Allianz Travel Insurance Reviews
Allianz is one of the biggest providers of Travel Insurance in Australia. Many other brands sell insurance that is underwritten by Allianz such as 1Cover, Travel Insurance Direct, and Worldcare. Allianz also is a major provider of emergency assistance through their Allianz Global Assistance brand (formally known as Mondial Assistance). Read Allianz travel insurance reviews or leave your own review to help other travellers make the right choice.
Website: http://www.allianz.com.au/travel–insurance/
Phone Number: 131 000
Claims: 1300 724 825
Underwriter: Allianz
Emergency Service Provider: Mondial Assistance
Contact Method: Reverse charge call to Australian number
24 hour emergency assistance call
+61 7 3305 7499 (reverse charge from overseas)
1800 010 075 (within Australia)
Maximum Age: 70 without extra premiums
Children Covered: Dependant children/ grandchildren under 21 covered free under Family policy
Extension Available:
Additional Length:
Schedule of Benefits
| Benefit Type | Single | Duo | Family |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cancellation Fees and Lost Deposits | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited |
| Overseas Emergency Medical Assistance | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited |
| Overseas Emergency Medical and Hospital Expenses
– Dental Expenses | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited |
| $500 | $500 | $500 | |
| Additional Expenses | $50,000 | $50,000 | $100,000 |
| Hospital Cash Allowance | $5,000 | $5,000 | $10,000 |
| Accidental Death | $25,000 | $25,000 | $50,000 |
| Permanent Disability | $25,000 | $25,000 | $50,000 |
| Loss of Income | $10,400 | $10,400 | $20,800 |
| Travel Documents, Credit Cards & Travellers Cheques | $5,000 | $5,000 | $10,000 |
| Theft of Cash | $250 | $250 | $250 |
| Luggage and Personal Effects | $7,500 | $7,500 | $15,000 |
| Luggage and Personal Effects Delay Allowance | $250 | $250 | $500 |
| Travel Delay Allowance | $2,000 | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| Alternative Transport Expenses | $5,000 | $5,000 | $10,000 |
| Personal Liability | $5 million | $5 million | $5 million |
| Rental Vehicle | $3,000 | $3,000 | $3,000 |
Allianz Australia offers a range of travel insurance options, including comprehensive travel insurance, domestic travel insurance, rental car excess insurance, and annual multi-trip insurance.
Comprehensive travel insurance from Allianz Australia typically provides coverage for trip cancellation or interruption, emergency medical expenses, lost or delayed baggage, personal liability, and more. It offers extensive protection against various unforeseen events during your travels.
You can easily purchase Allianz Australia travel insurance online through their website or by calling their customer service hotline. The process is quick and convenient, allowing you to get the coverage you need for your trip
Yes, Allianz Australia offers the flexibility to customise your travel insurance policy to suit your specific needs. You can often choose optional extras or add-ons to enhance your coverage, such as increased medical coverage or coverage for high-value items.
If you need to make a claim with Allianz Australia, it is important to contact their claims department as soon as possible. They will guide you through the process, provide the necessary forms, and assist you in gathering any required documentation to support your claim.
The worst company ever. Do Not join with them. I had a health insurance policy with them once and I was Not happy with their service at all, so i have joined with someone else and quit from Allianz Global Assistant Australia and i have asked for a refund from them(Allianz Global Assistant Australia), because i have already paid to them for the whole year. So after that i have called my new health insurance company to active my new health insurance policy and they asked me, my previous Policy transfer document from my previous health insurance company( Allianz Global Assistant Australia). Then again i have contact Allianz Global Assistant Australia and told them what my new health insurance company asked me and then i asked for the Policy transfer document from Allianz Global Assistant Australia. Hey guys so guess what they have that told me…, The Allianz Global Assistant Australia told me that, in order to release my Policy transfer document, i have to sacrifice my refund and lodge a refund cancelation request and then they(Allianz Global Assistant Australia) will be able to release my Policy transfer document. That is bloody ridiculous. Hey everyone i’m telling you again Do Not join with them(Allianz Global Assistant Australia).
