Virgin Platinum high flyer no travel insurance

[paulod]

I recently got a Virgin Platinum High Flyer card. I asked Virgin money yesterday about the free travel insurance for overseas flights if points are used for the flights.
They said no insurance, you must pay for the flight with your credit card. I explained that the points were accumulated by using the card so what's the difference. Good old Citibank

I rang Zurich insurance who confirmed it although they did say different Banks have different arrangements with them for example Westpac will give you insurance if you have spent $500 towards your trip on their card e.g. hotel

Why do we pay high annual fee if no insurance?

 

[Warks]

What if you paid the fees/taxes/surcharges using your card rather than points? Would they count that?

I agree it's pretty poor value if that's the case. Especially if you were flying Virgin. If you were with another airline then maybe...

 

[paulod]

What if you paid the fees/taxes/surcharges using your card rather than points? Would they count that?

I agree it's pretty poor value if that's the case. Especially if you were flying Virgin. If you were with another airline then maybe...

No they said you must pay the total fare!!!

 

[Blinky]

No they said you must pay the total fare!!!

That's what turned me off the card.

 

[Ausbt]

It's the same deal with Qantas' Amex Platinum card. Earlier this year I cashed in points for a trip and paid the taxes and land component with the card. It didn't matter - I was still advised no insurance for me and I had to take out a seperate policy.

 

[paulod]

It's the same deal with Qantas' Amex Platinum card. Earlier this year I cashed in points for a trip and paid the taxes and land component with the card. It didn't matter - I was still advised no insurance for me and I had to take out a seperate policy.

It used to be different "back in the day"

 

[Moopere]

Seriously, I wish the various card providers would just drop the pretence of insurance cover. "Back in the day" as pauld mentions above, some card coverage was actually pretty good, and with care you could rely upon it. Years have passed though, each bringing with it a watering down of included insurances to the point now that I can't feel confident with _any_ of my cards combined insurances. Comprehensive and separate insurance is now required in my view.

I wish the providers would just face the fact, drop included insurances which are too full of holes to rely upon and save us all a bit of money on the annual card fee which can then contribute towards the necessary separate comprehensive insurance.

 

[Major]

I have a Virgin Plat high flyer card and totally ignore the insurance that came with it. There were too many grey areas to be sure of proper coverage.

I have a separate annual policy with TID which gives me "peace of mind"

 

[opusman]

I wish the providers would just face the fact, drop included insurances which are too full of holes to rely upon and save us all a bit of money on the annual card fee which can then contribute towards the necessary separate comprehensive insurance.

The insurance on the ANZ platinum cards is pretty good tbh.

 

[Moopere]

The insurance on the ANZ platinum cards is pretty good tbh.

Some are better than others, but its been a while since I felt that they were comprehensive enough to actually rely upon. Like Major above, I go to TID for peace of mind.

Does ANZ, for example, cover you for flights wholly or partially booked using FF points?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Seriously, I wish the various card providers would just drop the pretence of insurance cover. "Back in the day" as pauld mentions above, some card coverage was actually pretty good, and with care you could rely upon it. Years have passed though, each bringing with it a watering down of included insurances to the point now that I can't feel confident with _any_ of my cards combined insurances. Comprehensive and separate insurance is now required in my view.

I wish the providers would just face the fact, drop included insurances which are too full of holes to rely upon and save us all a bit of money on the annual card fee which can then contribute towards the necessary separate comprehensive insurance.

NOT true - as pointed out by opusman below.

The insurance on the ANZ platinum cards is pretty good tbh.

ANZ (and there might be another one) are excellent in the coverage they provide. All you need to spend is $250 of ANY pre-paid travel component. This could be the taxes, or simply your connecting flight up to SYD.

There are lots of different products:

• no coverage unless you pay for your entire ticket in cash (rendering points useless for insurance purposes)
• no coverage if using points unless those points were accrued solely with the card you want to use for insurance (so if using X credit card, your points had to be earned through that card, you can't use QF points earned some other way)
• complete coverage, no requirement to book the ticket or use points (just pay a set amount for your total trip onto the card)

There are some good deals. People need to decide what suits them. I for one love the ANZ cover - has saved many thousands of dollars of premiums over the years i have it (we're talking savings of $500-600 per year for an annual multi-trip policy for every year since I've had the card, which is going back to 1996 or so)

Major thumbs up to ANZ!

 

[Sprucegoose]

No they said you must pay the total fare!!!

Yes it's really a case if caveat emptor I am afraid.

Who has the time to peruse the full T&C's??? You rely on organisations not to be tricky. Our comeback is social media such as this site, it's a great leveller

 

[Sprucegoose]

I have a Virgin Plat high flyer card and totally ignore the insurance that came with it. There were too many grey areas to be sure of proper coverage.

I have a separate annual policy with TID which gives me "peace of mind"

Spot on, I do the same. You can't trust these providers or benefits

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes it's really a case if caveat emptor I am afraid.

Who has the time to peruse the full T&C's???

Insurance policies? I always have the time to read those! My card saves me $500+ a year... if it takes me an hour to read the policy thoroughly that's $500 an hour! ANZ provides a nice easy to read guide though.

 

[jb01]

I've just encountered the same with the High Flyer card.
Rang Zurich to check if I would be covered for my overseas trip. They said the flight out of and back in to Australia needs to be paid on the card to activate the insurance. I said that those flights had been booked using some points, with the cash component paid on the card, as well as all accommodation, other flights during the trip (including NRT-LAX paid in full on the card).... No dice.

tried to argue that the Tax Invoice from Virgin states "Total Fare and other charges: $xx " which is the cost of the flight paid on the card, nope, no cover.

