Primary event cancelled after Trip Commenced

[theblank]

Does anyone have any experience with a Travel Insurance claim, where the main purpose of the event (conference) was cancelled after the trip commenced and before arriving at the event destination?

The exact circumstance was that I was in Arizona, on the way to a conference in NC, when Hurricane Florence hit, so the conference is postponed until 2019. I rang the insurer 3x at the time, and read the policy 100 times and my heads swimming with details.

The biggest cost to me is the fact that i need to travel to USA again to attend the conference, but that would seem to be unclaimable.

It seems to me that the most I can possibly claim is the amount of unrefundable bookings. I had to pay for some short notice alternative airfares that were 2-4x more expensive than normal due to being last minute bookings.

Anz Premium cards insurance QBE, Section B2

What is covered?
We will cover you for expenses you incur for reasonable
additional travel, accommodation, meals and internet use and
emergency telephone calls less any refunds you are entitled to,
if you have to interrupt your trip after it has begun. We will pay
the higher of the non refundable cancellation fees (Under
Section B1) or the additional rearrangement costs that have
been incurred as a result of the same event

However Section B1 seems to contradict

What is covered?
If you have to cancel any pre-paid travel arrangements due to
any unforeseen or unforeseeable circumstances outside of
your control we will pay you up to the applicable limit as set
out in the schedule of benefits for the value of the unused
travel arrangements, less any refunds due to you, or the
reasonable cost of rearranging your trip, provided that this
cost is not greater than the cancellation fees or lost deposits
which would have been incurred had the trip been cancelled.

 

[theblank]

Thanks for all the help

Allianz (ANZ Rewards Cover) turned out to be a real blessing, I can highly recommend relying on their policy and claims process. I was going to discard this card, but IMO its just too valuable now for the insurance cover, only need to spend $250 on it to be covered.


- thought they would dispute/reduce several items but they quibbled nothing.
- the claims process was easy, submitted online, and got one phone call asking some questions and for some additional documents.
- they didnt ask for proof I met the spend requirement of $250. (others want to see the CC statements)
- all settled and paid for within 2 weeks, they send SMS messages or emails at each stage

In a nutshell they paid out all my unplanned alternative travel expenses between the beginning of the event that was cancelled, and reconnnecting with my original flights departing LAZ to go home, as well as refunding any cancelletion costs and non-refundables.

They also paid my claim for USD45 a day for meals, without any proof. ( the maximum was about AUD70 a day)
They also covered hotel costs in full even though the booking was for 2 people, but i just said as his name is not on the booking and I paid for it so I am claiming it as he cant.

But the big one, despite all insurers policies stating that such claims will take into account all the refunds or credits for cancelled bookings, they didnt deduct the $2000 that I had paid for the main event that was cancelled. I just made the point to them that the event was postponed for 12 months, and that I have to go back to USA to use that and they accepted it. The assessor alluded she wasnt sure how they would consider that but that she would make a recommendation.

I cant be sure whether they were being genererous or not, but they would have noticed that I was stranded in USA for 10 days, but only claimed 3 days for hotels, the rest we had a freind put us up. So I figure that they acted reasonably considering that in the circumstances I could have ripped them for a lot more

Never thought I would say nice things about an Insurance Company, but there you go.

* in my first post I said ANZ use QBE, but I had an old policy document, its now with Allianz. Interestingly enough, the Policy is still exactly the same, word for word.

 

[serfty]

Does anyone have any experience with a Travel Insurance claim, where the main purpose of the event (conference) was cancelled after the trip commenced and before arriving at the event destination?

Thanks for all the help

I guess no-one else has such experience and you are now the guru

Interesting how seemingly easily it was all done.

For the first time in years for a trip after Christmas I am not relying on an annual policy and have done the ANZ $250 spend thing. I am feeling a bit more comfortable now.

 

[theblank]

I guess no-one else has such experience

I figured that, most peoples experience would be the trips cancelled before they leave, or get stuck in airports. We had already been meandering around the USA doing other stuff.


and I didnt want to be the guy that started a thread about a situation and never followed up with the outcome