Warning everyone, this company is the worst insurance company ever, got a travel insurance with them through my credit card and had a flight cancellation beyond my control and had to re-book other flight which cost me $8000, they will not compensate me due to the unbelievable conditions they had in their PDS. Take my advise and get insurance from anywhere else but this company.
I was insured with Allianz through Teachers Health Travel Insurance and had to make a claim due to serious illness that caused us to cancel our entire overseas holiday and the bookings. I can only say that I found the staff friendly, sympathetic, efficient and helpful each time I contacted them (or they contacted me) and the claim was put through with a minimum of bother to me. It helped to ease an extremely stressful time.
I have to say that the service I received from Allianz is the worst I have ever experienced from any financial institution ever.
My handbag was stolen whilst waiting to board our flight at Heathrow. It contained both mine and my boyfriends passports. Because of the weekend, processing times and passport offices being closed, we were stuck in London for an addition 5 days.
I rang Allianz to ensure that we would be covered and were told that they would reimburse out of pocket expenses. We actually had a copy of our claim with us and read it back to front to make sure we were doing the right things. We tried to eat cheap, we didn’t go site seeing unless it was free, we stayed at a cheap hotel (which is tough in London) and only claimed the necessities. In the end though this was still a few thousand dollars.
Upon returning home we completed claim forms, did a full reconciliation of our receipts and created an accompanying spreadsheet outlining what each payment was for and included copies of credit card transactions to match the receipts. Much more info than was required.
Upon submitting our claim we received and automated email saying we would have a response within 10 working days.
On the 10th day we received an email telling us that our claim had been received, and that it would be assigned in the next 10 working days!
After those 10 days, we received an email telling us that our claim had been assigned to a case manager and that they would assess it and respond to us in the next 10 working days!
On the 10 day we received an email asking a bunch of questions. These questions had all been answered in our claim, things such as “where did you stay?” And unbelievably “please provide proof that you have cancelled you cell phone”. I wasn’t even claiming for a phone. In fact there was no mention of a phone anywhere in the claim paperwork.
We responded stating that this information has already been supplied, but supplied it again and also corrected them regarding the phone.
We received an email response saying that with this new information now received we would receive a response within 10 working days.
This was not new information! This was correct information, already supplied, that they failed to read.
Allianz then suggested that they might reject our claim as the person who stole by bag had been caught by the UK police and was now in jail and I could expect them to repay me.
After receiving 2 more emails requesting more information that had already been submitted to Allianz I rang the Financial Services Ombudsman to ask for advice. It was clear at this stage that Allianz has a policy of wasting your time hoping you just go away.
The Ombudsman suggested escalating the claim within Allianz as they could not take action until Allianz had officially rejected the claim.
In a final bid of desperation I posted to the Allianz Facebook page publicly and finally got a phone call from an actual person.
The person I spoke to was actually really helpful, he agreed with me that both myself and Allianz knew that this thief would never repay our out of pocket costs and took my case to his management to have it assessed once and for all.
After 1 day he returned my call to let me know that management had agreed to pay out my claim with some additional paperwork from the UK courts stating that if this person ever did make any payments, they would go to Allianz.
I got this form the UK courts and submitted the paper work.
The final blow was that Allianz would not cover me for loss of income for the 5 days I was away, even though there is no physical way I could have done my job from where I was. They only pay loss of income of your income loss comes from being injured. Regardless of whether your reason for claiming prevents you from working, as in my case.
It has taken 5 months and many emails to finally get this sorted. I will never use Allianz Insurance again or anyone underwritten by them.
The one helpful person at the company that I spoke to has informed me that they are leaving in a few weeks so if I need any more follow up assistance he won’t be available. I can only guess it’s because the company is as terrible to work for as they are to deal with.
Hi Kim
I am having the same trouble with Allianz. Four months of 10 day delays! I have contacted the Ombudsman but they too are waiting for an answer. My handbag, containing normal female travel possessions, was stolen in Spain and I had to go to Madrid for emergency passport. Should be simple!
It’s a shame Allianz have replaced Zurich on many bank credit cards that offer insurance on travel upon purchase of flight tickets. They (Allianz) have such bad consumer ratings and I experienced this when for many years I had a Bankwest Credit Card that suddenly changed the insurer and I found was no longer covered for my pre-existing medical condition (managed low risk cardiovascular issue) which is not an uncommon condition. Therefore the credit is useless to me for such purposes as it would save up to $300 on travel insurance by not having to take out additional travel insurance.
