Altitude travel insurance question

[Jack_OC]

Hi all,
anyone able to help with the following question? I've booked a holiday to Europe for my family in April, which involves a combination of reward and paid for tickets, all of which are one way. I paid the cash component of all fares using my Altitude Black, and I'm trying to figure out if I'll qualify for the complimentary travel insurance.

The T&Cs state the following:

Cardholders, become eligible for this Overseas travel insurance when, before leaving Australia on an overseas journey, they have a return overseas travel ticket, and A$500 of their prepaid travel costs (i.e. costs of their return overseas travel ticket; and/or airport/departure taxes; and/or their prepaid overseas accommodation/travel; and/or their other prepaid overseas itinerary items) have been charged to the cardholder’s eligible credit card account.

“return overseas travel ticket” means a ticket from and returning to Australia​

I have paid well in excess of $500 using my Altitude Black card, but am I correct to interpret this to mean that you only qualify for the cover if you have an actual return ticket - ie a series of one ways does not qualify?

 

[Doug_Westcott]

I would think that provided you have a ticket(s) that "returns" you to Australia before you go (regardless of the number of hops/airlines involved), you would be covered.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

“return overseas travel ticket” means a ticket from and returning to Australia.

So I would call and ask that your situation is covered.

 

[AdMEL]

I would think that provided you have a ticket(s) that "returns" you to Australia before you go (regardless of the number of hops/airlines involved), you would be covered.

I would agree with this, but to be safe, suggest a call to Zurich to confirm.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Hi all,
anyone able to help with the following question? I've booked a holiday to Europe for my family in April, which involves a combination of reward and paid for tickets, all of which are one way. I paid the cash component of all fares using my Altitude Black, and I'm trying to figure out if I'll qualify for the complimentary travel insurance.

The T&Cs state the following:

Cardholders, become eligible for this Overseas travel insurance when, before leaving Australia on an overseas journey, they have a return overseas travel ticket, and A$500 of their prepaid travel costs (i.e. costs of their return overseas travel ticket; and/or airport/departure taxes; and/or their prepaid overseas accommodation/travel; and/or their other prepaid overseas itinerary items) have been charged to the cardholder’s eligible credit card account.

“return overseas travel ticket” means a ticket from and returning to Australia​

I have paid well in excess of $500 using my Altitude Black card, but am I correct to interpret this to mean that you only qualify for the cover if you have an actual return ticket - ie a series of one ways does not qualify?

It also states:

“trip” means:
●● overseas passage by the cardholder as a paying passenger
(not as a pilot, driver, or crew member etc.) in a licensed
plane, bus, train or ferry authorised pursuant to any
statute, regulation, by-law or the equivalent thereof for the
transportation of passengers for hire. Provided that before the
passage commenced the cost of the passage was charged to
the cardholder’s eligible credit card account and the cardholder
is not on their way to or from their place of work (whether
paid, unpaid or voluntary work); and


So I would call to clarify that you only need to spend $500 in total.....and not cost of flight AND $500 charged to you card, which has it could be interpreted..

 

[Jack_OC]

It also states:

“trip” means:
●● overseas passage by the cardholder as a paying passenger
(not as a pilot, driver, or crew member etc.) in a licensed
plane, bus, train or ferry authorised pursuant to any
statute, regulation, by-law or the equivalent thereof for the
transportation of passengers for hire. Provided that before the
passage commenced the cost of the passage was charged to
the cardholder’s eligible credit card account and the cardholder
is not on their way to or from their place of work (whether
paid, unpaid or voluntary work); and


So I would call to clarify that you only need to spend $500 in total.....and not cost of flight AND $500 charged to you card, which has it could be interpreted..

As far as I can tell though, the term trip is not used in the description of what is required to be eligible for travel insurance, it's only used in the eligibility criteria for personal accident insurance (and in that case you have to pay for the entire trip using your Altitude card to be eligible).

