Travel Insurance on Credit Cards

[Harpoon]

Hi All,

I currently have an ANZ Gold QFF card. I'm paying $150 a year for the Visa/Amex combo and earning 1:1 on both. I'm not overly happy with what I get for my annual fee but I'm sticking with it for now...

Over the last 3 or so years I've purchased travel insurance for various holidays. I don't know how much the insurance premiums were but I'd certainly say it was at least a hundred each time, particulalrly international holidays.

Just wondering with the Plat card travel insurance, is the cover comprehensive? Has anyone on here had to make claims - if so was it easy and straight forward (comparable to claims through the insurance giants)? Do you feel like you were a customer or a thorn in their side when having to deal with the travel insurance?

Asking all this because I figure if I go with the Plat card for $295 P.A. and assuming I have 1 holiday per year, that's travel insurance worth $145... not bad. The more trips I make the better value the insurance portion becomes. Also the additional points earn might be worth it also, though I'm not a huge CC spender so not hugely concerned.

Another question, are there better alternative cards to ANZ with a) travel insurance built in and b) qantas ff points earning 1:1? if I can save a bunch on annual fees, all the better.

And are there any other benefits of Plat ANZ cards over the Gold? From the website there isn't much I can see to justify the extra fee other than travel insurance?

Cheers.

 

[straitman]

This is a big can of worms that has been discussed a few times. I have little or no knowledge of the ANZ products.

The Insurance from each CC seems to be just a little different so you need to research and review any that you feel you may want to use. It is often even different between similar cards.

Personally I use the Amex Platinum Charge Card but at $900 you need to make sure that it offers what you want. Have a look at the link as it goes to an AFF thread entitled Platinum Card, what will I get for $900. The insurance with the Charge Card is different to the Amex Platinum Credit Card.

 

[serfty]

With the ANZ Platinum QF Visa, you need to pre-pay at least $250 worth of your trip on the card before you depart to qualify for insurance.

Have a read:

• ANZ Frequent Flyer Platinum Insurance Policy Information

 

[delfredo]

The Insurance from each CC seems to be just a little different so you need to research and review any that you feel you may want to use. It is often even different between similar cards.

Personally I use the Amex Platinum Charge Card but at $900 you need to make sure that it offers what you want. Have a look at the link as it goes to an AFF thread entitled Platinum Card, what will I get for $900. The insurance with the Charge Card is different to the Amex Platinum Credit Card.

Is the Amex Platinum charge card the only card that offers international travel insurance without the requirement of airfare purchases being charged to the card? Are there other Amex/Visa/MC cards that offer similar privileges?

 

[significance]

I'm reviving an old thread, but I wanted to report my experience with the "free" travel insurance included with the Westpac Earth Platinum Card (insurance provided through Zurich).

1st experience: On a trip to Perth last year, I became quite ill and had to delay my return by a few days. I was staying with family, so the only expense was the cost of changing my flight (about $150). I put in a claim, but hadn't realised that an excess applied, and my costs were below this excess: so no refund.

2nd experience: On a trip to NZ at Christmas, our luggage was delayed by about 30 hours. I read the fine print this time: no excess applied for emergency clothing and toiletries in this case. My partner and I bought a set of clothes each and some basic toiletries, totaling around $600 (well below the generous limit in the policy). We sent in the receipts and documentation from the airline, and the whole amount has been refunded with no hassles.

So overall, a good experience, and I'd say this justifies, for me, the cost of the platinum card (though I also make good use of the included concierge service, which I find very helpful upon occasion).

 

[clifford]

Glad it worked out for you.

I have mixed experiences with my CC travel insurance. I have a platinum Visa card with ANZ and they now use that almost bankrupt American insurance company AIG (must be the cheapest around).

Previously, ANZ used another insurance company, and my two claims with them were paid in full without too many quibbles (but did take a long time to finalise).

Now with AIG, I made a claim associated with the volcanic ash cloud in Europe and initially they just flat out refused to pay me a cent (I did have some legitimate claims though).

Anyway, after some to-ing and fro-ing, where I did provide more information, they still refused to pay anything (it's their culture). So, a bit infuriated about their obfuscation, I sent them another letter saying that if they didn't review my claims more favourably, I would refer the whole thing to the Insurance Ombudsman.

That did seem to be a bit of a wake up call to them, and within a couple of weeks I received a cheque covering some of my costs. At that stage, I decided to call it quits. Better something than nothing!

So, caveat emptor!

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Is the Amex Platinum charge card the only card that offers international travel insurance without the requirement of airfare purchases being charged to the card? Are there other Amex/Visa/MC cards that offer similar privileges?

CBA Gold & Platinum give you complimentary insurance without needing to necessarily charge airfares to the card - the requirement, at last check (for Gold anyway), was that you just needed to charge ~$950 (or more) of travel expenses before departing (which could include pre-paid ground tours, hotel accommodation, etc etc, and of course, flights)... Came in handy before my last trip to Europe - I charged the cost of the pre-paid tour from Trafalgar to my CBA card, and charged the Qantas airfares to my WBC Earth Plat card, which gives bonus points for Qantas purchases, and free insurance for buying the flights... that way I had two travel insurance products in case the coverage differed, and the travel agent also threw in free insurance too - so I would have been covered for pretty much anything haha!

 

[stryker]

CBA Gold & Platinum give you complimentary insurance without needing to necessarily charge airfares to the card - the requirement, at last check (for Gold anyway), was that you just needed to charge ~$950 (or more) of travel expenses before departing (which could include pre-paid ground tours, hotel accommodation, etc etc, and of course, flights)... Came in handy before my last trip to Europe - I charged the cost of the pre-paid tour from Trafalgar to my CBA card, and charged the Qantas airfares to my WBC Earth Plat card, which gives bonus points for Qantas purchases, and free insurance for buying the flights... that way I had two travel insurance products in case the coverage differed, and the travel agent also threw in free insurance too - so I would have been covered for pretty much anything haha!

Well that's great, but you won't know how good or bad it is until you have to make a claim on the insurance.

Then you might not be laughing so much.

And why have you posted this in the ANZ thread?

 

[ChrisFlyer]

And why have you posted this in the ANZ thread?

As you could easily have seen, I was replying to a previous question by delfredo in this same thread, in the same way that significance also responded about non-ANZ CC insurance...

 

[straitman]

And why have you posted this in the ANZ thread?

The question was asked:

Hi All,

Another question, are there better alternative cards to ANZ with a) travel insurance built in and b) qantas ff points earning 1:1? if I can save a bunch on annual fees, all the better.

Cheers.

Thus the comments from ChrisCh were actually on topic.

 

[medhead]

Is the Amex Platinum charge card the only card that offers international travel insurance without the requirement of airfare purchases being charged to the card? Are there other Amex/Visa/MC cards that offer similar privileges?

Similarly to answer this questions a few months late.
The NAB gold FF card also provides insurance if you purchase 50% of prepaid travel expenses on the card. That could be expenses other than airfares.