flightaway
Newbie
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2014
- Posts
- 8
I thought members should be aware of a dispute I am having concerning the interpretation of the complimentary travel insurance policy connected to the Virgin Money High Flyer credit card. I have always used international travel insurance policies connected to credit cards for myself and my family and until now have never had to make a claim.
The Virgin Money policy is with Zurich. I made a small claim as I got stuck in the polar vortex in January coming back from the USA. To qualify for the international travel insurance you have to obtain your overseas return ticket 'by the total cost being charged to a cardholder's Virgin High Flyer credit card account'. I purchased a multi city ticket all on Virgin Aust and its partner airlines- SYD - EWR, YUL - SYD via HNL. The total cost of the return tickets for the 3 of us was around $7,500 all charged to my High Flyer credit card. One part of our outward leg SYD - LAX for 2 of us was on points earned through the High Flyer credit card. Zurich have denied my claim interpreting 'total cost' as meaning the total cost to the airline and not the total cost of the ticket charged to the purchaser. This may also mean that velocity members who upgrade with points may also be denied insurance. The policy has 4 pages of exclusions and there is no written exclusion that says cover is not provided if points are used for part of a leg or in fact any exclusion with reference to frequent flyer points.
I have lodged a dispute with Zurich's internal dispute resolution process so watch this space. However until this is resolved one way or the other I will not be using my High Flyer card again to get the travel insurance if any part of my ticket or upgrade is with points. I am lucky it was just a small claim and that none of us got seriously sick or injured.
I would also like to hear if any members had similar issues or had claims paid in my situation.
The Virgin Money policy is with Zurich. I made a small claim as I got stuck in the polar vortex in January coming back from the USA. To qualify for the international travel insurance you have to obtain your overseas return ticket 'by the total cost being charged to a cardholder's Virgin High Flyer credit card account'. I purchased a multi city ticket all on Virgin Aust and its partner airlines- SYD - EWR, YUL - SYD via HNL. The total cost of the return tickets for the 3 of us was around $7,500 all charged to my High Flyer credit card. One part of our outward leg SYD - LAX for 2 of us was on points earned through the High Flyer credit card. Zurich have denied my claim interpreting 'total cost' as meaning the total cost to the airline and not the total cost of the ticket charged to the purchaser. This may also mean that velocity members who upgrade with points may also be denied insurance. The policy has 4 pages of exclusions and there is no written exclusion that says cover is not provided if points are used for part of a leg or in fact any exclusion with reference to frequent flyer points.
I have lodged a dispute with Zurich's internal dispute resolution process so watch this space. However until this is resolved one way or the other I will not be using my High Flyer card again to get the travel insurance if any part of my ticket or upgrade is with points. I am lucky it was just a small claim and that none of us got seriously sick or injured.
I would also like to hear if any members had similar issues or had claims paid in my situation.