 

[AdMEL]

It also states:

“trip” means:
●● overseas passage by the cardholder as a paying passenger
(not as a pilot, driver, or crew member etc.) in a licensed
plane, bus, train or ferry authorised pursuant to any
statute, regulation, by-law or the equivalent thereof for the
transportation of passengers for hire. Provided that before the
passage commenced the cost of the passage was charged to
the cardholder’s eligible credit card account and the cardholder
is not on their way to or from their place of work (whether
paid, unpaid or voluntary work); and


So I would call to clarify that you only need to spend $500 in total.....and not cost of flight AND $500 charged to you card, which has it could be interpreted..

I agree that a call to Zurich to clarify should be made, as I mentioned above.

However, I don't think the section you've highlighted is relevant, as 'trip' isn't part of the eligibility criteria. It doesn't seem to appear in a quick scan of the policy either.

I wonder if it's left over from the previous policy wording where the criteria was that the entire amount of the return airfare had to be paid on the card.

 

[AdMEL]

As far as I can tell though, the term trip is not used in the description of what is required to be eligible for travel insurance, it's only used in the eligibility criteria for personal accident insurance (and in that case you have to pay for the entire trip using your Altitude card to be eligible).

I stand corrected! I did say a quick scan!

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I agree that a call to Zurich to clarify should be made, as I mentioned above.

However, I don't think the section you've highlighted is relevant, as 'trip' isn't part of the eligibility criteria. It doesn't seem to appear in a quick scan of the policy either.

I wonder if it's left over from the previous policy wording where the criteria was that the entire amount of the return airfare had to be paid on the card.

I agree. But given it is there I would check.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Just came across this...
Best and worst credit cards for travel insurance: what's covered? - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

This covers most of the fundamentals that you’d expect from regular travel insurance provider like medical, luggage, and car rental excess, plus it includes coverage for your spouse and children who travel with you.You’ll need to spend a minimum of $500 of your prepaid holiday purchases for the insurance to be valid but this is easy enough if you use your card to pay for flights or accommodation.

 

[Jack_OC]

Thanks for all the replies. I called Zurich and they confirmed that the "return travel ticket" isn't an issue - they don't care if it's a series of one ways or a multi-city/RTW ticket or whatever, it just means you have to have tickets to get you back to Australia before you go, as opposed to heading off overseas indefinitely.

It's also not a problem that I have used points for some of the fares, as long as I have pre-paid a total of at least $500 per person travelling on my Altitude card. However, the person I spoke to stressed that this means $500 on each individual's travel. For example, in my situation there are 4 of us travelling, but spending a minimum of $2,000 on my Altitude card is not necessarily good enough to ensure we're all covered - if I had paid a total of $2,000 on my card, but that was split up as $750 each for the adults plus $250 each for the kids, then the kids would not be covered by the insurance.

This is not an issue for me as I've spent way over $500 on flights for each individual on this occasion, but I just thought I'd mention this, as I imagine it might be something that people are not aware of. It would be quite possible to spend less than $500 on overseas travel for a child (especially if under 2), and actually I have a feeling I may have done that last time and assumed he was covered!

It's also worth mentioning that costs such as accommodation, tours, museums etc count towards the $500, but only if you pre-pay before leaving Oz, and again I suspect many people would not pre-pay many of those costs before leaving (e.g. with a lot of hotel bookings, you provide your card details to guarantee the booking, but your card is not actually charged until the end of your stay).

 

[lovetravellingoz]

It's also not a problem that I have used points for some of the fares, as long as I have pre-paid a total of at least $500 per person travelling on my Altitude card. However, the person I spoke to stressed that this means $500 on each individual's travel. For example, in my situation there are 4 of us travelling, but spending a minimum of $2,000 on my Altitude card is not necessarily good enough to ensure we're all covered - if I had paid a total of $2,000 on my card, but that was split up as $750 each for the adults plus $250 each for the kids, then the kids would not be covered by the insurance.
.

Interesting. With the $500 per person, does this have to be in separate transactions, or just itemised separately? I assume the latter.

ie Airfare receipts will show the cost per person. Whereas a hotel room/ apartment will just show a cost per room.