I then tracked down Suncorp credit cards who were still using Zurich and thought my problem was resolved, however they to switched to using Allianz and I had the same problem. Suncorp were great to deal with and refunded my card monthly fee.
Even though I had explained and provided evidence to Allianz that Zurich had previously covered my condition Allianz would not even entertain the idea and immediately rejected me and treated me as collateral damage. I spoke to my medical specialist about this and he was incredulous at why there should be a difference among insurers.
So please be aware and cautious about using your bank credit card automatic insurance as it is much less effective and judging by the number of bad reviews related to 1cover and Allianz this is of great concern. In the event that one has an overseas medical issue related to my example it will cost about $100,000 to care for and repatriate you back to Australia so this is very significant.
The other issue is the banks and staff who have switched insurers do not realize what the impact of this is to customers and are therefore providing an inferior product.
If anyone can suggest an alternative travel insurer I would gladly try them out?
So shocking….
Right from the start, I called on behalf of an elderly relative & at the end of the call the woman was laughing about how long we talked for & was clearly making a mockery of the claim… The customer…. My family!!
Overall, spent over 15 hrs doing their job. Asking the right questions, obtaining info & I initiating alternative measures for resolution!
They didn’t follow-up on verbal or written commitments (all recorded) or answer emails comprehensively or hand over to next shift correctly, if at all. They promised a physio which they did not deliver, & set-up what felt like little traps along the way. I asked if we should seek secondary medical advice to avoid compromising the case due to timelines… Not only did they advise no, they didn’t meet timelines & said we needed secondary advice at the 11th hour..
I was told they had millions of customers so it was hard to get back to us, meaning they are taking on more clients than they are willing to resource for.
The nurse was rude & contradicted herself on previous comms, as fud several of the case workers we dealt with. It felt like were trying to make it as hard as possible to follow-up so we would give-up!
I have dealt with many insurance companies and NEVER experienced anything as sloppy, unprofessional & stresful as this.
They admitted it was poorly handled & could take a lot of learnings but refused to compensate the customer as their misconduct may have jeopordised her outcome.
They even refused to call the airline to ask if they would help out if good-will considering the circumstances (as supposedly they didn’t have anyone with the authority to rectify).
They said the airline would be very unlikely to support them, which also suggestes their reputation with third parties is very poor.
Please do not waste your money, but more importantly do not put yourself or your loved ones through the horrific & stressful circumstances that may result from having to interact with this company.
Their overall rating is poor & they love to refer to the fine prrint once a claim arises.
At a high level this is a company that over-promises & under-delivers!!
It is my opinion they target customers that don’t read every word in the fine print (even though that didn’t support my case) & people that trust insurance companies as they have never experienced an incident prior or have had a positive experience with another provider!
It is a shame I cannot give zero stars, the fact 1 is the minimum & they sit at 1.4 says it all!!
Do yourself a favour … Do some research & look elsewhere… I hope nobody else has to experience what we have!
I am extremely dissapointed with this company and believe that existing and potential customers might want to hear my story before booking travel insurance through this company.
My husband was in a terrible accident whilst travelling and spent 4 weeks in the hospital where he underwent 5 surgeries to save his arm. Whilst there were a few staff members which were friendly, compassionate and helpful, the majority of the staff I spoke with throughout this process showed absolutely no compassion and understanding for what my husband and I were going through and caused unnecessary and unreasonable delays making this process extremely stressful and more difficult than it had to be. This company should understand I should have been spending most of my time caring for my husband (and unborn baby) instead of on lengthy telephone conversations with your organization in order to obtain updates and your requirements to process my husband’s claim, telephone calls which one would expect would be made by the company to save time.
As a company that made a 6.6 billion euro profit in 2014, I find it appalling that when rebooking flights from Canada to Australia for my injured husband, this company refused to upgrade me (six and a half (6 1/2) month pregnant) to sit with him in order to provide the assistance he requires throughout this lenghty flight as he only has one functional arm and hand despite the doctors in Canada stating in the certificate in real took to my injured husband’s fitness to fly that he required a non-medical escort to assist him with various tasks. They refused to do this in order to save a couple thousand dollars.