I'm going to try ring back and think of a way to word it without mentioning "frequent flyer points" just not sure how yet!
Also I can't see anything in the T&C'S that relates to using points.

has anyone ever had any luck getting them to grant insurance in this scenario or am I dreaming?

 

[paulod]

Insurance policies? I always have the time to read those! My card saves me $500+ a year... if it takes me an hour to read the policy thoroughly that's $500 an hour! ANZ provides a nice easy to read guide though.

Yes I had the same conversations with Zurich and emailed Virgin Velocity about it. They replied that it was great to get feedback from customers and they would look at the situation.
Which means nothing has changed!

With Westpac you only have to spend $500 towards the trip, could be flight or accom, and you get the free insurance. Use your points.

must admit I'm not a fan of Citibank who runs the Virgin cards, had a few problems.

 

[eastwest101]

Yes - here it is - all 51 pages of it. Its a pdf document and I tried searching for terms fares:

https://my.virginmoney.com.au/global_docs/pdf/CreditCard_Insurance.pdf

The definition of a journey is on page 10, they are attempting to exclude cover for the points + pay ticket scenario in the definitions section on page 14 by saying that:

use of the cardholder’s Virgin High Flyer credit card account means that your overseas travel ticket (but not taxes or airport or travel agent charges) was obtained prior to the commencement date of your journey by the total cost being charged to a cardholder’s Virgin High Flyer credit card account.

But I would argue that if you have a return ticket purchased with an airline and a receipt to show payment of money, then even if you did burn points to pay for the ticket then this use of points does not exclude your "total cost" as the total cost that you incurred to book those tickets.

Maybe if their T&C talked about the "entire cost" then you could go down the hair splitting path with that.....

Maybe call back and ask them to point out to you which exact part of your "Terms and Conditions" say that your travel is not covered by the use of a points + pay airfares?

A very interesting bunch of posts! I had not realised (but am not surprised) by some of the attempts of insurers to exclude themselves from their own T&Cs! I am off to check my own travel insurance policies.

 

[jb01]

Yes - here it is - all 51 pages of it. Its a pdf document and I tried searching for terms fares:


https://my.virginmoney.com.au/global_docs/pdf/CreditCard_Insurance.pdf


The definition of a journey is on page 10, they are attempting to exclude cover for the points + pay ticket scenario in the definitions section on page 14 by saying that:


use of the cardholder’s Virgin High Flyer credit card account means that your overseas travel ticket (but not taxes or airport or travel agent charges) was obtained prior to the commencement date of your journey by the total cost being charged to a cardholder’s Virgin High Flyer credit card account.

Hmmm - that was the part I was looking for in the T&C'S but couldn't find.
My Tax Invoice from Virgin for the flights doesn't say anything about points used. Just the total cost is very low!


It does break down the charges though with
Fare: $0.00, and the charges that have been paid listed against "Taxes/Fees/Carrier imposed charges".


Very frustrating that loyalty means nothing here. Fly Virgin, have Virgin credit card, spend enough to earn points for an overseas trip - get shafted on the insurance. Definitely devaluing the card, along with the 2-for-1 changes. Getting very difficult to justify the annual fee + additional cardholder fee.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes - here it is - all 51 pages of it. Its a pdf document and I tried searching for terms fares:

https://my.virginmoney.com.au/global_docs/pdf/CreditCard_Insurance.pdf

The definition of a journey is on page 10, they are attempting to exclude cover for the points + pay ticket scenario in the definitions section on page 14 by saying that:

use of the cardholder’s Virgin High Flyer credit card account means that your overseas travel ticket (but not taxes or airport or travel agent charges) was obtained prior to the commencement date of your journey by the total cost being charged to a cardholder’s Virgin High Flyer credit card account.

But I would argue that if you have a return ticket purchased with an airline and a receipt to show payment of money, then even if you did burn points to pay for the ticket then this use of points does not exclude your "total cost" as the total cost that you incurred to book those tickets.

Maybe if their T&C talked about the "entire cost" then you could go down the hair splitting path with that.....

Maybe call back and ask them to point out to you which exact part of your "Terms and Conditions" say that your travel is not covered by the use of a points + pay airfares?

A very interesting bunch of posts! I had not realised (but am not surprised) by some of the attempts of insurers to exclude themselves from their own T&Cs! I am off to check my own travel insurance policies.

just reading about the westpac situation above... $500.. we had a friend in the same situation... also westpac, maybe it was a different card... anyway she had the same issue... total amount of the airfare had to be on the card.

however... for points bookings, insurance cover would have been extended provided the total points earned were through the card. so she had altitude or whatever... and if she had paid using points from there (and not separately earned through Qfff) then she would have been ok.

i still think a product like ANZ is fantastic... just $250 of anything... including taxes fees and charges! even a domestic ticket purchased separately, as long as it is connecting is acceptable! and they cover for 6 months!!

 

[eastwest101]

i still think a product like ANZ is fantastic... just $250 of anything... including taxes fees and charges! even a domestic ticket purchased separately, as long as it is connecting is acceptable! and they cover for 6 months!!

I agree - I am not completely familliar with the Westpac one that you are talking about but much more reasonable.