that’s covered, no need to ask. We also think Insuremytrip.com could do a better job of pointing out common travel issues that aren’t covered, and that this should be part of the comparison tool.

Even though we didn’t need to use the insurance we felt it was a good policy for our trip.

We buy AIG Travel Guard for each cruise and so far haven't had to use it, but feel comfortable that it's there.