I understand that companies must be profitable to operate however I find it very difficult to believe a couple thousand dollars here and there to upgrade spouses, especially in circumstances like mine would make a dent into this company’s yearly profit. Quite the opposite, one would think it would ensure existing customers are satisfied with the service they receive from this organization and likely to become return customers and to recommend this company to friends and colleagues.
During the process, I repeatedly asked to speak to managers or the dispute resolution team to make a complaint and was continually advised that no managers were available or that I could not speak to managers as they would only repeat what the call center staff advised and that I should email the same staff which show no compassion or assistance and that my email would be forwarded on to the dispute resolution team.
The above are only some of the complaints and concerns I have in relation to the way this company has handled my husband’s claim.
As previously stated, I am six and a half (6 1/2) months pregnant and this company’s handling of this claim has amplified the stress I’ve had to endure during this traumatic experience and I think that any existing and potential customers ought to know this is how Allianz treats customers. They showed absolutely no compassion for a pregnant lady who’s husband spent 4 weeks in the hospital, underwent 5 surgeries to save his arm and had to stay in Canada for an extra 5 weeks.
So much for paying the premium and thinking that Allianz would cover it.
My son fell ill on a family vacation in Bali. He was hospitalized and had emergency surgery in the International Hospital there. Despite being severely ill (had a 30 cm incision down the middle of his stomach – described by an Australian doctor as the quality of surgery that existed 50 years ago, with septacemia, pneumonia, severe weight loss and pressure point sores) they refused to evacuate him (against the recommendation of the Bali hospital). They told us so many lies, its a very long story. Only through a miracle of an Australian doctor who happened to be in the hospital evacuating another child did we find out that Allianz were complete liars and we finally had the facts to put pressure on them to get our boy back to some good medical care in Australia.
We paid our good money in good faith, for a comprehensive “premium” travel insurance policy that Allianz had no intention of honouring. We don’t blame the Bali hospital, they did they best they could with what they had. We blame Allianz for their rudeness, their lies and for their complete disregard for the life of our son. He spent another month in hospital and needed a very high level of medical care to recover.
Please do not take this risk with you or your famliy’s life. I do not and will never recommend this insurer for any kind of travel insurance.
Allianz “Travel Insurance” is a rip off.
I tried to claim for damage to my luggage, and provided all the requisite paperwork to support my claim.
Allianz responded by depreciating the value of my luggage so that it was worth less than the excess on my policy, so that they didn’t have to pay out.
However, I am not the only dissatisfied customer they have. Anyone who cares to check the Australian Allianz web page will see that nearly every post is from someone who has had a negative experience when trying to make a claim from them.
My advice – don’t use Allianz for any insurance, as they clearly are only interested in their profits, not providing a genuine service.
I’d advise not wasting money or time with Allianz travel insurance. My flight was diverted out of Chicago due to thunderstorms, and I ended up reaching my destination almost 24 hours late. This led to a big cost difference when rebooking my fare to Alaska.
I submitted the claim information April 16th, and received an automated reply. Not hearing anything, I called back to find the claim had been closed. I sent the information again. The account was closed again. I finally got someone who seemed competent on the third call; she collected information and promised me it was ready to be processed on July 30th. Not hearing anything into September, I called again, to find she had been fired and the information not there. I sent it yet again, then was told there is a daily limit of $150 on a flight delay. Really? So actual flight change costs are irrelevant. Glad I hadn’t bothered getting a hotel or keeping track of meals. It is now October 3rd and I still haven’t received the promised check.
The most irritating aspects of this were never once getting a call or email from the company to discuss the issues it had with my claim and also finding out after 4 tries that the insurance didn’t begin to cover my costs. Don’t waste your money. I’d give this company a turkey instead of a star, if this system let me. May you find good travel insurance somewhere!