ME

I might use this for my April trip now where my flights are on points.

I was looking to use the 10 point bonus Hotel Club offer for at least some of my accommodation, as this is a nice way to grab extra points (note that I also have an Amex Reserve/Edge).

https://www.americanexpress.com/australia/bonus-partners/details.html#/hotelclub

However we will be doing a self-guided cycle tour in Austria which is over 500 Euro per person. So if I buy the tour on my Westpac Black, then that should activate the insurance.

 

[AdMEL]

Just came across this...
Best and worst credit cards for travel insurance: what's covered? - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

This covers most of the fundamentals that you’d expect from regular travel insurance provider like medical, luggage, and car rental excess, plus it includes coverage for your spouse and children who travel with you.You’ll need to spend a minimum of $500 of your prepaid holiday purchases for the insurance to be valid but this is easy enough if you use your card to pay for flights or accommodation.

The quote you've made does not come from the article you've linked! I think you meant to link this:

Review: Westpac Altitude Black frequent flyer credit card - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

The article you've linked was a good comparison at the time (2011), but is now severely out of date! Westpac insurance has changed significantly for the better since then and many of the negatives quoted in that article no longer exist.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

The quote you've made does not come from the article you've linked! I think you meant to link this:

Review: Westpac Altitude Black frequent flyer credit card - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

The article you've linked was a good comparison at the time (2011), but is now severely out of date! Westpac insurance has changed significantly for the better since then and many of the negatives quoted in that article no longer exist.

Yes sorry and you are correct. I must have had booth windows open and copied the wrong one, as yes I read that article as well.

As posted just above I am thinking of now using the Westpac Black Insurance now for my next trip, as the $500 per person in advance spend is easy to achieve.

As my wife and I both have Blacks, I will probably book the $500 per person on each card just to make things crystal clear.
** This will also be handy if we makes trips where we separate as each will remain covered.

 

[Jack_OC]

Interesting. With the $500 per person, does this have to be in separate transactions, or just itemised separately? I assume the latter.

ie Airfare receipts will show the cost per person. Whereas a hotel room/ apartment will just show a cost per room.

No, it doesn't have to be separate transactions. She said for accommodation you can apportion the amounts to each person, eg if we prepay for a family hotel room at $200 a night, that counts as $50 a night each.

I think the real catch here would be if you had only prepaid airfares, because as you say it will be clear what the cost was for each individual's ticket. I can think of two fairly common scenarios where the average cost per person would be well above $500, but the cost for an individual could be less than $500:
(A) where one person is travelling on an award booking, but other(s) are on paid fares
(B) where the family includes a child under 2.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Yes I rang Zurich as well, as I will use this for my April/May Europe Trip, and so wanted to be 100% sure of what I needed to do to be covered.

* It is an you say $500 per person PLUS return tickets of any type (ie paid or award redemptions).
* For the $500 per person criteria if the receipt does not show the exact per person cost (as in flights , tours etc), costs such as hotels can be apportioned evenly.
* Note if it is a paid flight, that the flight does not have to be paid for by a Black card , though if it is it will qualify.
* Make sure you travel with copies of proof of purchase on the credit card. This will be asked for.
* Insurance does not activate till $500 per person is spent. TIP: So remember if you want to be covered for cancellation of your trip PRIOR to departure, remember to ensure that you spend the $500 for each person early on PLUS that you have your return tickets. Activation and hence coverage only commences when both of these criteria are met.

Unexpected cancellation of your travel arrangements and associated expenses - unlimited cover.

Also FYI from the Westpac website:

Protection When You Travel - Altitude - Westpac
COMPLIMENTARY OVERSEAS TRAVEL INSURANCE

You, your spouse and certain dependent children are covered for overseas trips of up to six months, when you each satisfy the eligibility conditions set out in the policy[SUP]6[/SUP]. These include $500 worth of pre-paid travel costs such as booking your flights or hotel stay using your Altitude Black Card before you leave Australia.