Allianz Travel Insurance is a complete joke. Despite the multiple fore warnings and discouragement I proceeded in purchasing a policy for a flight with US Airways. It so happened due to an extreme medical diagnosis of a close relative I had to cancel my trip. Allianz was excellent at finding loop holes for not honoring the basis of the policy. Ultimately their consensus was my cancelation could not be covered due to oversight on policy dates and that the medical diagnosis was not covered. At that point it was not worth my time to continue perusing claims reimbursement, rather I decided to accept their poor business and fraudulent behavior and merely seek reimbursement of the $70 I paid for the policy. No response from Allianz. This company is worse than one of those cheap used car lots. I will continue my pursuit of initial policy reimbursement otherwise will direct my time to spreading awareness of the poor business ethics of Allianz Travel Insurance.
ALLIANZ REJECTED MY CLAIM AFTER THEY HAD AGREED THAT IT WOULD BE ACCEPTED.
In early June, I learned that my mother (who lives in London, UK) had Leukemia. The good news was that she was responding well to treatment and her doctors told us that with regular treatment she could expect many months with good quality of life.
On June 20th, 2012, I booked flights via Orbitz for my wife and two children to fly from Boston to London to visit my parents. The trip was booked for July 2nd returning on 17th July. I purchased travel insurance from Allianz. The total price of the travel plus insurance was $2711.61.
Unfortunately, on June 26th, my mother fell down at home and needed to be hospitalized. BEFORE changing my family’s travel arrangements, I called Allianz (this would have been either on the evening of June 26th or the morning of June 27th) to confirm that my insurance covered us to change the tickets from 2 weeks to one week (returning on 10th July instead of the 17th) as my mother was now unable to spend two active weeks with her grandchildren.
I was told by Allianz that I was covered. Specifically the Allianz representative (who was helpful and sympathetic) directed me to page 5 of the Allianz insurance terms (Trip Cancellation or Trip Interruption):
A family member who isn’t traveling with you is seriously ill or injured.
Specific requirement: The injury, illness or medical condition must be considered life threatening, require hospitalization, or he or she must require your care.
I was advised to purchase the new tickets, then cancel the old ones, which I did.
I filed the insurance claim on 29th June 2012.
The following occurred AFTER my claim was submitted but is relevant as it demonstrates how Allianz’s claims department treated me.
While my family was in London, they reported that my mother was back home and doing well. I then booked return flights to London from July 11th to August 8th to coincide with my family’s return to Boston. I planned on visiting my parents for an extended period (so I could also enjoy the Olympics).
Two days after I arrived in London, on July 14th, my mother had a serious setback and she decided she no longer wished to continue with her treatment. Her doctor told us that the consequence of her decision was that she would now only have a maximum of a few weeks to live, rather than months. My mother’s decline was unfortunately quite rapid and on 17th July she passed away.
I called Allianz on 19th July to inquire about the progress of my claim (I had not received a reply to my email or online claim of 29th June). I was told that my claim had been rejected due to “existing medical conditions”. I was shocked and asked to speak to a senior claims supervisor. I explained my situation in detail to the supervisor who sounded sympathetic and promised to follow up within 24 hours, which he did.
When the supervisor called me back, he started by stating that he had listened to the recordings of my phone calls to Allianz and that consequently, he had an apology to make. The supervisor apologized that Allianz had incorrectly declined my claim on the basis of “existing medical conditions”. HOWEVER, he then went on to say that he was REJECTING MY CLAIM FOR A DIFFERENT REASON! I was literally speechless – I thought that I had misheard him. He said he was rejecting my claim under the clause “any problem or event that could have reasonably been foreseen or expected when you purchased your plan”
To be clear, there was no way that I or my family could have reasonably known more than my mother’s doctors. Furthermore, as I was speaking to the supervisor AFTER my mother passed away, his assumption that my mother’s decline was foreseeable was obviously tainted. My mother was NOT declining when we purchased the travel and the insurance, nor was it reasonable or foreseeable that she would decline during that period.
I was (and still am) deeply upset and insulted that the supervisor assumed I had more insight into my mother’s condition than her doctor. When I reminded him that the recordings he had of my calls to Allianz support that my cover was confirmed and that I was advised to cancel the tickets, he said I’d have to subpoena Allianz if I wanted to prove that point. His attitude (especially considering that I was grieving the loss of my mother) was in my opinion, smug and unfair.
Stephen Randall
These people are Frauds, cheaters
Please dont buy insurance from them. There is of no use..
My trip was interrupted due to some personal reasons/illness and they didnt refunded my ticket amount which is just $100. I was sick but not too seriously sick to get admitted in an emergency room and get a doctor’s statement after spending $1000 (on medical bills/prescriptions) to get reimbursed for $100 airline ticket.
Allianz Travel Insurance Company prey on innocent people’s money.
I acquired this insurance for a recent vacation and had an accident where I bruised some finds…needless to say, anybody who has had rib injuries knows the pain suffered when doing any kind of moving around let alone even taking a deep breath. When decided to extend my stay to get some rest before trying to take a long flight home, I was happy that I had purchased the insurance…That was until I contacted them to try and use it. They were not only very rude and indifferent to my situation, but they make it almost impossible to collect any compensation for the extra money it cost me to rebook a new flight. Think long and hard before purchasing this insurance…is simply not worth the headaches when you actually do need to use it. It’s very misleading at the point of sale and they don’t cover very much to begin with.
The sale representative told me that I can purchase the insurance and then call later to add my husband in the policy at no cost. I did exactly how he told me, and now I called to add my husband in, they said I have to pay a separate to add him in.
Totally misinform the customer to lure you in purchasing the policy and turn around and said something else. Do not purchase your insurance with this company.
Be sure to read the full 20 page document for this insurance coverage before purchasing. Very few items are covered. For example, work conflicts are not covered (even with over a month’s notice).
If you think that you will be compensated for a claim, think again. You will be asked to provide an unreasonable amount of documentation, most of which would never be reasonably expected or obtainable. SAVE YOUR MONEY, DON’T PURCHASE INSURANCE FROM ALLIANZ.
I booked a holiday with friends travelling with Air Australia. I purchased Allianz Travel Insurance and they used ICover. Bottom line although both companies had same policy re financial collapse I Cover came through for my friends and received a full refunded and Allianz didn’t! I will be using ICover for my travel needs in future
We had no problem whatsover with Allianz. We took their travel insurance at an extremely reasonable cost through a link on Delta’s website (AAA uses Allianz, too). While on vacation, I fell and hit my head, meaning a visit to the emergency room the night before we flew home. I called Allianz the next day, and everyone I talked to was polite and helpful. Filling out the claim form was simple. The documentation they needed was clearly indicated in the original contract, and after I provided it for them, the claim was approved and the check arrived shortly afterwards. We will definitely take travel insurance through Allianz again.
I missed my flight because the airport was shut down. I could not receive a refund on the hotel room I already booked. I called Allianz on the way to the airport to let them know that a 15 minute commute was taking about 3 hours. They said that if I filed a claim I should be reimbursed my hotel. I have been waiting over a month after providing all the pertinent information (letter from American Airlines, hotel, DFW airport). Since I never heard back or received a claim number I called Allianz and they informed me they rejected my claim 3 weeks ago! Nobody informed me of this or told me why they rejected the claim! NEVER USE ALLIANZ!
My carry-on bag was stolen the first day of my trip. Access American, now Allianz responded promptly to my e-mail with information about coverage and how to file a claim. I waited until I returned home to file my claim; within 3 weeks of filing my claim, I received a check. No hassles! Great service!
DO NOT PURCHASE THIS INSURANCE! They will hassle you so much that you will never get a cent even though you have a legitimate claim. I am reporting them to the Better Business Bureau, Attorney General’s Office for Consumer Affairs, FAA etc.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY ON THIS INSURANCE!!
I purchased Allianz Insurance as I was traveling abroad to visit my sick Mother. My Mom passed away before my scheduled flight home and so I had to change my flight. I submitted a claim to Allianz to reimburse me for the change of flight fee and had no problems whatsoever. They were quick, efficient and within a week of me returning home they had settled my claim. I would definitely use them again!
The absolute worst service ever and of course they are doing everything in their power to not pay my claim or provide me with the airline disability services I am going to require after my leg went through a glass door on vacation. I am in the medical profession and my advice………USE ANOTHER COMPANY FOR YOUR TRAVEL INSURANCE! I have sutures halfway up my leg and they expect me to get to a hospital over 100km away, in a 3rd world country, when I can barely hobble 50ft on my crutches, so a doctor can fill out a piece of paper stating I need assistance. (one look at me would more than verify that fact).
We bought Allianz travel insurance through the Delta Airlines link. On our way back from Mexico we ended up with a 24 hour weather delay in MLPS. Delta wouldn’t do anything because the delay was due to weather. We had out of pocket expenses (keep reciepts) of $290. I called Allianz to find out if any or all of the expenses would be qualified. The customer service representative was outstanding. She was extremely polite and spoke very clear english. Although, they would only cover $150 per person, my wife and I were able to split the expenses and file separate claims which covered the total amount. I would highly recommend, especially if you have elderly parents or traveling in the northern part of the US during the winter months.
We purchased a cancellation insurance policy for a room booked through Hotwire – or so we thought. Apparently this is really not the case and a room booked is a room booked, even though you need to cancel one date and rebook for another. The hotel (Westin LA Airport, by the way) would not rebook it to another date, and Hotwire would not refund, and the insurance purchased for a refund would not refund because it was not a medical emergency. Make sure you know what you are buying before you put good money down. I think the safest policy for cancellation of a hotel room is to deal with the hotel chain or hotel itself directly. Watch their cancellation policy and go accordingly. I told Allianz we would neither deal with Hotwire or Allianz in the future. Hotwire should have managed to change the hotel reservation because there was a couple of weeks to do so, and the hotel has now lost a customer forever. Good business practice? I do not think so.
Don’t waste your money purchasing Allianz travel insurance. They will make you provide so much paperwork, that you will want to give up before you get through. My stepfather got pneumonia when I was home visiting my mother. The day before I was to leave, the doctors said he wasn’t going to make it and he would die within 3 days. I called Allianz and said i needed to change my travel arrangements and asked if I was covered. They said yes. I asked them to tell me all of the paperwork I needed to file the claim while I was there. I had sent the obituary which is what I was told to do but now they are requiring the doctor’s form asking for lengthy history because he wasn’t dead when I changed my plans. He died 2 days later. Totally insensitive. Try to get a doctor to fill out a very long form from 2,000 miles away. I have now spent 3 hours on this claim for $154. I’m giving up. My time is worth more than that and that’s what they are counting on.
I purchased travel insurance from Allianz as part of an 11 night holiday package to Fiji in August 2011. The holiday package cost just under $4500 (AUD). Unfortunately on our family’s first night in Fiji we all fell ill. We all spent three days in a local hospital before we were told to return to Australia because we could not be treated in Fiji. Our Fijian holiday was only about 4 hours old before it became a nightmare.
Allianz’s response, because we used the airfares (about $3,000 of our $4,400 holiday costs) to travel to and from Fiji, they didn’t have to reimburse us for our airfares. Allianz has fine print in the policy disclosure documentation… What this fine print actually means is – If you purchased travel insurance to have some protection for the holiday you paid for and you don’t ‘enjoy’ (OR ACTUALLY HAVE) the holiday you booked, they can use the fine print loop-hole of ‘inconsequential loss’ and they are not obligated to reimburse you.
If this review encourages you to choose a travel insurance company other that Allianz, check which company is behind the insurance companies you are considering, it could be Allianz.
I have purchase travel insurance every time I’ve been overseas (from other companies) and I have only ever had to make one claim in the past 25 years. I WILL NEVER, EVER PURCHASE ANY ALLIANZ INSURANCE PRODUCT EVER AGAIN!!!!!
We took out frequent flyer travel insurance with Allianz which is managed by Mondial Assistance. We unfortunately had to cancel planned travel arrangements when my husband was diagnosed with cancer. We need to claim cancellation fees only. The claims process is excruciating and so far we have had no positive result. It seems that their medical team are trying to claim that it was a pre-existing condition, even though a doctor’s visit just prior to taking out the insurance suggested otherwise. We have already provided information from our doctor. Now they have sent out a tastefully named “Cancer questionnaire” and want all medical records relating to cancer including all specialist reports, even though these all happened months after taking out the insurance. Travel insurance is only as good as the claims experience. I would recommend giving this provider a huge miss.